Ease Of Flying Drones: Start-ups Want Govt To Relax Norms For Commercial Drones

Drone startups in India have written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) over several provisions in the draft regulations, reports Inc42. The DGCA had released its draft regulations in October 2017 in order to allow commercial operations of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. Under the regulations, all drones will require a Unique Identification Number (UIN) and an Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (UAOP).

The draft includes additional regulations for specific drones, especially those carrying a load of 2 kg and and operate at a height of over 200 feet. Such drones would additionally require clearance from the Air Force. Startups have demanded that the weight limit be extended to 4 kg and the height limit to 400 feet.

Speaking to The Economic Times, Yeshwanth Reddy, co-founder of Aarav Unmanned Vehicles said, “Drones should be allowed for modern applications, however, for a number of commercial applications, it is not possible to fly drones below 200 Ft. Almost in all other countries, which have framed regulations for drones, drones are allowed to fly upto 400 feet for commercial applications. There are several safety concerns with drones under 200 feet”.

With the rules still ambiguous, especially in matters relating to registration and compliance, firms have asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for faster clearance of regulatory procedures since all drones have to be registered and geo-tagged.

Globally, drones have increasingly found applications in various sectors such as agriculture, logistics, e-commerce, infrastructure and disaster management.