MUSCAT, MARCH 2 - The use of unmanned aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has of late increased across the world, and the Sultanate is no exception, according to Dr Mohammed bin Nasser al Zaabi, Chief Executive Officer of the Public Authority for Civil Aviation.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a seminar that discussed ways to use drones for development purposes, Al Zaabi said that in just two months, the authority had issued more than 30 permits. “We at the Public Authority for Civil Aviation issued about 150 drone permits for governmental and private institutions last year, and in the past two months alone we issued more than 30 permits,” he said at the forum titled “weDrone- Opportunities and Challenges” held at the German University of Technology (GUtech) on Wednesday.
In the Sultanate, the use of drones for private purposes and for taking photographs is prohibited, and any company which needs to employ drones for their operations need to get licence from the PACA.
“However, the international civil aviation systems provide some recommendations regarding the regulation of this type of aircraft’s use,” Al Zaabi added.
Accordingly, the authority has worked on a system to regulate licensing of this type of aircraft for use by governmental and commercial institutions, in addition to their use in the field of science.
He added that the PACA and the National Survey Authority have been working closely with respect to the licensing of aerial photography, as well as with the Ministry of Information in relation to television production and with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in respect of frequencies.
The seminar discussed the organisational, legislative, practical and commercial aspects of drones and the international systems in this regard.
He noted that the widespread use of this type of aircraft in agriculture, aerial survey and television and photography is on the upswing.
The symposium included several working papers, the most important of which were the laws and regulations in the Sultanate regarding drones, airspace management methods, PDO experience to use this type of aircraft and benefit from port management through UAV techniques and post-crisis management using unmanned (UM) aircraft.
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