The issue about drones, especially the small ones, is rapidly growing. What steps has ENAC taken to promote their development, taking into account the aspects of Safety, Security and Privacy?

I think that the arrival of drones in the area of civil aviation has marked a profound difference with the situation we have known up to now. Civil Aviation is by nature a dynamic sector where innovation and development, both on a technological and operational level through research for increasingly-challenging business models, have always been the very way it has conceived evolution. The new technologies that have made this new type of aircraft available to the general public are indeed a real revolution. The considerable numbers in today's world of small drones and their constantly-changing performances have created serious difficulties for the Civil Aviation Authorities, who have had to review their approaches and methods towards guaranteeing safety standards as required by the role given them under the law.

Enac has also addressed this situation and has developed its own well-structured strategy, modelled around the individual challenges posed by the sector. Primarily and as a priority, the topic of safety has been addressed by issuing a regulation which, with an innovative approach, has focused on the concept of operational risk, thus abandoning the traditional approach of certifying the individual elements that make up the chain of safety such as the machine,  the pilot, the operator, etc.

By introducing the so-called “operation centric approach”, Enac has significantly simplified the evaluation procedures for operators, facilitating their access into the market. A further simplification, connected to the previous approach, is the particularly widespread option of using the “declaration” tool instead of prior authorisation by Enac. This ensures immediate operativeness on the part of operators, which has been further extended with the publication of standard scenarios for critical operations.

I would also like to point out that the national regulatory framework serves to provide citizens with those levels of safety which they are entitled to and also to provide operators with a “level playing field” so that they can develop their activities legally in an environment of healthy competition.

If we look to the future, I believe that one of the most interesting things is the joint activity that Enac is running with Enav to identify the qualifying factors and safety conditions of BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) operations, that are, moreover, the subject of a special Convention between the two Entities. The success of the initiative, and therefore the possibility of further growth in the sector, depends heavily on our ability to define the new rules of the game for this important business area, which represents a considerable added value for the National industry.

In relation to the other aspects which accompany the advent of drones, such as security and privacy, Enac has established structured relations and joint work activities with the police authorities to identify security and public order requirements. So, we have defined the measures to be implemented to counter any illicit activities, ranging from in-flight identification, to the creation of a system for collecting and exchanging information and the protection of sensitive sites.  

How is the international community moving on this issue and what position has Italy taken?

So far the international community has moved in different directions, also also as regards the different kinds of problems arising from small drones within each single reference social system. The different characteristics of each country, the varying intensity of the phenomenon and the actual global numbers have directed the national regulators in different ways leaving them to adopt more or less liberal approaches in addressing the phenomenon. If we look at the international dimension at a European level, we can see that the legislators' will is to discuss the issue of small drones at a supranational level and hence the initiative of EASA aimed at developing a harmonised regulatory framework. The European view is to extend the application of the regulations to drones used for recreational activities, to liberalise operations in non-critical environments and request that drones comply with quality standards and be provided with CE mark. As a consequence, this introduces other institutional players such as market Authorities and notified Entities for the recognition of the CE mark. This approach seems to be unique in the non-EU international scenario. The new regulatory system appears to simplify non-critical operational activities but to create a significant and improper overlapping between commercial operators who offer specialised services and the offer of rival services from private individuals who use drones for recreational activities. Furthermore, the presence of various institutions involved in the safety issues relating to the product may complicate the management of controls.

What can we expect in the future as regards drones?

If there's one thing we've learned from this new sector is that the technology that allowed drones to be successful in the market, exactly because it stems from the aim of meeting constantly evolving needs, will provide many new, as yet unimaginable, solutions and will create additional challenges for the structure of guarantees and the regulatory system. I think that in the near future, many emergency services, such as medical assistance, research and rescue activities, will be integrated with remotely-piloted aircraft or ones that are highly automated. The actual delivery of goods - an area that fascinates us today as a perspective - will be able to count on a drone-based component. In conclusion I would say that some forms of human transportation may become true with the development of navigation and control technologies, in certain urban and extra-urban scenarios. Obviously, the maturity of such technologies and systems will be essential for the development of the different applications, although much of this will depend on acceptance by the public and on the public's perception of the safety measures offered by such technologies. In this sense, the availability of a regulatory structure that combines safety requirements with technological development, appears to be one of the key elements.