Renewed rules in the special category (Part 7)

After a lengthy preparation, the so-called AMC amendment containing SORA 2.5 was published on the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) website on September 29. The renewed AMC (Acceptable Means of Compliance) describes the new methodology for mandatory risk analysis in the special operation category, which must be applied uniformly throughout the European Union. Applications for new operational authorisations should now be submitted in accordance with SORA 2.5, while incumbent operational authorisations (including the documentation of LUC holders) must be brought into line with SORA 2.5 within two years, as per the EASA decision. In our series of articles, we will review the most significant changes affecting the methodology.

In our previous article, we discussed the extent of the so-called adjacent area. In that article, we pointed out that not only the extent of the adjacent area, but also the size and speed of the drone, the population density of the adjacent area, play a role in determining whether low, medium, or high containment should be applied. This article presents tables for everyday drones (under 8 meters).