Transport Canada is set to unveil updated rules early this year for remotely piloted aircrafts, or drones
The new regulations will lift restrictions on longer distance flights that go beyond a pilot’s visual line of slight in “low risk” areas. The move is likely to create more opportunities for Eric Laporte who owns the company Ottawa Drones.
“We’re not going to be able to fly it ten kilometers away over the city or over a suburb,” Laporte said.
“But in instances where I’m inspecting and transmission line or I’m doing a pipeline inspection, I might need that latitude to fly four or five kilometers along a corridor in a low risk airspace with the right approvals.”
Large scale deliveries for medical supplies, mapping and aerial inspections could all be done by drones soon. Ottawa Drones does work like this for different companies and says it can be extremely troublesome.
“It used to take many hours, ten hours, 100 hours, depending on the complexity of the airspace, and then the complexity of the operation to get permission to fly in a situation like that,” Laporte said.
“It’s just going to save me a lot of administration time, a lot of headaches and a lot of back and forth.”
Owner of Ottawa Drones, Eric Laporte checking his drone ahead of take-off on Monday Jan. 13, 2024 (Josh Marano, CTV News Ottawa)
The line of sight rules will be less strict in low-risk or less populated areas.
Canada introduced the RCA Act in 2019, with fines of up to $5,000 and even jail time if a pilot loses sight of its drone.
The changes come after a pair of recent incidents in the U.S. where a drone caused significant damage to a Canadian firefighter aircraft over the Palisades fire in Los Angeles that has authorities vowing to prosecute illegal drone flights.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is also temporarily banning drones in some parts of New Jersey and New York.
“If you see a drone, it’s because someone is using it for their job, they’re using it for some business purpose,” Laporte said.
“Obviously, you’ll have that 1 per cent of people that are using them for not so legitimate purposes, but for the most part, these things have come a long way.”
The list of updated rules is expected to be unveiled early this year, then will be in effect by the fall.