African Design Magazine ADM #38 March 2018 | Page 9

DRONES
• Handover and maintenance inspections
• Building surveys on older buildings
• Live feed/virtual walk around, for high-
risk work on-site.
Be aware of the law
The South African Civil Aviation Authority
(SACAA) regulates civil aviation activities to
ensure acceptable levels of aviation safety
and security within both the corporate
and commercial sectors. In legislation
promulgated on 1 July 2015, SA-CAR Part
101 outlines various types of operation,
including restricted visual line of sight
(R-VLOS), visual line of sight (VLOS),
extended visual line of sight (E-VLOS),
beyond visual line of sight (B-VLOS),
operations in controlled airspace and
operations at night.
SA-CAR Part 101 stipulates that only a
person with a valid Remote Pilot Licence
(RPL) and who is working for a registered
aviation company (with a remote operating
certificate – ROC), may operate a drone.
The larger, more complex drones used
by professional operators are extremely
expensive to own and maintain.
Furthermore, obtaining an RPL is time-
consuming and costly and added to this
are incidental costs such as air service
licences and the remote operating
certificate. This is most likely why only 20
companies in South Africa have licences to
professionally operate drones.
Drones may only be operated in weather
conditions that allow unobstructed visual
contact between the drone and other
airspace users as well as with the operator,
unless they are to be used in B-VLOS or
night operations specifically approved by
SACAA. Public roads may not be used for
landing or taking off of drones, except in
cases of civil defence or law enforcement
operations as approved by SACAA.
General rules pertainin g to commercial use
of drones include the fact that they may
not fly directly overhead any person or
group of people within a lateral distance
of 50 m unless approved by SACAA. In
addition, no drone may be flown within
a lateral distance of 50 m from a building
or structure unless approved by SACAA
and with permission from the owner. A
functioning air-band radio must be used
by the registered operator and should be
tuned to the frequency of the air traffic
unit controlling the area or airspace in
question. In all instances of operation,
the drone should have an appropriate
separation from other aircraft.
It is therefore advised that organisations
need to be aware of the law as ignorance
is no defence in a court of law and
additionally, should they wish to employ
the services of a drone operator, they need
to perform a due diligence on them and
ensure that the necessary licensing and
certification is in place.
Read more on drone law in SA:
AFRICAN DESIGN MAGAZINE ©
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