On 23 and 24 February 2015, the SJU organised a one and a half day joint workshop for the 9 RPAS demonstration projects currently being co-financed by the SJU. 36 experts from 8 countries, as well as representatives from the European Commission, EASA, EDA and Sweden and UK National Authorities attended the workshop. The workshop’s main objectives were to promote information sharing among projects; discuss common aspects in particular regulatory issues (attaining permits to fly, licenses, registration etc.) focusing on gaps and lessons learned; share initial findings/recommendations with the SJU for future work; and discuss gaps.

Overall, the projects are progressing very well and are all on target to be completed in 2015. There was unanimous agreement that the demonstrations are very valuable in helping to increase awareness, and provide the needed assurance that flying RPAS safely is possible. However, it was also recognised that there is still a lot of work to be done in order to obtain the necessary evidence that the safe integration of RPAS into the current air traffic environment is achievable. Through these demonstrations, the SJU expects to obtain recommendations and findings which will feed into the RPAS work of SESAR 2020, as well as the new edition of the European ATM Master Plan.

During the workshop, several recommendations and initial findings were provided to the SJU and participating authorities which will be used to consider the scope of new demonstration activities. The SJU will already use some of these elements when presenting at the High-Level Conference on RPAS in Riga and at the ICAO’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Symposium.

More information and project results will be published when available.