Roadmap activities

The roadmap focusses on 6 regulatory areas over 4 time horizons. Explore more detail for each of the:

Below is a summary of all roadmap activities and their progression over time.

Overview of activities

Aircraft and aircraft systems

  • Publish acceptable industry consensus standards for piloted AAM.

  • Review applicable maintenance policies for AAM.

  • Review international frameworks, standards and methods for certification and assurance of RPAS. This includes consideration of adoption of FAA durability and reliability method for low risk RPAS.

  • Review applicable maintenance policies for RPAS.

  • Publish guidance on the evidence requirements from the original equipment manufacturer verse the operator for RPAS operational approvals.

Airspace and traffic management

  • Through the AFAF, develop a transparent, consistent, and scalable method to administer Australian airspace that supports remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) and advanced air mobility (AAM) integration.

  • Research how existing separation standards may apply to RPAS and AAM and identify future changes required including conspicuity and equipage considerations.

  • Review existing flight rules against the future needs for RPAS and AAM.

  • Work with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications and Airservices Australia to develop a regulatory oversight framework for UTM.

Operations

  • Develop and publish further guidance material for RPAS operations already enabled in existing regulation including acceptable means of compliance.

  • Develop and publish guidance material for approval of research and development operations.

  • Review and publish guidance on the carriage of dangerous goods by RPAS.

  • Implement regulatory changes from the post implementation review of Civil Aviation Safety Regulations (CASR) Part 101.

  • Conduct a gap analysis of CASR parts to identify regulatory changes required to support RPAS and AAM operations.

  • Publish more standard scenarios and specific operation risk assessment (SORA) guidance for low risk RPAS operations and emergency services.

  • Talk with model aircraft, drone sport, and recreation flyers to find opportunities for improved collaboration and consultation.

Infrastructure

  • Develop guidance material, design requirements and regulations for vertiports and other infrastructure required to support AAM operations.

  • Develop guidance for infrastructure required to support research and development activities.

  • Work collaboratively across government to understand and establish spectrum requirements for RPAS and AAM.

  • Work with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications to set up the NDDN and support all safety aspects of the infrastructure planning framework.

People

  • Review current RePL requirements and consider renewal or currency requirements, class and type ratings, and endorsements.

  • Engage with international aviation safety regulators to identify options for aligning RPAS training and licensing requirements.

  • Review the competency and training requirements of operationally critical people involved in RPAS and AAM operations to identify future regulatory change needs.

  • Consider medical standards for RPAS and AAM operators.

  • Review and implement an alternative training and examination pathway for remote pilots conducting beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations.

  • Implement accreditation requirements for model aircraft users.

Safety and security

  • Publish SMS guidance materials for RPAS operations.

  • Set up RPAS focused safety education activities to promote CASA’s ‘just culture’ philosophy.

  • Engage with law enforcement and other agencies to build understanding of their role in the enforcement of RPAS regulations.

  • Consider data collection and uses to improve safety results.

  • Engage with other government agencies to understand and find RPAS and AAM cybersecurity risks.

  • Publish acceptable cybersecurity standards for RPAS and AAM.

Aircraft and aircraft systems

  • Publish acceptable industry consensus standards for single aircraft, single operator and multiple aircraft, single operator for AAM.

  • Publish acceptable industry consensus standards for remotely piloted AAM.

  • Publish acceptable industry consensus standards for multiple aircraft, single operator for RPAS.

Airspace and traffic management

  • Develop an implementation plan for airspace modernisation that is flexible, scalable and supports all airspace users.

  • Begin initial implementation to ease identified risks and support RPAS and AAM airspace integration.

  • Undertake an analysis to understand the crossover point from self-separation to a 'managed' environment.

  • Consider new separation standards, that use new technologies, for RPAS-to-RPAS and RPAS-to-AAM.

  • Consider standardised requirements for RPAS in controlled airspace.

  • Consult with all airspace users on the appropriateness of proposed rules for RPAS and AAM.

  • Develop standards and capabilities to support the implementation of low level traffic management systems for RPAS.

  • Consider regulatory requirements for integrating air traffic management systems.

  • Develop airspace requirements for vertiport operations.

Operations

  • Develop guidance on the operational approval requirements for AAM operations, including operations that are remotely piloted and pilot-on-board.

  • Develop standards for international RPAS and AAM operations.

  • Review existing approval and oversight processes to make sure they are proportionate to the risk and complexity of operational activities.

Infrastructure

  • Implement a regulatory framework to support RPAS and AAM infrastructure (for example vertiports and vertipads).

  • Develop certification requirements for infrastructure and infrastructure related equipment.

  • Develop a regulatory framework for the operation of research and development infrastructure.

People

  • Implement regulatory and system changes following the review of RePL requirements.

  • Align RPAS training and licensing requirements with international standards.

  • Update regulations to support new licensing requirements.

  • Implement standard training and licensing requirements for personnel involved in piloted passenger carrying AAM.

  • Review radio operator competency requirements for remote pilots.

Safety and security

  • Develop SMS and human factor policies that are proportionate to risk and complexity.

  • Consider and implement a tiered requirement for SMS for RPAS and AAM operators.

  • Coordinate with enforcement agencies and revise our enforcement manual.

  • Work with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications to provide transparent reporting on RPAS enforcement actions. These will promote corrective actions and lessons learned.

  • Continue to work with industry associations to promote key safety lessons from available data.

Aircraft and aircraft systems

  • Make sure certification standards are internationally harmonised for AAM.

  • Publish acceptable industry consensus standards for highly automated RPAS.

Airspace and traffic management

  • Continue airspace modernisation to support RPAS and AAM integration into all airspace environments.

  • Develop new separation requirements to support and use improving technologies such as autonomy.

  • Review and update rulesets for integration, global approaches, and requirements for increasing levels of autonomy.

  • Develop an integrated traffic management framework to support all airspace users.

Operations

  • Integrate RPAS operational requirements into relevant CASR parts for operations outside the scope of Part 101.

  • Apply changes required to support operational requirements for AAM.

  • Mature risk calculation methods used for determining operational categories using data, artificial intelligence and/or quantitative methods.

  • Consider alternative methods of regulatory oversight, including possible use of self-administering organisations.

Infrastructure

  • Regulate operator training and requirements for infrastructure operators.

  • Regulate equipage requirements for infrastructure operators.

People

  • Develop a specific set of outcome-based standards for RePL training on large type RPAS.

  • Implement standard training and licensing requirements for personnel involved in remotely piloted and optionally piloted passenger carrying AAM.

  • Introduce updated licensing requirements needed for RPAS and AAM operations factoring in the increasing levels of automation and autonomy.

Safety and security

  • Apply streamlined processes for the approval of SMS for RPAS and AAM operators.

  • Continue to promote an understanding of ‘just culture’ across the RPAS and AAM sectors.

  • Coordinate the approach to enforcement between enforcement authorities.

Aircraft and aircraft systems

  • Publish acceptable industry consensus standards for highly automated AAM.

Airspace and traffic management

  • Develop and implement airspace structures to support all airspace users in a seamless airspace environment.

  • Develop standards and capabilities to support cooperative participation and levels of self-separation between all airspace users.

Operations

  • Continue to monitor the regulatory framework to make sure processes and requirements remain fit-for-purpose.

Infrastructure

  • Mature regulations and approval processes to support RPAS and AAM related infrastructure.

People

  • Implement standard licensing and training requirements for AAM dispatchers.

Safety and security

  • Continue to carry out safety education and promotion activities to embed a positive safety culture.

Published date: 2 June 2022
Online version available at: https://www.casa.gov.au//search-centre/corporate-plans/rpas-and-aam-strategic-regulatory-roadmap/roadmap-activities
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