The Sky Is A Limit

The growing interest in using pilotless drone aircraft is bringing new regulatory challenges, writes Leonidas Kanellos.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. Drones, also referred to as remotely piloted aviation systems, are usually employed by military services but increasingly in a number of commercial and civil applications.

Types of drones

There are two types of drones:

• Remotely piloted aviation systems (RPAS), where the aircraft is controlled by a human pilot from a distant location, these being the only types of drones that can be authorised currently for use in European Union (EU) airspace
• Unmanned drones, which are automatically programmed without being piloted, even remotely, and which are not yet authorised for use, neither by ICAO nor under EU rules.

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