Finland introduced a new set of regulations for UAVs in September, describing the new rulebook as ‘one of the most liberal aviation regulations in the world’. Samuli Vuokila, chief adviser on flight operations at the Finnish Transport Safety Agency answers some questions about the rules.
RLJ: What is the demand for drones in Finland? In what ways are UAVs being used?
Increasing, presently most common use appears to be photography, both still photos and videos for multiple use including real estate, media, zoning, film industry, building inspections etc. There is a growing industry in power line inspections and other beyond visual line of sight operations.
Will there be many users of small UAVs?
This is a very likely scenario. We are receiving presently declarations from operators conducting commercial activities with increasing numbers.
How are you dealing with issues on ‘Beyond Visual Line of Sight’ flying?
At the moment these operations can be performed in segregated airspace. This is rather simple to arrange in Finland due to our flexible airspace policy and efficient airspace management procedures.
How did you go about designing your rules? Did you borrow ideas from abroad? Did you work closely with the industry?
We did work very closely with the industry and other stakeholders such as the air navigation service provider and model aircraft association. We did not borrow ideas too much as our approach is rather liberal and highly both risk - and performance based.
How do you expect the issue of payloads to develop?
The technology on various sensors and other devices that can be attached to an remotely piloted aircraft is evolving in a very rapid pace. This is likely to lead to more applications which can be utilized, in a way “sky is the limit” as we see it.
What kind of experimentation are you expecting to happen?
We believe the real business is in the beyond visual line of sight operations. This is, however, a big challenge in near term but solutions are being developed by the industry in Finland and elsewhere to address this.
Will you be working with other regulators - especially in the Nordic area - to harmonise rules and to help each other?
We are in continuous contact with the other regulators and harmonization is seen as an important element to facilitate cross border operations. At the same time we highlight the importance of local circumstances. Operating environments are different and can provide varying operations depending on the location.
What sort of enforcement issues are you seeing?
This is a new area and will involve a lot of new actors to this aviation segment. Authorities involved are also multiple depending on the scope of their authority - the aviation authority on aviation-related issues, police on general law enforcement etc.
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