On June 4, the new Royal Decree 517/2024 regarding the use of UAS in Spain was approved by the Council of Ministers, after an impatient wait by all members of the state's drone sector.
The new RD 517/2024 harmonizes the flight criteria included in the European regulations, both in the Implementing Regulation and in the Delegated Regulation, repealing the previous RD1036/2027 and chapter XI of RD1180/2018, which had already been become obsolete with respect to the new operational concepts based on the risk of operation using unmanned aircraft.
The main new aspects of RD 517/2024 are the following:
- The insurance obligation discussed in article 8 differs significantly from the current situation, with aeronautical civil liability insurance only being necessary for operations within the open category, subcategory A2 and for operations in the specific and certified categories.
This aspect represents a great relief for operations in subcategory A3, due to the low risk they pose compared to the risk on the ground, allowing amateurs to fly in more advantageous and simple conditions.
- Chapter III of RD 517/2024 deals with NON-EASA operations, carried out by the FFCCSS and those organizations vested with public authority or operators designated for this, for fire fighting (LCI) and search and rescue (SAR). ). NON-EASA operations under the new Spanish regulations are carried out in a manner more in line with the flight criteria of the European regulations, and must comply with the flight categories established in Implementing Regulation 947/2019 and its successive revisions. This will allow these operations to be carried out in a more flexible manner than to date. To do this, operators who are going to carry out this type of operations must register as UAS operators with AESA, but it is not necessary for them to file an operational declaration for the flight under standard scenarios. For flights outside the standard scenarios of the specific category, an operational authorization will not be required, although they must have a safety study and risk analysis based on the SORA and AMC's.
For the certified category, LCI and SAR operators must be certified.
- Chapter IV talks about training, defining new figures such as authorized entities, which may be legal or natural persons (articles 20 and 21), or entities designated for training in a specific category under operational authorization.
Common provisions are established for authorized, recognized and designated entities.
- Chapter V defines a new way for pilots to be certified to carry out aeronautical communications, requiring them to have a theoretical training certificate as a radio operator issued by the State Aviation Safety Agency and a practical training certificate as a radio operator. issued by an examiner authorized by the State Aviation Safety Agency.
- Under the protection of article 15 of Implementing Regulation 947/2019, the new geographic zones of UAS are defined, for the use of airspace according to the access limitations by 'zones'.
One of the novelties within this chapter V is the new definition of the general UAS geographical area for operational safety in the environment of aerodromes and heliports (art 41), which replaces the current security areas of aerodromes and heliports. . To carry it out in these areas, coordination by the area's airspace manager will be required.
The other novelty is the definition of the geographical zones of UAS in controlled airspace and FIZ (art 42), in which the flight of UAS is allowed without coordination or authorization up to 60m high, as long as the operation is outside of those previously defined in the surroundings of aerodromes and heliports.
In addition, the new geographic areas of general UAS are defined for reasons of citizen security and protection of people and property in urban environments (art 40), in which operation is limited in these highly sensitive and high-risk areas on land. As until now, a Prior Communication must be made to the Ministry of the Interior (5 days in advance instead of the current 10 days) and limitations on overflight of buildings are proposed for flight categories A1 with C1 and A2 with C2.
- Chapter VI deals with registrations, defining the main novelty as the establishment of a registration system for unmanned aircraft with the Ministry of the Interior, both for owners and for marketing and sale, which should result in a more responsible use. of this type of aircraft.
- The common administrative provisions contained in Chapter VIII include different aspects, among which the validity of the radio operator certificates issued under the protection of RD 1036/2017 stands out as important. These certificates will be valid for 2 years.
The new Royal Decree 517/2024 will come into force 20 days after its publication in the BOE, and will allow us to develop operations under European standards with modernized regulatory concepts in accordance with European regulations. Administrations must adapt according to the issues that affect them directly, such as the reorganization of UAS geographic zones by ENAIRE on the drones.enaire.es website.
