The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced changes to regulations classifying operators of drones and drone services.

Going forward, any organisation using or procuring drone services will be considered an operator, with vicarious liability falling to the company director or designated Accountable Manager. This presents challenges for organisations where drone operations are not the core business, use is fragmented across departments and locations, or operations span multiple geographies. Universities, schools, colleges, local authorities, construction firms or consultancies, and energy companies are especially vulnerable.

During this webinar, we will:

• examine the challenges organisations face in controlling the safe and legal use of drones.
• provide insight into critical areas demanding attention and improvement.
• define the role of an Accountable Manager and their duties.
• discuss how to identify the right candidate for the role, given the complex legal duties, and the benefits of adopting a standardised, best-practice approach. This enables drone operations to demonstrate safety, legal compliance, and due diligence to mitigate risks in a court of law, if necessary.
• provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions and share perspectives on how recent regulatory changes may impact organisational drone strategies. Various compliance options such as bringing operations in-house or utilising third-party auditing and oversight will be discussed.
• provide a high-level checklist to help participants incorporate these considerations into their processes. This holistic view aims to empower attendees to help develop a comprehensive checklist that can be implemented to consistently facilitate safe and compliant flight operations, cultivating a positive culture of drone safety throughout an organisation.

All interested parties are invited to attend in order to gain valuable insights as the commercial drone industry continues its projected growth trajectory.

About the Speaker:

Andy Hugget, Global Training Manager & Global Regulations Specialist, Consortiq

Andy served in the British Army prior to becoming a law enforcement officer with Sussex Police for thirty years. Always on the Operations side of policing (Traffic, Firearms, Dogs, Helicopter Unit etc) he was also part of a General Aviation Team countering terrorism. As an emergency response drone pilot for Sussex and Surrey Police he undertook many differing roles piloting the police drones.

He founded his own company providing drone services prior to leaving the police and upon retirement worked full time in this role. He was approached by Consortiq to work as a freelance instructor delivering the UK based Unmanned Aircraft Qualification. Subsequently he moved into a full time role in Consortiq as the Global Training Manager. Andy holds both CAA and FAA qualifications for fixed wing and multi-rotor aircraft.