Published: 20 April 2020

Ass-covering disclaimer: please note that this is legal information, not legal advice. As a result, it should not be relied or acted upon because it is a hypothetical exercise and does not take into account the specifics of your drone operations. However, if you would like legal advice, please be in touch.

Executive Summary

It appears that the 30m rule generally does apply to micro drones (unless flown as a model aircraft indoors). This is because, while micro drones are carved out of the 30m rules in the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR), micro drones appear to be captured under the 30m rule in CASA 96/17 – Direction — operation of certain unmanned aircraft.

Introduction

Most drone operators are familiar with the general prohibition against operating their drone within 30m of other people, unless:

(a) that person  has duties essential to the control or navigation of the drone, or;

(b) the other person consents to a lesser distance which can then be reduced to 15m.

However, does this rule apply to ALL drones – of all sizes and both RPA and model aircraft? And to ‘micro’ drones? This is what we will unpack below.

Quick note on terminology

At present, a ‘micro RPA’ is defined as ‘an RPA with a gross weight of 100g or less.’ However, when RPA registration comes into play, which is currently scheduled for 30 September 2020, ‘micro RPA’ will be increased to ‘a gross weight of not more than 250g.’ As a result, the significance of what a micro drone is allowed to do will increase.

The 30m rule in the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR)

The 30m rule is mentioned 3 times in the CASR as follows.

PROHIBITION 1: Section 101.238, titled ‘Meaning of standard RPA operating conditions’ includes subsection (c) which states that “the RPA is not operated within 30m of a person who is not directly associated with the operation of the RPA.”

The loophole: if you look further up the CASR, you see that  section 101.238 falls under ‘Subpart 101.F—Remotely piloted aircraft’. Section 101.235 tells us that Subpart 101.F applies to very small, small, medium and large RPA. You will notice no mention of micro RPA. This indicates that Subpart 101.F does not apply to micro RPA, so neither will section 101.238. (Side-note, this section related to the standard RPA operating conditions, which do not apply to micro RPA anyway).

PROHIBITION 2: Section 101.245 titled ‘Operation near people’ states at (1) that “…a person must not operate an RPA within 30 metres of a person (the second person) who is not directly associated with the operation of the RPA.”

The loophole: same as above, if you look further up the CASR, you see that section 101.245 also comes under ‘Subpart 101.F—Remotely piloted aircraft’ and section 101.235 tells us that Subpart 101.F applies to very small, small, medium and large RPA. Again, no mention of micro RPA. This indicates that Subpart 101.F does not apply to micro RPA, so neither will section 101.245.

PROHIBITION 3: section 101.395 states at (2) that “… somebody who is operating a powered model aircraft must ensure that, while the model aircraft is in flight, or is landing or taking off, it stays at least 30 metres away from anyone not directly associated with the operation of model aircraft.”

The loophole: if you look further up the CASR, you see that above mentioned section 101.395 comes under ‘Subpart 101.G—Model aircraft’. Section 101.375 tells is that Subpart 101.G applies to the operation of model aircraft weighing 100 grams or more. As a result, the prohibition does not apply to model aircraft that weigh less than 100g. (Note: once model aircraft registration comes into play, this section 101.395 will say that this subpart applies to the operation of model aircraft weighing more than 250 g).