Nowadays the term safety, is as relevant as ever, refers to the practices of protecting one or more persons, an economic entity or an asset from unforeseen risks such as accidents, damages or other undesirable events.
These practices, irrespective of the sector, include terms and rules, memoranda of actions and procedures, where knowledge and assimilation can only be achieved through targeted and continuous training.
Therefore, since 2019, IONOS, as a special category operator recognised by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has been fully harmonised with European and national regulations. With safety first and foremost, and then efficiency, it has developed memoranda of actions and procedures absolutely necessary in the field of agricultural applications and specifically in precision spraying with the use of UAV.
The IONOS team, with over 1000 hours of flight hours with Agriculture UAVs, is in a position to know that flight operations using Agriculture UAVs, which fall under the special category, present an increased risk of either injury to a person or persons, or damage to assets, because these Semi-Aircraft are quite large in size and weight, and due to the nature of agricultural applications operate at lower altitudes in varied geomorphological terrain.
In the specific (02) inverse pillars of flight operations, which are safety and risk, we found that risk reduction, or in UAV terminology that only “risk mitigation” can make an operation safe and effective.
Therefore, in order to ensure safety in flight operations, certain factors must be taken into account. These include:
- Training must include an understanding of the rules and limitations of UAVs, as well as safe operating procedures.
- UAV equipment: Selection of appropriate equipment according to the flight operation. Knowledge of the equipment with its capabilities and its proper use and periodic maintenance.
- Ground Hazard Mitigation: Includes a proper and thorough survey of the controlled portion of the terrain where the flight operation will take place and for the presence of any obstacles such as: poles, trees, etc., as well as the definition of safety zones beyond the flight operation area. Existence of an emergency plan
- Airborne hazard mitigation: The type of airspace, the density of air traffic, the altitude at which the operation is conducted and the duration of the operation are some of the key measures to minimize the risk in the air.
To summarise the above, the brief ‘overview’ of the range of UAV operations mentioned above leads us to the conclusion that mitigation of complacency to a minimum and ever-increasing vigilance in applying safety conditions, rules and practices will guide us to the completion of a successful operation.
Writer: Vasilis Giannopoulos