History

13 Apr 2005

New rulechange project

Project no. CS 05/01 titled Certification requirements related to the design, manufacturing and airworthiness of UAVs has been registered.

11 Apr 2005

Project CS 05/01 fact sheet

Rulechange project CS 05/01 initiated: Certification requirements related to the design, manufacturing and airworthiness of UAVs

Project CS 05/01
Certification requirements related to the design, manufacturing and airworthiness of UAVs

Purpose/Objectives

CASR Part 101 contains requirements for the operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). With regard to airworthiness certification, Part 101 requires all large UAVs to have a special certificate of airworthiness in the restricted category or an experimental certificate. In addition, any UAV which operates in a populous area at a height less than that necessary to clear the area in case of a failure must have a certificate.

The policy intent of current airworthiness certification requirements is not transparent and there are some anomalies. The two main difficulties in the application of the current airworthiness certification rules in Part 21 are:

• its coverage of the certification of aircraft and parts but not remote equipment; and
• current airworthiness standards (e.g. Parts 23 and 25) are not appropriate for the certification of UAVs in relation (for example) to the safety of occupants.

This project sets out to deal with the development of airworthiness requirements for UAVs and include certification issues related to their design, manufacturing and airworthiness. The proposed broad objectives and tasks are:

• To review current Australian and overseas regulations, standards, policies and research studies in relation to airworthiness certification of UAVs
• To propose a framework and concept for airworthiness certification of UAVs
• To develop the procedures and airworthiness standards for certification of UAVs
• To develop the necessary amendments to CASR Parts 21 and 101 in accordance with CASA's Standards Development and Rule Making manual.

Rules affected

CASR Part 21 - Certification and airworthiness requirements for aircraft and parts

CASR Part 101 - Unmanned aircraft and rocket operations

Project management

Project Leader: Gary Carr
Project Sponsor: Greg Vaughan