The State Agency for Aviation Safety (AESA) has recently published a resolution GR-D-031 endorsed in the BOE on Wednesday, December 11, which defines the new national standard scenarios for NON-EASA operations within the specific category, for the performance of emergency work, either by bodies vested with public authority (direct activities) or by UAS operators required by them (indirect activities).
The new national standard scenarios STS-ES-01NE and STS-ES-02NE have been defined for operations in urban environments within visual range (VLOS) and for operations beyond visual range (BVLOS), respectively. These new scenarios are very similar to the STS-ES that can only be operated until the end of 2025, so the publication of these new NON-EASA scenarios will facilitate the operation of UAS for military, customs control, police, search and rescue, firefighting, border control or coastal surveillance purposes.
Basically, they are scenarios very similar to the STS-ES except that they comply with the new national regulations, RD517/2024. The main novelty is that the UAS with which both scenarios can be operated do not have to have a class C5 or C6 label, respectively, clearly differentiating them from European STS.
The new training of UAS pilots for this type of scenarios has been defined, and the new theoretical-practical and practical training requirements for the Authorized Entities are published. After analysing the publication in the BOE, it can be seen that pilots who possess a certificate of theoretical STS knowledge and practical training accreditations for the European STS, STS-ES or STS-ES-NE, will be able to operate UAS within the respective NON-EASA national standard scenario.
As established by RD517/2024, bodies vested with public authority that operate under these new NON-EASA scenarios do not have to make an operational declaration for them. This is not the case for UAS operators who are required to carry out NON-EASA operations under the specific category within these scenarios, who must issue an operational declaration for each of the two scenarios.
Operators carrying out NON-EASA activities or services have until 25/06/2025 to fully adapt to the provisions of Royal Decree 517/2024, except for the use of airspace and geographic areas of UAS, which is applicable to them since its entry into force, so operators must coordinate or obtain the relevant authorizations as appropriate.
Until the full adaptation of NON-EASA activities occurs, the provisions of RD 1036/2017 will apply to these operations.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to consult the part of the AESA website where these new scenarios are mentioned, or you can contact us.
