ICAO
By Adekunle Williams and Solomon Asowata
Lagos, April 9, 2018 (NAN) The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) says it has started working on how to establish low-altitude traffic management guidance for domestic unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
The President of the ICAO Council, Dr Bernard Aliu, said this on Monday in a statement in Lagos.
Aliu said that the guidance became necessary because drone deliveries, drone inspections and even autonomous flying taxis were nearing term realities.
He said that there was the need to make these services safe and efficient.
He said that ICAO recognised that an agreed global approach would greatly assist businesses and others in launching their UAS services with suitable levels of investment confidence and operational safety.
Aliu said against this background, ICAO would convene a second “DRONE ENABLE” event for Sept. 13 to Sept. 14, in Chengdu, China.
According to him, its focus will be to bring together experts and innovators from the industry, the academia and other areas to brainstorm on how ICAO can coordinate the development of UAS activities.
He said it would also help to safely integrate the UAS traffic management systems with the existing conventional air traffic management systems.
Aliu said: “Many new proposals and innovations are emerging on a daily basis regarding unmanned aircraft and their operations at low altitudes.
“ICAO is the natural agency to bring together the best and brightest from government and industry to define how these aircraft can be safely integrated into modern airspace.
“It will also in a way optimises their benefits globally for the wide range of public and private sector operators.”
He recalled that during ICAO’s 39th Assembly in October 2016, governments from across the world requested that it should develop a practical regulatory framework for national UAS activities.
He said this was in addition to the standards it was already developing for international operations. (NAN)
WAC/ASO/JI/PAD
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Edited by Joseph Idika/Peter Dada