Australian drone pilots can receive automated airspace approval

The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) now allows Aussie drone pilots to receive automated airspace approvals in Wing Aviation‘s OpenSky drone safety app. The automated process is a first in the country and will allow pilots to become more productive.

The program is rolling out in a beta form right now, which will first be available to chief remote pilots holding a remotely piloted operator’s certificate (ReOC). The program will also only allow for three specific locations to receive the automated process as bugs, and any issues are ironed out.

CASA and Wing will also use the beta to collect valuable data, which will help shape future regulations and how the process is done. Once the beta is complete and both parties are happy with the results, the automated approvals will be expected to roll out to all airports and airspace in the country.

If you are interested in using the new feature, please fill out this form to join the OpenSky Automated Approval Beta. You can also catch Wing Aviation at this year’s AAUS – RPAS in Australian Skies Conference, where Wing’s head of UTM Reinaldo Negron will discuss the new features in the app and UTM as a whole.

The Wing team recently added important new features to the app to improve drone pilots’ safety around the country. If you’re about to take off and there happens to be an active fire nearby, the app will warn you of the fire and tell you to keep it on the ground. This feature that OpenSky users have wanted since the app’s launch is more important than ever with the massive wildfires taking over Australia and the world.

The other addition to the app is national park warning zones. If you intend to take off from within a national park in Australia, all 681 of them, OpenSky will warn you and tell you to check with the park authorities to see if you can and any paperwork you have to fill in to fly.

On a smaller note, the Romeo 405 (R405) restricted area or the Sydney Harbor restriction has been updated to the correct boundary along the harbor’s edge – removing the chance of accidental illegal flights from happening in one of the most-flown locations in Australia.

A feature that is still soon to come but isn’t ready to launch just yet is Logbook. This will also allow the app to notify you of any airspace restriction changes before you take off. The log will also keep track of the pilot’s information, the drone’s information, the flight path, flight duration, and anything else required by the government.

Photo: Wing Aviation

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