The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published means to show compliance with the “enhanced containment” provisions for drones, allowing the applicant to simply declare compliance without the need to apply for a design verification report.
Drones operating close to densely populated areas or airports are required to be equipped with systems preventing the drone from flying into an unauthorised area, unless the drone is already approved to operate in high risk environments. This is referred to as “enhanced containment”.
This means of compliance is based on the best practice and experience collected in the field. EASA continues to simplify processes in support of stakeholders with the aim to foster innovation and growth in this sector, while ensuring the safety and security of drones operations.
The declarative process for enhanced containment is immediately applicable when operators and manufacturers apply this means of compliance. However innovation is always welcome in this domain. Drone manufacturers and operators may still decide to show compliance using a different approach. In this case a design verification report issued by EASA is required.
EASA is developing additional means of compliance for other topics that will further support proportionality and simplification. For example, EASA is working on means of compliance for technical mitigations for ground risk, allowing declarations and another means of compliance where manufacturers may demonstrate compliance of the design of the full drone by conducting functional test. Both means of compliance will be published soon on the EASA website for public consultation.
Source: Press Release