NAN-H-58
Regulations
By Sumaila Ogbaje
Abuja, July 17, 2017 (NAN) Dr Bernard Aliu, President International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) said that the organisation would help member states to develop regulations for the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) also known as drones.
Aliu disclosed this at the RPAS Symposium organised by ICAO in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Transportation in Abuja on Monday.
He said that the flipside of the dynamic growth in opportunity presented by RPAS technology was the challenge of balancing safety and security with efficiency and sustainability.
According to him, the onus of succeeding in this challenge obviously falls on the shoulders of regulators, who must work to craft and establish a well-structured and appropriate regulatory framework.
“Many states and organisations are contributing to this process, and ICAO’s mission to ensure global harmonisation of the various solutions set out is now more important than ever.
“During our 39th Assembly in October 2016, the subject unmanned aviation was raised numerous times, particularly in the Technical Commission.
“The issues are the increasing challenges states are facing in developing drone regulations and the increasing report of close encounters between commercial air transport aircraft and drones.
“As a result, the Assembly requested that ICAO expand its scope of work to provide a baseline of provisions to ensure global harmonisation for all types of unmanned aircraft and their operations including domestic,’’ he said.
Aliu explained that the key challenge ICAO was facing was that these unmanned aircraft were designed and developed for diverse applications such as recreational videotaping, humanitarian support, wildlife monitoring and cargo delivery.
He added that new personal taxi drones or unmanned aircraft systems were also designed for the provision of internet bandwidth in remote communities.
Another challenge according to him is the number of these aircraft because literally thousands are being sold daily at present.
“And again, they are equally diverse in their characteristics and features and many are being sold to individuals who are unfamiliar with how to operate them safely and responsibly in an aviation environment.
“Prior to initiating this expanded work programme, ICAO had to develop a new methodology that would provide the agility necessary to respond to such a rapidly evolving industry.
“Standards which take three to five years to develop and another two years to adopt cannot meet that demand in the timeframe which is required in order to assure continued safe and efficient operations,’’ he said.
Also speaking, the Secretary-General, African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), Mr Iyabo Sosina said the use of RPAS could create risk to security and safety of airspace if not regulated.
Sosina said the symposium would create opportunity for stakeholders, manufacturers, users as well as the regulators to discuss the efficient use of drones system.
She urged the regulators of the industry in Africa to avoid the temptation of indiscriminate use of RPAS and urged ICAO to set the pace in developing standard regulatory framework for its members. (NAN)
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Edited by Ese E. Ekama