As we have mentioned in several articles (and we will continue the series of articles in the next couple of weeks), the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has adopted version 2.5 of SORA, which is now considered an acceptable means of compliance, i.e., to be mandatorily followed by and in all member states. However, the creator of SORA 2.5 was not EASA, but a group of professional, called JARUS, which brings together the aviation authorities of countries from five continents and operates on a voluntary basis. Hungary and its aviation authority joined the organisation as its 73rd member, which is more precisely called the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems.
JARUS is the organisation that laid down the foundations of SORA 2.0, the methodology used in the special operational category since 2021 and which has evolved into the current SORA 2.5.
JARUS – as mentioned in the introduction – is a global organization, which also means that the application of the current version of SORA is not limited to the member states of the European Union. Although the European Union applies the methodology on the largest scale, the United Kingdom was the first to switch to the application of SORA 2.5.
Of course, the SORA 2.5 applied in Europe, and thus in Hungary, must be aligned with the EU legislative environment and thus differs from, for example, the English or Australian SORA, but fundamentally, the steps and basic principles are the same everywhere.
SORA 2.5, as one can see from the version number, clearly represents a transition between SORA 2.0 and SORA 3.0 that is already under preparation. By becoming a member of this group, the Hungarian aviation authority can join in the preparatory work for version 3.0 and obtain first-hand information about the status of the work. Furthermore, the Hungarian CAA will have the opportunity to present the Hungarian position in JARUS.Given that the aim of SORA 3.0 is to renew the aviation risk model and to develop appropriate risk analysis for automation and drone swarms, and given the complexity of Hungarian airspace, Hungary’s accession is a significant step for the Hungarian drone industry.