Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa

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Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa Postnet Suite 595, Private Bag X37 Lynnwood Ridge, 0040 +27 (012) 811 1168 admin@cuaasa.

org CUAASA MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY 14 MARCH 2014 AT CSIR Attendance: Andre Coetzee Christo van der Merwe Gerhard Coetzee Stan Bezuidenhout Karel Fischer Casper Van Zyl David Swanepoel Stefan Timmerman

1 Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa Postnet Suite 595, Private Bag X37 Lynnwood Ridge, (012) CUAASA MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY 14 MARCH 2014 AT CSIR Attendance: Andre Coetzee Christo van der Merwe Gerhard Coetzee Stan Bezuidenhout Karel Fischer Casper Van Zyl David Swanepoel Stefan Timmerman Michael Kruger Bradley Stephenson Werner Schulz Rowland York Smith Ian Mackenzie-Ross Derek Gouws Louw Bonthuys Rodney Podmore Ben Kieser Hennie Kieser Steve Parrymore Barend Bornman Martin Rossouw Andries Haasbroek Wolfgang Lück Danie Bezuidenhout Stan Bezuidenhout Martin Rossouw C Van der Merwe Henriette Kieser The meeting was chaired by Mr Hennie Kieser. Special guest was Mackenzie-Ross from Australia. Apologies: None CUAASA MEETING V3.DOCX 1

2 Activity/Event/Task description Responsible AIM OF THE MEETING: The Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa aim is to serve, promote, watch over, advance and mutually protect the interest of the commercial unmanned aircraft industry, and to act as a link between the industry and government, government agencies and other public bodies within the Southern African region. OPENING ADDRESS FROM CHAIRMAN. The chairman welcomed all present and stated the aim of the meeting. Genl Wesley was introduced and presented the meeting with some direction CUAASA needs to take. In his address the UAS community was asked to support the objectives of CUAASA as the objectives have direct reference to all involved in UAS. He further stressed that the association belongs to its members, and that CUAASA was affiliated with CAASA. CUAASA is an association and all work is done by its members. For this reason all is requested to volunteer for activities as these will be required to achieve the association s objectives. Genl Wesley also stressed that there are many legal issues that have to be resolved but CUAASA has support through UAS industry. It was also stressed that flight safety is and will always remain the focus of main effort in all the association activities. DISCUSSIONS 1. The chairman introduced himself and gave some background on the origin of CUAASA. 1.1 CUAASA was formed as an affiliated association under the Commercial Aviation Association of South Africa (CAASA). 1.2 The chairman is affiliated with the South African Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Industries Association of South Africa (AMD) which also has much interest in the objectives and outcomes of CUAASA 1.3 Government understands the predicament of UAS and is anxious to get legislation in place. CUAASA MEETING V3.DOCX 2

3 2. Ian Mackenzie-Ross from Australia was introduced to the meeting. Feedback was given as to the process which was followed in Australia as he is a member of the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority. Certain points were highlighted as pointers for CUAASA in it endeavor to serve the UAS community. 2.1 It is required to keep the Regulator involved in the process from day one as they don t like surprises. 2.2 Although flight safety is paramount the rules for UAS are different than those rules used for manned aircraft. 2.3 UAS do however engage in flight Aviation activities and this must be remembered. 2.4 It took Australia about 5 years to promote an accepted strategy with rules. 2.5 It is critical to decide what we want to do with UAS in South Africa. 2.6 Manufacturer training needs to be provided. Issues pertaining own builder also needs to be resolved. 2.7 Training needs to be focused on flight safety. 2.8 UAS are the order of the day and becoming very popular. The question is how a does CUAASA support SA CAA regarding Air safety but at the same time support UAS operators to be able to do their work. 2.9 How will laws help the UAS operator 2.10 It is essential to have all operators radio telephone qualified Can the operator safely fly his machine 2.12 Each operator needs to make a safety case for his own operation When flying commercially how will the operator be insured, as a insurer company needs to be identified Operators have a commercial enterprise and they should understand the risk involved in running such an enterprise. No UAS operation may be conducted without SACAA approval. CUAASA MEETING V3.DOCX 3

4 2.15 A safety case needs to be made and it must be established what we want to do, where it has to be done, what does the environment look like, and does the vehicle comply with requirement, safety and law. This must form part of the application to SA CAA 2.16 Safe Crash is a big risk. This is different from manned aircraft as there is nobody on board. A change in thinking is required from conventional Aviation rules How safe is safe enough. The question needs to be asked why is UAS more or less dangerous than normal aircraft More emphasis is placed on operational risk than technical risk as the main risk is the application of UAS How will the integrity of software be handled as flight software qualification is very expensive CUAASA members must look at UAV s as a system 3. From the above feedback it was deducted in a discussion that flight safety is not negotiable, and that legal issues needs to be dealt with in the short term so that operators can comply with the act. 4. A discussion was held on the way forward and it was felt that the team had two options ie one to wait for SACAA and/or secondly to start writing our own laws and regulation based on JARUS and other best principle activities based on lessons learnt from other countries. Procedures from other organizations such as SAMAA etc also need to be used as input. The process needs to be developed in concert with SA CAA. CUAASA MEETING V3.DOCX 4

5 5. The Chairman introduced the CUAASA team as follows: 5.1 Chairman : Hennie Kieser. 5.2 Vice Chairman: Jacques Pienaar 5.3 Secretary : Andre Coetzee who will also act as Comms specialist 5.4 IT Specialist : Danie Bezuidenhout 5.5 Legal specialist : Ben Kieser with the help of David Swanepoel will provide legal matters, with the help of Stan Bezuidenhout who is also well experienced in aviation forensic investigations. 5.6 Training: Gerhard Coetzee 5.7 Specialist Professional Advice: Genl John Wesley 6. It was emphasized by the Chairman that CUAASA needs more members to be representative in the Commercial UAS environment as the representation will definitely have an effect on how CUAASA will get laws approved. 7. CUAASA membership is R500 per year where R400 is to go to CAASA and R100 for own internal management requirements. This is an introduction offer as fees need to be adapted to accommodate CUAASA s financial requirements. 8. A requirement was tabled that all attending the meeting should send an to provide focus on needs for current operations. This must give some indication of what operations are about so that a full understanding of the requirement can be understood. A template will be distributed by the Committee. 9. CSIR made a presentation on its role in the UAS system design and direction. It was emphasized that not only should SACAA be involved but other entities such as the Dept of Transport, DTI, AMD should be involved. The military industry has been involved with aviation for a long time and understands the issues on risk. It was further emphasized that Safety must be the departure point of all operations, regulations and laws. 10. Opportunity was given to all members attending the meeting to introduce themselves. 11. The floor was opened for general discussion: CUAASA MEETING V3.DOCX 5

6 11.1 Stan tabled and analogy of bicycles and cars. Bicycles use the same road as cars but are totally different in use. They don t pay license, and are not regulated in the same manner as cars and trucks. UAS and aircraft share the same air space. Regulation of UAS should thus be different to aircraft A discussion on the use of legislation designated form Radio Controlled aircraft was tabled and it was agreed that although some legislation can be used the main difference is that RC flies in controlled airspace whilst UAS will not fly in the same conditions and also probably BLOS SAMAA has excluded commercial UAV s in it policy and thus their regulation is inadequate for Commercial UAS. Suggestion was made to adopt other countries legislation but concerns were raised that South Africa is completely different from the first world countries as the airspace is not that congested. CUAASA must seriously contemplate the use of JARUS (Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems) as departure point as they are accepted by CAA in Europe and will possibly be accepted by the SACAA which will make life much easier JARUS is a group of experts from the National Aviation Authorities (NAAs) and regional aviation safety organizations. Its purpose is to recommend a single set of technical, safety and operational requirements for the certification and safe integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into airspace and at aerodromes. The objective of JARUS is to provide guidance material aiming to facilitate each authority to write their own requirements and to avoid duplicate efforts. 12. From a discussion it was decided that initial emphasis must be given to light or smaller UAS (>25kg) to fast track the process. Legislation for larger UAS will take much longer to achieve as these have some serious issues that need to be resolved. 13. CUAASA needs to be pro-active in it approach to legislation, but at the same time needs to work closely with the aviation regulator to ensure that they are on track. A roadmap needs to be identified to guide the association in it path. CONCLUSION Committee CUAASA MEETING V3.DOCX 6

7 14. The chairman thanked all who attended the meeting. It was re-iterated that CUAASA needs more members. The meeting was adjourned at 16h20. No date was set for a follow up meeting but will be communicated via the web site Chairman CUAASA: Hennie Kieser Date: CUAASA MEETING V3.DOCX 7

8 Abbreviation list AMD BLOS CUAASA DTI FAA ICASA JARUS LOS NAA RAASA RC SACAA SAMAA UAS UAV South African Aerospace Maritime & Defence Industries Association. Beyond Line of Sight Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of South Africa Department Trade and Industry Federal Aviation Authority Independent Communications Authority of South Africa Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems Line of Sight National Aviation Authority Recreational Radio Control Commercial Aviation Association of South Africa South African Model Aircraft Association Unmanned Aircraft System Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle CUAASA MEETING V3.DOCX 8

Managing small RPAS/UAV operations in developing countries- a Bangladesh Experience. Presented by Bangladesh

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