CASR Part 101 Plain English guide for Micro and Excluded RPA operations

The plain English guide for micro and excluded remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) operations re-organises relevant information found in:

• Part 101 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR)
• Part 101 Manual of Standards (MOS)
• Advisory Circular (AC) 101-01 Remotely piloted aircraft systems - licensing and operations

The Part 101 plain English guide also incorporates up to date information from Advisory Circular 101-10 Remotely piloted aircraft systems – operation of excluded RPA so AC 101-10 has been removed.

This guide makes it easier for you to find, understand and apply the regulations for micro and excluded RPA in certain commercial activities.

The guide does not reproduce the full text of the regulation, the MOS or the AC. 

You can read the legislation in full on the Federal Register of Legislation website.

Who will benefit from this guide

This guide is for people who are conducting commercial operations using:

• micro RPA drones that weigh 250 g or less
• excluded RPA — this includes drones that are very small, small, or medium drones used in very specific commercial situations (activity and location). 

While this guide is for micro and excluded drone operators, all drone users will find it useful as it demonstrates foundational drone safety rules.

Feedback

We encourage all feedback on this guide and whether it provides:

• regulatory information in a simple, easy-to-read and understandable language
• a logical structure and format to the information.

You can send your feedback using our contact us form.

Updates

Occasionally we need to update content in the plain English guide. If you download a soft copy, it will always have the most up-to-date content.

You can request a version history of amendments through our contact us form.