[Cap'n Wannabe]

The latest blurb from The One, The Only.....*drumroll*.....Pip Spence!
(If you can handle more without overflowing the bucket, see here)

Director of Aviation Safety, Pip Spence

Remotely piloted aircraft are now well and truly a part of the aviation community, undertaking a wide range of commercial and community tasks, as well as bringing new people to flying for fun.

There are now more than 30,000 registered commercial drones, more than 22,000 licenced remote pilots and more than 2200 organisations holding remote certificates. This compares to about 15,000 registered aircraft, more than 31,000 current pilots and just under 800 air operator certificate holders.

CASA has a solid regulatory structure for drone safety, although the rapid development of the sector means we must continue to work to keep pace with technology. We are now seeing an increased focus on what is known as advanced air mobility.

This is defined as a safe and efficient aviation transportation system using highly automated aircraft transporting passengers or cargo at lower altitudes within urban and regional areas.

Clearly the introduction of advanced air mobility will bring regulatory and safety challenges which we have already begun to tackle.

Earlier this month I spoke at the Australian Association for Unmanned Systems 2021 summit and set out the issues and actions that are on our agenda.

Right now, CASA is working with industry on a regulatory safety roadmap that will outline both the strategic regulatory direction for the sector and provide an understanding of the specific implications of likely new regulatory requirements.

Key questions are being looked at such as where should CASA regulate and how does Australia compare to the rest of the world?

While in many ways we have a clean sheet to co-design a fit for purpose regulatory framework with industry, there are foundation safety issues that must be addressed.

These include the design, certification and airworthiness of new aircraft, the design and implementation of future airspace arrangements, training and licensing standards for pilots/controllers and standards for ground infrastructure.

The approach to these issues worldwide is initially being led by the way regulators currently manage safety in the crewed sector, but this will necessarily change as the technology drives us towards increasing levels of autonomy.

The central message I gave to the summit was that it is always important to remember that none of us 'do' safety for the sake of safety.

We 'do' safety because there is a public expectation that modes of transport made available to the community will have acceptable standards of safety – that the risks will be professionally and carefully managed.

This basic truth is fundamental, whether we are regulators, businesses or innovators and experimenters.

You can read my speech to the Australian Association for Unmanned Systems 2021 summit.

All the best

Pip