Operating Drones in Sri Lankan Airspace

By Capt G A Fernando, MBA

RCyAF, Air Ceylon, Air Lanka, SIA and SriLankan Airlines,
Former Consultant/ Head of Air Operations CAASL.
gafplane@sltnet.lk
President,

Aircraft Owners’ and Operators’ Association,
Sri Lanka

We now hear that the Sri Lankan Army has established a ‘Drone Regiment’ with the help of the Sri Lanka Air Force.

Perhaps it is a step in the correct direction to be utilised during war time and priceless for the Artillery to use Drones as spotters under the direct command of the Army, without an intermediary assistance of the Air Force. This has always been a coordination problem and some militaries have lived with it since inception. Perhaps loss of efficiency was the price they paid for it.

Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) come in various shapes, sizes and capabilities during war and peace and could be used for many purposes. They can be used to carry out death and destruction in places like Afghanistan, West Bank (Palestine) and Pakistan with the intent of fighting terrorism, remotely controlled from a centre in the USA or Israel. They can be also be used for carrying First Aid equipment and humanitarian cargo to inaccessible places, policing, surveillance, data collecting, aerial photography, agriculture (crop spraying) and scientific research very effectively. Now many companies the world over, are using these for commercial purposes like essential deliveries while the lighter UAV’s are used for recreational activity. Some even could be controlled by a preprogramed computer, without a direct pilot/ operator input. In Sri Lanka, UAV technology could be used to monitor the serviceability status of the many Elephant fences installed, after their requirement for the Covid 19 pandemic blows over

The discussion below is not about the use of ‘Killer Drones’, but a few random thoughts on guidelines for Policing, Surveillance, Humanitarian activities, Data Collecting, Aerial Photography, Agriculture and such peacetime tasks. One thing is certain, while wartime activity of UAV’s due to its covert nature could be ‘exempted’, while all peace time activity must be monitored and controlled by one central regulating organisation such as the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) as UAV operations could have a direct impact on ‘manned’ Civil Aviation operations as well. A few months back a helicopter conducting ‘joy flights’ at Bentota beach had a near miss with a recreational UAV!

With that in mind the CAASL has promulgated an Implementing Standard Number 53 (IS 53) of 2017 which categorises all UAV’s by Weight (Mass) given below

Mass                                          Category of Pilotless aircraft

25 kg or above                                         A

Above 1 kg but below 25 kg                       B

Above 200 g but at or below 1 kg               C

200 g or below                                         D

Yes, there are Video Camera carrying UAV’s much heavier than 25 Kg.  I remember once the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) requested the CAASL permission to fly an UAV as heavy as 450Kg to go whale watching off Mirrissa. I also remember that permission was granted as long as they confined themselves to their declared area of operation and maintained heights below 450 feet. They had to call the Colombo Air Traffic Control at the commencement and end of operations.

Before embarking on UAV operations, according to CAASL ‘IS 53’, it is a requirement that both the operator and the UAV equipment, in Weight Categories A, B, and C be registered. A permanent, non-transferable Identification stamp will be affixed to every machine thus registered. Not only that an operator/ pilot’s competency check needs to be carried out and authorised as ‘fit ‘ in writing by the experts in the CAASL. The IS 53 has a set of guidelines to follow, mainly pertaining to maximum heights, areas of operation and how to coordinate with the local authorities like the Police.

In most countries the UAV’s are restricted to ‘at or below’ a height of 450 feet. Just for the record, 450ft is the magic number above which all obstacles are considered significant for low flying ‘Manned’ aircraft and should have a red light displayed in the night. In Sri Lanka, it is observed that obstacles even at heights of 30 or 40 feet have these red lights displayed perhaps because it comes with the equipment and no one is aware of the law. In the CAASL ‘IS 53’, the maximum height of UAV’s operations is restricted to 150ft. This totally unrealistic. Already, I understand that the Health Ministry uses UAV’s to inspect roof gutters of inaccessible buildings checking for Dengue mosquito larvae. I do not know whether these operators and equipment are registered with the CAASL They may be infringing on the present CAASL restrictions of limiting themselves to 150 ft.

The same will apply to the Air Force and Army UAV’s which comes in all shapes, sizes and capabilities. The question is “Are they strictly following the requirements of ‘IS 53’ of the CAASL or have they been issued with exemptions during peace time?” Like the conundrum created by the SLAF ‘Helitours’ passenger operations. If registered with CAASL, they could be electronically tagged and restricted to 450 ft. or whatever practical limiting (maximum) height of operation that they (CAASL, SLAF and Army) could agree on. They will also have to harmonise the ‘IS 53’ accordingly and increase the limiting maximum height from 150ft. If registered with CAASL the UAV’s area of operation could also be electronically limited by a system called ‘Geofencing’, not to fly within a set distance from Airports and other security sensitive areas like the Parliament without written permission of the Director General CAASL.

UAV’s have been used for spying long before it was used for killing. The GPS equipped, UAV’S with gyrostabilised, high-tech camera equipment pose another problem. Could they preserve the privacy of the general public when they go about their Policing and Surveillance duties? Commercial UAV’s used in developing countries like Rwanda require them to follow roads, in urban areas and prohibit them from taking short cuts across private back gardens to ensure public privacy. Oddly, the CAASL ‘IS 53’ prohibit following roads, railway lines, power lines, unless the written permission of the Director General CAASL is obtained. These issues will have to be resolved, with the intention of harmonisation of guidelines among all concerned.

The present ‘IS 53’ of CAASL restricts operators/ pilots to fly UAV’s within the Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) only. That is the UAV must be visible to the operator/ pilot or an observer at all times. The newer models of UAV’s today could be operated truly remotely using a display on a smartphone or a tablet, at the operator/pilot’s end, making that guideline too simplistic. Now some UAV’s even have automatic obstacle avoidance systems. UAV’s could monitor cell phones, Radio and TV coverage, thermal imaging and a host of other tasks. Anything mechanical or electronic is subject to failure (sometimes catastrophic).

The IS53 prohibits night flying and UAV speeds are limited to 87 knots (100 mph).

It may be a good idea for the authorities to revisit the CAASL IS 53 and tailor it to be harmonised with the rapid progress of technology and good practices in other countries, encompassing the SLAF, Army, Police and ‘manned’ civil aircraft operations, putting safety first.