Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com  & www.sofemaonline.com looks at the bigger picture driven by the recent changes to the EASA Basic Regulation 1139/2018.

Introduction

On 11th September this year entered in force the new EASA Basic Regulation No 1139/2018 which repeals existing Regulation (EU) 216/2008.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) welcomes the adoption by the Council of the European Union of updated aviation safety rules for Europe which include a new mandate for EASA.

The so-called new Basic Regulation formalises EASA’s role in the domain of drones and urban air mobility, enabling the Agency to prepare rules for all sizes of civil drones and harmonize standards for the commercial market across Europe.

New Mandate

The regulation enlarges the Agency’s role in areas such as environmental protection, research and development, or international cooperation.

The new mandate also gives EASA a coordinating role in cybersecurity in aviation.

This new mandate consolidates EASA’s scope to cover the full spectrum of the aviation landscape and reinforces the European aviation system as a whole, with the possibility for EASA and European Member States to work closer together in a flexible way.

The amendments of the Basic Regulation aim to ensure a high and uniform level of civil aviation safety by the adoption and implementation of common safety rules and measures.

The New Regulation not only improved existing rules in areas of airworthiness, countries oversight, aerodrome and ground handling operations, aircrew and air traffic controller’s certification, etc. but It added some new rules covering cyber security, personal data protection, European Aviation Safety Programme, approval of training providers, etc.

Major Challenge Faced

However, the biggest change is the adoption of common rules for unmanned aircraft. The New Regulation sets forth for the first time uniform EU rules on drones and urban air mobility. This regulation applies to all sizes of civil drones and it aims to ensure safety, security, privacy, data, and environmental protection in all Member States by registration of the drones and appropriate training of remote pilots and staff involved in the operation of unmanned aircraft. National Aviation Authorities will have legislation power mainly for aircraft of simple design or that operate on a local basis.

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