Project owners who use drones for construction or other commercial purposes are being advised ensure that their drone is registered and that their operator holds the required accreditation.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has outlined several matters which those who engage drone operators should check and confirm.

The warning comes as the registration of commercial drones is now mandatory (as of January 28).

From now, anyone who operates a drone for either business or employment purposes must ensure that they register their drones with CASA.

This applies to drones which are used inspecting infrastructure, construction sites or industrial equipment; selling photos or videos taken from a drone; monitoring, surveillance or security, research or development or any other drone activity which is undertaken for an employer or business.

As well, commercial drones may only be operated by those with suitable licenses or accreditation (see below).

When choosing a drone operator, CASA says several things should be done.

First, it is important to confirm that your operator’s drone is registered by asking to see their certificate of registration.

Next, it is important to confirm that your operator holds suitable accreditation.

Where larger drones are needed and the operation involves flying outside the drone safety rules (e.g. flying more than 120 metres above ground, flying withing 30 meters of people or flying at night), operators will need a remote pilot licence (RePL) and will need to be working for an individual or business that holds a remotely piloted aircraft operators’ certificate (ReOC).

For less complex operations which involve lighter drones (2kg or less) and are within the drone safety rules, RePLs and ReOCs are not required.

However, operators in these cases will need to hold an RPA operator accreditation and their drone will still need to be registered.

When engaging operators, project owners should ask to see a copy of their licence/certificate or accreditation.

In the case of RePL licences, it is also important to confirm the licence conditions within which they are able to operate.

This could include being able to fly or night or to fly larger drones of up to 7kg, 25kg or 150 kg.

In some cases, drone operations will also require approval from CASA.

This will be the case, for example, where drones are flying within 5.5 kilometres of a controlled airport unless the drone weighs 250 grams or less.

Project owners should view these approvals and confirm both the type of operations which have been approved and the time period within which the approval remains valid.

Finally, it is important to confirm that your operator’s public liability insurance covers them for the specific service which they are providing to you.

This is important as drones can fail, fall or break.

If it hasn’t been done already, checking that the operator is licensed/accredited and that the drone has been registered is important at this stage as failing to do any of these things could void your operator’s insurance as a result of conducting illegal operations.

In a statement, CASA advised project owners to confirm that their drone operator is suitably qualified.

“Using drones for photography, research, inspections, agricultural operations and security is becoming more common and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) advises to check … to make sure you use a safe and legal operator,” CASA said.