Madrid, 30 May 2024 (AESA)

The State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) has published a predefined risk assessment (hereinafter PDRA) adapted to aerial work of fumigation and dispersion of agricultural/forestry products, under the name PDRA S01 [F].

PDRA-S01[F] conforms to the phytosanitary operations of the specific category in an operational scenario with the following main characteristics:

- With a UA of up to 3 m maximum characteristic dimension.

- In VLOS (operation with direct visual visibility) of the pilot at a maximum distance of 500 m.

- On a controlled land area in sparsely populated areas.

- Below 30 m above ground level (AGL), except when close to obstacles.

- In controlled or uncontrolled airspace, provided there is a low probability of encounter with manned aircraft.

This PDRA is a risk assessment carried out by AESA for which a precise list of mitigation measures has already been determined.

The process of preparation of documentation by the operator and its subsequent assessment by EASA will be very streamlined, given that, together with the operational authorisation format, the operator will not have to carry out and provide an own risk assessment, in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation (EU) 2019/947, since that assessment has already been carried out by the Agency and summarised in the table of PDRA-S01 [F].

Additionally, AESA has created templates of the generic part of the Operations Manual, as well as the PDRA-S01 [F] ConOps Annex in accordance with the requirements established in AMC1 UAS.SPEC.030(3)(e). These templates must be used by the operator by adding and completing the particular aspects required (aircraft, organizational chart, contact details, etc.). These documents, correctly completed, will comply with the documentary requirements required by current regulations. The templates of the Operations Manual and ConOps can be downloaded at the following link.

The PDRA-S01 [F] Operations Manual and ConOps need not be attached to the application for authorisation, although the operator must have these documents correctly completed at the date of submission of the authorisation, in addition to making these documents available to the authority whenever required.

If your operation complies with this PDRA-S01 [F], you must submit an application for authorisation including the following documentation:

- Table of PDRA S01[F] completed and signed by the operator's manager, in order to justify by this signature, the guarantees that refer to a responsible declaration.

- PDRA-S01[F] responsible statement that the templates of the Operations Manual and ConOps, available on the EASA website (Operations Manual Guide Material), will be used.  

- In the event that flights are to take place in controlled airspace, coordination between the operator and ATSP shall begin once the application for authorisation is accepted for processing by EASA. Therefore, at this point the UAS operator will attach the specific EARO template (EARO_PDRA-S01_[F]) provided by the ATSP(s) with which it intends to coordinate completed only with the information to be provided by the UAS operator.

This request for authorisation, if it complies with the above requirements, will be processed in a very agile way due to the high standardisation of the documentation.