Aviation: India gets its first policy for drones; adopts all-digital process, issues guidelines

The Civil Aviation Ministry today came up with India's first policy to regulate sales, purchase and use of drones. Named as Drone Regulations 1.0, it provides guidelines and has provision for stricter penalties under various sections of IPC.

The ministry has been working for several years to establish a fool-proof drone ecosystem in India.  

During the unveiling of the policy, Minister of State Jayant Sinha said, “We want to establish a world-leading drone ecosystem. These regulations firmly place us among the global leaders. Our policy roadmap will certainly provide a strong impetus to all players in the drone ecosystem. We hope that these initiatives will enable us to create a vibrant new industry.”

Nowadays, drones have a wide range of applications from photography to agriculture, from infrastructure asset maintenance to insurance. Drones range in size from very small and those that can carry multiple kilograms of payload.

"It was necessary to develop global standard drone regulations that would permit, will appropriate safeguards, the commercial application of various drone technologies. The preparation of these drone regulations through a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) has taken multiple years because: (1) drone technologies have been evolving very rapidly; (2) many countries are still experimenting with their drone regulations and no ICAO stands have been developed; and (3) India’s security environment necessitates extra precautions," said the ministry.

India has opted for an all-digital process for registering and operating drones, the ministry statement said.

"Instead of simply digitizing a paper-based process for registering and operating drones, India has formulated an all-digital process. The Digital Sky Platform is the first-of-its-kind national unmanned traffic management (UTM) platform that implements “no permission, no takeoff” (NPNT)," it said.

Users will be required to do a one-time registration of their drones, pilots and owners. For every flight (exempted for the nano category), users will be required to ask for permission to fly on a mobile app and an automated process permits or denies the request instantly.

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"To prevent unauthorized flights and to ensure public safety, any drone without a digital permit to fly will simply not be able to takeoff. The UTM operates as a traffic regulator in the drone airspace and coordinates closely with the defense and civilian air traffic controllers (ATCs) to ensure that drones remain on the approved flight paths," the ministry said.

The ministry said that these regulations will enable a safe and commercial usage of drones.

"Today we are announcing Drone Regulations 1.0. These regulations will enable the safe, commercial usage of drones starting December 1, 2018. Drone Regulations 1.0 are intended to enable visual line-of-sight daytime-only and a maximum of 400 ft altitude operations," it said.

The ministry has partitioned the air-space into three zones - Red Zone (flying not permitted), Yellow Zone (controlled airspace), and Green Zone (automatic permission).

Key features of Drone Regulations 1.0:

* The regulation will be effective from 1st December, 2018
* There are 5 categories of RPAS (drones) categorized by weight, namely nano, micro, small, medium and large.
* All RPAS except nano and those owned by NTRO, ARC and Central Intelligence Agencies are to be registered and issued with Unique Identification Number (UIN).
* Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (UAOP) shall be required for RPA operators except for nano RPAS operating below 50 ft., micro RPAS operating below 200 ft., and those owned by NTRO, ARC and Central Intelligence Agencies.
* The mandatory equipment required for operation of RPAS except nano category are (a) GNSS (GPS), (b) Return-To-Home (RTH), (c) Anti-collision light, (d) ID-Plate, (e)  Flight controller with flight data logging capability, and (f) RFID and SIM/ No-Permission No Take off (NPNT).

As of now, RPAS to operate within visual line of sight (VLoS), during daytime only, and up to maximum400 ft. altitude.

For flying in controlled Airspace, filing of the flight plan and obtaining Air Defence Clearance (ADC) /Flight Information Centre (FIC) number shall be necessary.

No Drone Zones:
* The regulation defines “No Drone Zones” around airports; near an international border, Vijay Chowk in Delhi; State Secretariat Complex in State Capitals, strategic locations/vital and military installations; etc.

Operations through Digital Platform:
* Operations of RPAS to be enabled through Digital Sky Platform. The RPAS operations will be based on NPNT (No Permission, No Take off). The details including links for the digital sky platform shall be available on DGCA website from 1st December, 2018. There will be different colour zones visible to the applicant while applying in the digital sky platform, viz, Red Zone: flying not permitted, Yellow Zone (controlled airspace): permission required before flying, andGreen Zone (uncontrolled airspace): automatic permission.

Enforcement Actions:
* The enforcement actions are, (a) suspension/ cancellation of UIN/ UAOP in case of violation of regulatory provisions, (b) actions as per relevant Sections of the Aircraft Act 1934, or Aircraft Rules, or any statutory provisions, and (c) penalties as per applicable IPCs (such as 287, 336, 337, 338, or any relevant section of IPC).

Drone Regulations 2.0

The ministry also said that a Drone Task Force under the chairmanship of the Minister of State will provide draft recommendations for Drone Regulations 2.0. 

These regulations will examine the following issues:

* Certification of safe and controlled operation of drone hardware and software,
* Air space management through automated operations linked into overall airspace management framework,
* Beyond visual-line-of-sight operations,
* Contribution to establishing global standards,
* Suggestions for modifications of existing CARs and/or new CARs.