Aviation division drafts 'Unmanned Aircraft System' policy

Aviation division aims to promote use of model aircraft, drones, quadcopters, air balloons for civil purposes

ISLAMABAD:

The aviation division has drafted a comprehensive ‘Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) policy’ to facilitate and promote the use of model aircraft, drones, quadcopters, and hot air balloons for civilian usage by ensuring safety and security.

The new policy aims at cutting-edge developments in aerospace technologies, offering advancements which may open new and improved civil or commercial applications as well as improvements in the safety and efficiency of the civil aviation.

The new policy includes model aircraft, drones, quadcopters, and hot air balloons etc. The use of these is increasing in the world and has opened new challenges for countries to regulate the use of this technology.

“The aviation division has taken a leap forward and has drafted a comprehensive UAS policy to facilitate and promote the use of UAS for civil purposes by ensuring safety and security,” Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said, while speaking about the initiative.

“The policy broadly covers usage of UAS for recreational, non-recreational, sports, photography, media coverage, commercial, agriculture, and many more purposes,” he added. “Once the policy has been formulated, it will open new avenues for local industry and will provide an incentive to the people and business community to make the best use of it.”

Aviation division spokesperson stated that the draft policy had been circulated to all the stakeholders for their inputs. After incorporating the feedback from the stakeholders concerned, the draft policy would be placed before appropriate forum for approval.