Highlights and Insights from ADW, EASA HLC and Airspace World
This past month has been all about drones and airspace management. CANSO Airspace World 2023 kickstarted the month to discuss ATM and the emerging technologies reshaping the industry.
The aim this year was to bring together regulatory bodies and industry experts from all over the world to discuss multiple aspects. This event was closely followed by Amsterdam Drone week and the EASA High Level Conference, all of which were great opportunities for Team ANRA to catch up with old friends, make new friends, and participate on panels and discussions.
Airspace World included discussion around the UAS Regulation implementation – review of lessons learned, challenges and opportunities, building UAM ecosystem and setting up a realistic program implementation. The experts in attendance discussed the European Commission‘s U-space regulation and its implementation by the member states at Amsterdam Drone Week.
Additionally, ANRA was pleased to join the EASA High-Level Conference on Drones and engaged in discussions aimed at fostering collaboration and information-sharing among regulators and industry stakeholders.
UTM implementation is accelerating globally, with the European U-Space being the topic on everyone’s agenda, and BVLOS operations are generating momentum for the drone industry, as they continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with uncrewed aircraft.
We had the honor to speak about ANRA’s journey towards a USSP certification on a panel at both the events alongside other industry members and experts. As a team, we covered various aspects of the USSP certification process in different countries and in different roles. It was great to see industry experts from diverse backgrounds and business motivations come together to exchange ideas and insights
We had the opportunity to discuss the steps to be taken and specific scenarios that should be considered when assessing the adequacy of the existing regulatory framework addressing the operator responsibilities.
ANRA also attended and supported the EUROCONTROL-led workshop event which focused on the items that we need to work on as U-Space community in support of the implementation across member states. Three workshops were held in parallel, where we discussed in interactive sessions Civil-Mil U-Space test centers and impact of supplementary services, such as weather, on delivery of U-Space services.
The working group created a high-level business model for USSP deployment. The meeting highlighted the progress being made across Europe, despite the challenges facing the implementation of U-Space. It became obvious that there will be variation in the deployments across member states, so a flexible but structured approach is necessary.
To increase community acceptance, the benefits provided by drones should be emphasized promoting the fact that the benefits and opportunities far outweigh any potential drawbacks. There is overarching acceptance of the use of drones to save lives and provide essential services, however it is crucial to garner widespread support of drones in commercial services to create a viable business model for the industry.
