Story ID: 
EASA Drone Conference Focuses on Societal Concerns
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: Safety, noise, and privacy issues must be solved before realizing a vision where drones provide urban transportation and package deliveries.
Word Count: 206
“The vision of a world where drones are used safely and efficiently to provide transportation, emergency services, and small-package deliveries can become a reality only if safety standards are met and solutions found to issues such as noise and privacy,” EASA executive director Patrick Ky said at the agency’s conference on drones earlier this month in Amsterdam.

“It’s important that, as we put together the regulatory framework for drone operations in urban or populated areas, we set the right societal targets in terms of safety, risk exposure, and environmental impact,” he added. “EASA requirements for mandatory registration of all drones will already pass into law in mid-2020.”

A further EASA regulatory proposal, due for publication in the first quarter, will pertain to traffic management in urban airspace (U-space), according to Ky. “The regulation would initially target densely populated urban areas close to an airport and not be implemented before late 2020 or early 2021.”

Closing the conference, Ky stressed the importance of all parts of the aviation industry working together to pave the way for the successful use of drones, adding that once the concerns have been addressed, there are many advantages for society from efficient drone usage.