UK UAS Services – Customer guidance

If you are considering engaging the services of a UAS Service provider in UK either as a commercial or as a domestic customer, you may wish to read on.

A service provider delivering a service in UK that utilises small unmanned aircraft systems for collecting data and imagery commercially, are legally required to apply to the CAA to allow them to operate. They will also require other policies, certificates and documents to support CAA certificate. This is similar to engaging other support services such as gas fitters (Gas Safe).

This article is aimed to be a brief explanation of the minimum evidence that you should expect to see as a customer from the sUAS (In our case an airvehicle less than 20 kgs) service provider in UK. It is not complicated, although some commercial organisations are making money from complicating it.

There are 3 main areas of documentary evidence relevant to a customer:

1. CAA Approval certificate – The operator should have a CAA certificate (Or copy) which clearly states the limitations and boundaries for operation. This typically is on a single page with who, where, when and how the operator is allowed to operate.
2. Pilot / Crew certification – As stipulated in the CAA certificate above, a pilot/crew member should have evidence to align with the requirements.
3. Insurance certificate – A valid certificate of insurance for a minimum of 3^rd party damage, is required by law.

The above are the basic legal requirements that we at A J S would suggest you ask for. Seeing these will give you a warm feeling that the operator is on the right track for safe legal operation.  Our further advice when selecting the provider, is not to be drawn in by and sold solely on a glossy certificate, there are many other signs that a service provider operates safely. As with other service providers you use, look for recommended providers or dig a little deeper.

READERS PLEASE BE AWARE - There is not one size fits all for the pilot certification. There are a whole range of aviation professionals including professional pilots and professional UAV pilots that are commercially operating sUAS in UK legally, and they are doing so under evidence to the CAA based on combinations of experience and/or qualifications. Contrary to some sales pitches, these are often the most professional that you will find in the country to deliver the  service to you.

The CAA references applicable are:

CAP 393 – AIR NAVIGATION: THE ORDER AND THE REGULATIONS – http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP393.pdf

CAP 722 – UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM OPERATIONS IN UK AIRSPACE – GUIDANCE – http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP722.pdf

Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs in 2011

The end of another year at A J S Support Ltd approaches. As with many small businesses in the current climate, 2011 has brought the usual Trials and Tribulations, but we have had our share of Triumphs too. We have emerged better qualified, more experienced and with improved business resilience.

Looking back we view 2011 as a successful year. We have continued our support to Defence customers, we have made some progress with our commercial use of unmanned air systems and we have emerged better experienced and qualified in all areas of our business.

We are particularly pleased with this year completing our first contract at the MoD centre at Abbey Wood. We continue to be optimistic about our future support for the defence industry despite drastic MoD cuts and tightening funding constraints. We are already engaging in discussions for potential contract opportunities for 2012.

A J S considers short and long-term planning as essential to its business. This assists us to maximise the use of limited resource and to continue to work towards our overall business aims.  A large proportion of 2011 was set aside for us to focus on our training and qualifications. This activity included: training and experience in Defence procurement, accountancy and elements of sUAS certification and operation.

Internally we were investing in accountancy training. Partly driven by individual employee goals but also as an investment for the skills to be utilised in future as a business support service providing book-keeping assistance.

With our reliable and wind tolerant air system we have successfully maintained an effective flying rate and our pilot currency throughout 2012. sUAS Pilot confidence and experience has improved drastically on the back of our continuous pilot development plan incorporating basic rotary and aircraft system specific training. Most importantly we have gained valuable knowledge and experience of deployed operational support and maintenance of the systems.

In 2011 we have continued to monitor for changes to the law for operating UAS commercially in UK. This year has seen new operators springing up and others fading away. With rumour and conjecture rife in the industry, we continue to witness new operators commercially exploited during this time of change, with some organisations providing inflated performance claims and misinformation regarding the legal requirements, all to suit short-term aims. This remains for us an interesting and challenging market to be involved in. Bring on 2012 !!!

Seasons Cheer for 2011

As we prepare for the A J S annual Christmas meal at the end of another busy year, our thoughts turn to our Armed Forces who are not so safe and sound for this Christmas period,. We will be thinking of them and raise a glass to those and all our absent friends.

Thank you to our customers and also the subscribers and casual visitors to this blog; for their continued custom and support.

As the temperature falls and the wind blows here in Wiltshire, we wish to send you all some seasonal cheer, with a few words from Sir Walter Scott to get us in the spirit:

Heap on the wood!
The wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year .

Thank you again for your support.

The A J S Team

sUAS pilot reaches 50 hours flying hours

In March this year we reassessed our approach and the support equipment for our potential Remote Survey Support Service (R3S). The result was a change from a microdrones quad rotor system, to a more conventional rotary winged system based on a radio controlled airframe with an integrated auto stabilisation and control system (Carvec Kestrel 1000 ES). The reasons for this system change are covered earlier in this blog.

With this markedly different system we needed to take a structured training and experience programme integrated with the service development. In terms of pilot flight training and experience, our target was to undertake initial 5 hours structured instruction from RC Helicopter schools and emergency service experienced instructors. This was to be supplemented by a foundation of 80 hours plus simulator experience.

On the previous microdrone system we had over 16 hours flight operation time. This was useful pilot experience for basic control coordination and operating in the field etc.

Since the initial procurement of the new system we have undertaken 3.5 flight hours basic RC Helicopter instruction from two professional schools. We have had 2 flight hours essential Carvec System training from an experienced instructor for the emergency services. We have also purchased a desktop simulation system and a 600 sized basic RC Helicopter for continuation training and to maintain currency (Align Trex 600 ESP). To date we have clocked over 80 flight hours on the simulator. Very early on in the process we were advised that the best use of the simulator was to carry out all new manoeuvres and operations on the sim until the operator can carry them out naturally, before proceeding with practical training. We took this on board and have added an additional step using the basic training rc helicopter to learn the basic ‘feel’ before we carry out the same operation on the Carvec system.

We feel that although the operator training has been slower, the development has been in a safe and structured manner. This should make it easier to replicate for additional operators if necessary.

As a result we have flown a number of air vehicles and systems. Our Carvec and training systems are both electrically powered with flight durations of between 6 mins for the trainer to 15 mins for the Carvec airvehicle. When we write below that we have flown 50 hours, this equates to a large number of flights.

80 – hours simulator flight hours.
19.1 – basic radio controlled helicopter flight hours including 3.5 hours instruction
16.1 – microdrones system flight hours
16.2 – Carvec flight hours including 2 hours instruction.

We are looking forward to using this experience when the service goes live in April 2011.

Thales UAV achieves 30,000 hours.

The British Army’s Hermes 450 (H450) unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) supplied by Thales UK under an Urgent Operational Requirement contract have achieved the outstanding milestone of providing over 30,000 hours of support to UK forces on current operations in Afghanistan.

Picture from Defence Website article.

An achievement that demonstrates that the technology of small and UAS can deliver a reliable capability in adverse conditions.

The full report is on the Defence News website.

FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2010

This gallery contains 6 photos.

On previous years AJS have been unable to attend this event due to essential contracting commitments. So this year we made a special effort. Cooperative clients and ninja diary juggling this year meant we have squeezed in a valuable visit. … Continue reading →

UAS Training

We have completed our second week of desk top simulator training for our rotary winged UAS. The basic airframe is a tried and tested radio controlled model with enhancements including a suite of auto stabilisation and auto flight control systems. We have therefore chosen to spend some initial training time on a desktop rc simulator using the UAS controller to gain experience of bare back helicopter control.

I have been pleasantly surprised at the graphics quality and airvehicle control response from the software. It can become tedious when atempting to hover and land over and over again in the same surroundings day after day, so the range of sites to fly around is good. 

The simulator software also has some invaluable features to help a novice learn to fly. For example the system can fly in Teacher / Student mode. This allows a student to have one or more controls which makes the initial experience less over whelming.

 

After two weeks we are taking off, hovering (Loosely) and landing. The crashes are less frequent now

…. phew!

WE HAVE MOVED

I must apologise for the inconvenience of this blog moving, but we have moved the content and are now updating this blog on our own site at http://www.ajs-support.net/blog/

We have received over 5000 visits since we started a few months ago, we hope that you can join us at the new address from now on.

Thank you for your support.

AJS

NEW UAS TRAINING BOOKED

Our Kestrel 1000ES operators training is booked for the beginning of March 2010 at Carvec Systems Limited.

This remote aerial imagery service developement is planned to commence in early March 2010. We are keen to start operating the new equipment to experience the improvements over our previously disappointing microdrone MD4-200 system.

NEW UAS

KESTREL 1000ES

We have finally selected the UAS to enhance our Remote Imagery Support Service. It is  a Kestrel 1000ES. The Kestrel is in use with Scottish & Southern Energy and has been in operation with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service for 20 months, successfully completing over 130 flights.

The system is currently being built. We are looking to take delivery of the air vehicle early in the New Year. Follow our microdrone operators blog here.