Aviation authority issues first commercial drone licence
The South African Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) has approved Public Display Technologies’ (PDT’s) Rocketmine division as the first commercial remote piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) operator for several key South African business sectors, including mining, agriculture and construction.
Unmanned aerial vehicle service provider Rocketmine received its commercial operating licence for RPAS on October 16.
South Africa took the lead in the aviation industry when Sacaa director Poppy Khoza announced in May that the commercial use of RPAS would be regulated from July 1.
The need for regulation was prompted by a huge demand for the commercial use of drones in South Africa and subsequent safety concerns. The strict Sacaa application process ensures drone operators meet all standards for safety, security and privacy.
“Using drones to conduct operational duties has produced high-quality data in a fraction of the time and at a percentage of the costs. In the mining industry, in particular, most high-risk tasks conducted by our drones have eliminated the safety risk for mining staff,” Rocketmine division head Chris Clark said.
“There is no doubt that drones are set to revolutionise the way in which many key industries in South Africa conduct their business,” he enthused.
Sacaa unmanned aircraft systems manager Albert Msithini noted that the department was “delighted” to issue the licence to PDT.
“PDT is among the first organisations that regularly engaged the Sacaa to develop and promulgate the RPAS regulations,” he added.
The commercial use of drones had already shown huge success in the mining and agricultural sectors, as well as construction, forestry and insurance industries. This was likely to expand rapidly as the approval of Sacaa licences opened up assessment and operational capacity.
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