It is finally happening. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), who cover all things Aviation and Safety, are introducing the mandatory requirement for obtaining a Flyers licence and registering your drone, from July 2019.

If you fly a drone weighing more than 250g, you will need to complete an online education course, and register your drone to fly it.

For personal drones, the licence fee is likely to be about $20.00 a year.

If you use the drone for commercial purposes, that will increase to about $100.00 per year per drone.

This announcement coincides with the first drone delivery services to be trialed in Canberra later this year. One can only assume that it is a proactive response to the fact that more of these devices will be using our airspace, and there is an increasing issue with people not using their drones correctly.

Personally, I think it is a shame that it has come to this, but like with many things, a few irresponsible people ruin it for the masses.

In the meantime, you can download the ‘Can I Fly there app’? when you intend to fly your drone, which will tell you where you may and may not fly a drone, and what to look out for, in the interests of being responsible.

What do you think about this? Brilliant idea because operators will be increasingly accountable? Or punishing the masses because of the few?

Aiden