Dubai: The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority will restrict access to retail aerial drones only to those who have registered and are trained to operate the devices without posing a danger to others.
A new online system dubbed Sky Commander Tracking Programme that went live in January and monitored by civil aviation authorities will complement the new measures by ensuring operators file individual pre-approved flight plans in non-secure airspace zones.
The new registration measures are expected to come into force next month and help prevent costly drone intrusions that led to passenger delays and several temporary closures of Dubai International Airport in 2016.
Mohammad Abdulla Ahi, Director-General of the DCAA, confirmed with Gulf News that new regulations are in the final stages of preparation for imminent rollout.
“We are collectively working on it as a state and at the local level. We have to control this, we have to use this, it is very useful,” Ahli said on Tuesday at the World Aviation Safety Summit in Dubai.
The new measures are designed to stem the flow of illegal drones wandering into tightly-controlled air space where they risk colliding in midair with commercial aircraft.
Michael Rudolph, Head of Airspace Safety Section at the DCAA, said new restrictions will go a long way to taking potentially drones out of sensitive airspace making flight paths in and out of the Dubai airport safer for passenger travel.
He acknowledged that widely available drone “technology has been allowed to escape for some time from the market” but pledged that tightened measures will now ensure all drones and their operators will be known entities operating in Dubai.
Operators are “less likely” to commit airspace infractions, he said, when all of their actions are recorded and linked to a registered person.
Rudolph said that applicants will be subjected to security checks and once approved will be given standardised official operator cards issued by the DCAA akin to a regular Dubai driver’s licence.
There is no age limit for the operator cards as of yet but Rudolph said the authority is considering a minimum age of 15.
Cards will be issued in three categories ranging from a blue-colored commercial card and red-coloured hobbyist card to a white temporary-user card, all of which, will be recognisable to police and other authorities in Dubai, he said.
To date, Rudolph, there are around 1,000 registered drones with the DCAA, including 60 commercial aerial devices.
The new DCAA drone tracking programme that went live in the new year is working well so far, said Rudolph, who gave a live demonstration of the system for delegates attending the aviation summit.
Rudolph logged on to the online portal dubbed TRAX and followed a live drone hovering in air space around the Burj Khalifa and noted that all of the drone’s details, including its certification number, were listed.
All drones in operation in Dubai airspace are shown on the live portal map and indicate the flight plans for each indicating the DCAA pre-approved area for operation, flying height as well as the speed at which the drone is travelling.
If an operator breaches the pre-approved flight plan, an alert is issued within the tracking system adnd DCAA can terminate approval and order the drone grounded. The operator is notified immediately to land the craft or face stiff fines under the new regulations to be announced.
When the operator has completed a safe and approved flight plan, Rudolph said that “every single parameter of flight has been recorded” in the system for later review if needed.
