According to the Spanish 18/2014 Law and the RDL 8/2014 regulating the professional activity of drones or RPAS operation, Drone by Drone operates flights beyond visual range or BVLOS, as stated in the business register operators authorized by AESA.
The aforementioned regulations state that BVLOS flights are those performed at a distance greater than 500m from the operator or pilot of the drone. To perform a BVLOS flight is not just enough to be an operating company enabled by EASA or to have qualified drone pilots ,but must publish a NOTAM for each operation to be performed. The drone with which carried out the flight must have a weight less than 2kg.
The NOTAM, according to its acronym in English "Notice to Airmen" is an aeronautical notification made by the Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) to inform users of the airspace of special circumstances, changes to the usual facilities or hazards in certain areas .
The main causes of publication of a NOTAM are as follows:
• hazards such as air shows or parachute jumps
• closed tracks or modifications to airport facilities
• radio navigation aids inoperative
• military exercises that impose restrictions on the use of airspace
• temporary presence of obstacles near airports
• activation or deactivation of restricted areas
• radio aids
Since the adoption of the rules governing the operation of the drones in Spain, one must also add the issue of NOTAM's by the presence of remotely piloted aircraft conducting operations beyond visual range.
Drone by Drone operates beyond visual range through its drone Sensefly eBee, a fixed wing RPA system that allows overflight of large areas. The Sensefly eBee has a takeoff weight less 2kg, so it is one of the few fixed-wing drones capable to carry out BVLOS operations.
In the attached picture you can see a flight beyond visual range on the Urdaibai estuary for assessing the quality of the sand with the corresponding NOTAM issued by the AIS.
The monitoring program corresponds to the autonomous flight mode under the supervision of one of our experienced pilots before takeoff.
In future articles we will explain the steps to follow for the publication of NOTAM's for operations beyond visual range by RPAS.
