The Australian Association for Unmanned Systems (AAUS) is holding its “RPAS in Australian skies” conference on July 17-18 in Canberra.
The two-day event aims to raise awareness about and discuss the safe integration of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) in Australian skies.
Delegates will hear from regulatory bodies including Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Airservices Australia and the Australian Defence Force.
There conference program includes sessions on future infrastructure requirements to enable drone delivery and urban air mobility, training requirements for future RPAS operators and airspace and air traffic management.
Drones, as these aircraft are commonly known, are a growing part of the aviation scene with commercial and military applications such as agriculture, mining, search and rescue, urban planning, as well as among recreational users.
Large-scale projects include the development of flying air taxis such as the Cora project in New Zealand,
Closer to home, in April CASA approved Wing Aviation to deliver food and non-prescription medicines to homes in northern Canberra using remotely piloted aircraft, following an 18-month trial.
And in early July, Wing Aviation, part of US-based company X that was founded by Alphabet (which owns Google), launched the first CASA-approved drone safety app, which provided information on where operators could safely and lawfully fly their aircraft in Australia.
The app is part of CASA’s RPAS digital platform, which aims to integrate third-party apps to its proposed drone registration system, as well as allow licenced operators to submit flight authorisation requests, automate approvals to operate within 3 NM of a controlled aerodrome, where safe to do so, and provide the building blocks for a future RPA traffic management system.
“The development of our platform aligns with the broader whole-of-government approach to ‘open data’ in order to improve services to the community,” CASA said in a statement on July 3.
“It is also another first step in helping us to integrate drones into Australian airspace safely and efficiently.”
CASA approved drone safety apps have replaced its “Can I fly there?” that was launched in xxx and was being withdrawn.
More details about the conference can be found on the AAUS website.
*Australian Aviation is a media partner of the AAUS RPAS in Australian skies conference.
