French players in the sector recently held their first general meeting. More than 350 companies have joined this growing niche. The first General Assembly of the young Professional Federation of civilian UAS (FPDC) was standing room only on Monday of last week, at the Aéroclub de France.
Coming from all over France, more than 100 operators and manufacturers of civil UAS assembled in Paris for what could be the beginning of a new chapter in aeronautics. It was the opportunity for these new pioneers of the sky, among them many young entrepreneurs, to share their hopes and their problems, in a manner reminiscent of the early days of aviation. Among the questions raised – the need to establish a UAS pilot licence, the ban on flying within 300 metres of an inhabited area, export barriers on machines still considered as military equipment and the difficulties in obtaining insurance.
At the top of the list of concerns however, is the sometimes “unfair” competition from undeclared operators. Since April 2012, legislation requires commercial UAS operators to be registered with the DGAC [‘Direction générale de l’Aviation civile‘ – a department of the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy]
However, this doesn’t seem to have become a regular practice . “At end of October, only 233 companies out of the 354 UAS operators listed in France, have contacted the DGAC,” notes Emmanuel de Maistre, President of the FPDC.
The growth of the sector is as recent as it is fast. Created last June at the Salon du Bourget with 200 members, the FDPC now has over 300 members, including a score of manufacturers. At the same time, the number of civilian UAS in service in France has increased from 200 to 585. Most companies are still businesses of 3 or 4 employees (40% have less than two employees). They mainly operate in the audio-visual sector. But the sector has also has some heavyweights with over 100 employees, like Thales and Parrot on the manufacturing side or EDF and the SNCF client-side
France, industry leader in Europe
The figures are still modest, but they nevertheless place France at the head of the European countries, according to Peter van Blyenburgh, President of the international association UVS International, followed by the United Kingdom (340) and Sweden (130), out of a total of about 900 European UAS operators. With its long history of aeronautical experience, the France is indeed the first country to be equipped with regulations on the use of civilian UAS, said Maxime Coffin, the DGAC representative in charge of UAS. This has contributed to the rise of the sector, providing entrepreneurs the security of a legal framework. France along with with Norway, is the only country where the use of UAS out of line of sight of their operator is allowed, even if the number of machines falling within this category remains very low (about 30). Most UAS are small machines of less than 2 kilograms controlled within the line of sight, for the majority rotorcraft which cannot fly more than 100 metres.
Above 150 kilos, on the other hand, it is the European Union that the right to legislate in order to allow the creation of a true European UAS market. The process was launched in 2009, but it will probably not be before 2016 that a European legal framework is created.
The Figures
354 UAS French stake-holders. This is the number of operators and French manufacturers at the end of October.
585 UAS in service in France. The majority are small rotorcraft of less than 2 kilos rotorcraft
Source: Les Echos