Stuart Keenan

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Stuart Keenan made Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society

We are pleased to announce that our previous Chair ARPAS-UK, Stuart Keenan, of ARPAS-UK Member Frazer-Nash Consultancy has recently been awarded the grade of Fellow by the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), the highest grade attainable by the organisation.

Stuart said, “It is a great honour to be recognised by the RAeS for my achievements, particularly around the excellent cutting-edge drone development work my team has been involved with over recent years. This includes the development of novel UAS concepts as well as enabling future drone use cases by pushing the boundaries of regulation whilst remaining acceptably safe.”

Congratulations Stuart on this fantastic achievement!

Stuart is the Head of Unmanned Air Systems at Frazer-Nash Consultancy, and his vision is for drones to be commonplace in a way that safely benefits society. Stuart’s area helps organisations to make the most of drones, with 2 key focus areas: drone consultancy services, and the manufacture of bespoke drone systems for niche customer use cases.

Stuart is a CAA qualified SUAS pilot, and the SUAS Accountable Manager for his company, as well as being the UAS technical expert for safety and regulation. Under Stuart’s leadership, the Frazer-Nash drone business has grown in under 5 years from very little to a turnover of £multi-millions, and he is now leading activity to allow Frazer-Nash’s expertise to benefit the exciting growth areas of UAM and UTM.

Stuart has a background in aviation safety, developed during his 16-year career as an RAF engineer officer, which culminated in him designing, developing and introducing the Air Safety Information Management System (ASIMS) across the whole of the UK military air domain – ASIMS has become the tool which has underpinned significant increases in air safety performance standards across Defence aviation.

Stuart is a chartered engineer and a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and has a BEng(Hons) Aeronautical Engineering degree from Loughborough University, as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from Cranfield University.

March 2023

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ARPAS-UK announces Executive Team changes to Support UK’s Expanding Drone Sector

ARPAS-UK strengthens the executive team to support growth of the commercial drone sectors and to realise Government-backed research that predicts drones could contribute an additional £42 billion in economic growth and 650,000 potential new jobs by 2030.

The UK’s drone association ARPAS-UK has announced new Directors, Chair, and CEO in a move to support the UK’s fast-developing commercial drone sector, across a spectrum of industry applications. The appointments include Aleks Kowalski and Chris Daniels as new directors. In addition, new roles to support the industry focus on growth and further develop ARPAS-UK are as follows:

  • Graham Brown is appointed as Chairman of the board. Graham has been CEO for over four years and has relentlessly promoted ARPAS-UK’s position as the unique trade association and voice for the drone community in the UK with a broad range of stakeholders;
  • Stuart Keenan is appointed as Vice-Chairman. Stuart has served as Chairman and will continue to support the organisation to drive the industry forward;
  • Anne-Lise Scaillierez is appointed as CEO of the organisation. Anne-Lise has been a Director since 2018 and has played an active role as Director of Finance and in providing fair and balanced intelligence to national stakeholders to support the drone community’s recognition;
  • Rupert Dent will continue to support the organisation as Director, Policy and Regulations. Rupert plays a vital role in advocating proportionate regulations and standards, and acting as a respected regulation counterpart to the authorities and members alike.

Aleks Kowalski  has joined the ARPAS-UK board of directors. Aleks looks at the longer-term strategic importance for ARPAS in bringing together all UAS pilots, large and small, and the ecosystems around them.

Chris Daniels has joined the ARPAS-UK board of directors. Chris is a strategic advisor on commercialising start-ups and scale-ups, focused on aerospace & defence and Machine Learning and Big Data Tech.

Graham Brown, Chairman:

“This is an exciting time for the drone sector in the UK, and pivotal in terms of not only changing the way that safe working practices and efficiencies can be introduced across a range of industry sectors, but also provides an opportunity for operators and service providers to help shape the future of our sector. I’m confident that ARPAS-UK is best placed to play a central role in accelerating the safe use of drones across multiple industries and developing profitable businesses in the UK commercial drone sector.”

Anne-Lise Scaillierez, CEO:

“I am thrilled to take on the position of ARPAS-UK CEO and look forward to supporting our members and the drone community.  The benefits of drones as a powerful tool to digitise from the air are more and more recognised by the professionals and the public. At the same time, we are on a journey. We still have much to do to unlock the full potential of drones and its many potential applications. As a membership organisation, our key word is Engagement, with our members, with the CAA, and with the broader ecosystem, so that we can reach that potential together.”

About ARPAS-UK:

ARPAS-UK is the industry and professional body focused on representing the UK drone community. Founded in 2013, ARPAS-UK, supports members from start-up businesses to larger established operations, operators, manufacturers, software and service companies through promotion of innovation and best practice..

On behalf of its members, ARPAS-UK works closely with:

  • industry regulators, in particular CAA (Civil Aviation Authority)
  • UK Government departments (primarily DfT, BEIS and NPCC) to provide feedback and consultations with the objective to ensure that the regulatory framework for the safe and professional operation of drones
  • other key stakeholders in the development of national and international drone strategies and standards

The Association works in the public interest, and advocates professionalism within its membership through compliance with an agreed Code of Conduct and the holding of appropriate permissions

For further information contact: [email protected]

3 October 2022

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ARPAS-UK New Chairman Announcement

We are pleased to announce that Stuart Keenan has recently taken on the role of Chairman of ARPAS-UK.

Stuart is excited and proud to take on this strategic leadership role for the trade body for the UAS industry in the UK, and is keen to continue the work of his predecessors in promoting drone professionalism and drones for good. Stuart expects to steer the direction of the association to more keenly focus activity in the key areas of interest to our membership:

  • Being the voice of our industry and representing the common views of our membership amongst all relevant stakeholders, including regulators and policymakers, other aligned industries and airspace users, and internally amongst ourselves.
  • Promoting an understanding of ‘drones for good’ through public and industry education, and the effective use of social media and traditional media.
  • Promoting an understanding of ‘drone professionalism’ amongst the drone industry, as well as the many industries which use drones as tools.
  • Facilitating member networking and collaboration opportunities.
  • Growing our association so that we can do more in the future as our industry continues to expand.

In his ‘day job’ Stuart is Head of the UAS Centre of Excellence for Frazer-Nash Consultancy and helps organisations to make the most of drones. Stuart is a CAA qualified SUAS pilot, and the SUAS Accountable Manager for his company, as well as being the UAS technical expert for safety and regulation. Under Stuart’s leadership, the Frazer-Nash drone business has grown in under 5 years from very little to a turnover of £multi-millions, and he is now leading activity to allow Frazer-Nash’s expertise to benefit the exciting growth area of UAM.  Stuart has a background in aviation safety, developed during his 16-year career as an RAF engineer officer, and he is a chartered engineer and a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Stuart takes over from our previous Chairman, Gavin Wishart, who stepped down from the role in January 2021 and who sadly passed away a few months later.