Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Training - All Airspaces

BVLOS Operations in any Airpsace

For unrestricted BVLOS operation, in any airspace,  the pilot, or a crew member, must hold the CASA Instrument Rating Examination (IREX). This is a qualification in manned aviation that most professional commercial pilot's will hold.  Accessing pilots with IREX, is not always easy, and that's why, here at Dronestar™, we can act for you as a crew member in order for you to deliver BVLOS operations to your clients.

Having an IREX holder available to you, on your ReOC, allows you to plan and submit BVLOS applications for any job, anywhere and at any time.

Regardless of the path you choose, we would always suggest attaining the CASA BVLOS OCTA qualification - if nothing else, it will greatly enhance your operational safety, teach you about the rules of BVLOS flight in any airspace, and teaches you about the operation and separation requirement of  BVLOS flight in uncrewed aviation, from crewed aviation. Something even IREX holders do not know about. You can enrol into this course immediately and start learning.

BVLOS - Risk Assessment, Standard Scenarios, SORA and SAIL Determination

Regardless of your BVLOS operation, safety and risk and key components to a successful submission. The Joint Authority in Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems (JARUS), have developed a number of 'Standard Scenarios' or 'STS's', to assist you in submitting your BVLOS application. These scenarios fit some operations, especially in remote areas, ideal for BVLOS testing, but not really suitable for commercial operations around populated areas. For this type of operation, Specific Operations Risk Assessments (SORA 2.5) and Specific Assurance and Integrity Level (SAIL) along with Operational Safety Objectives (OSO), analysis is used.

Before any risk analysis commences, the application needs to include a clear description of what you intend to do. This is a called a Concept Of Operations, or CONOPs. Once this has been written, we can move onto risk analysis using SORA/SAIL /OSO analysis.

The purpose of this framework is to be able to repeatedly determine the 'risk' of any BVLOS operation, based on factors such as the size of the RPAS being used (i.e. if something goes wrong, the larger it is, the more energy it has, and therefore the more damage it could potentially do). Where the operation is - is there ANY chance, if something goes wrong, the aircraft could impact property or people. Are you in an airspace where there is a chance you could encounter manned aviation, and what are your contingencies around that? What are your contingencies in emergencies, and what will your aircraft do in a variety of emergency situations? What failsafes and backups do you have in place. 

This part of the flight plan analysis is call GRC and ARC determination - Ground Risk Class (GRC) and Air Risk Class (ARC). As these 'classes' are based on risk, we can see clearly that operations over people with a large, heavy aircraft carry far greater risk, and therefore require far greater contingency and safety considerations, than that of an operation planned in open space, over water, at low level in Class G airspace for example. This all forms part of grading our GRC and ARC determination.

Once we've determined GRC and ARC for our operation (the former which has recently been simplified with a CASA published Temporary Management Instruction(TMI), allowing for a more precise assessment of intrinsic Ground Risk (iGRC) more suited to our operational environment, and geography here in Australia), we may then need to add Tactical Mitigation Performance Requirements, or 'TMPRs' that may be needed to mitigate risk in either the ARC component (to ensure the chance of any mid-air incident or accident is reduced to an acceptable level). ARC is split into four categories. ARC-A (no performance, low risk), through ARC-D (high performance, high risk). In any ARC determination, the aircraft (and Pilot In Charge (PIC)) need to be able to identify other aircraft in their operational airspace.  Generally, for initial approvals and ongoing approvals, all applicants need to aim for an SAIL II or SAIL III which would include a Air Risk Contingency (ARC) of ARC-B (generally at 400' or below). However, this does cause a number of problems for BVLOS operations whereby ground clearance from uncharted obstacles up to 360 feet may not be attainable over land, as well as separation from manned VFR aircraft. All of which must be considered in any application.

The higher the aircraft performance, the better systems need other be in place to detect other aircraft, and avoid manned aviation conflict or incursion of separation requirements. Consideration is also given to adjacent airspaces in all applications. At this stage, the SAIL process can be completed in line with the CONOPs to finalise the submission to CASA.

That all sounds very intense, and initially it may be depending on what you want to achieve, but we'll help you all the way through, as well as write those procedures into your manuals for CASA approval with your submission.

BVLOS is extremely rewarding. It is all about safety. Prove that you can carry out your operation safely, using the correct 'risk' framework, comprehensively deliver your safety analysis in line with your CONOP's, and associated submission inclusions, and you will receive your approval. Contact us anytime.

Darren Froggatt BA(Hons) CPL/CIR/DiP Av ARN 595933 , Chief Remote Pilot and CEO, Dronestar™ Pty Ltd +61 0488 018102