SCOPE OF THE DOCUMENT

The scope of this OSED is not limited to conflict management with other traffic, manned and unmanned. Nevertheless, MOPS derived from this OSED could be limited to traffic conflict management as a first step or a dedicated MOPS could address traffic only.

This OSED describes the basic operational scenarios and operating environment anticipated for Very Low Level (VLL) operations:

• For Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) used for Specific and Certified operations categories¹, according to EC’s Delegated Act [Ref 1]

• Conducted Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS)

• In urban, suburban, rural and remote environments

• With support of external services, defined in this OSED as VLL Air Traffic Management (VLLATM) services if these are available. VLLATM includes U-space, UAS Traffic Management (UTM) or elements thereof

• During all phases of flight

• Day and night

• Where it is necessary to detect and avoid conflict/collisions with:

o Manned (pilot on board) aircraft

o Other Unmanned Aircraft (UA)

o The terrain²

o Fixed obstacles

o Mobile obstacles

o Hazardous weather

o People and animals

The following are also considered in the scope of this OSED:

• UA capable of carrying passengers

• Operations in vicinity of airports

• Highly automated UAS with possibility of remote pilot intervention

• Supervision of multiple UA by a single or a pool of remote pilots

• Stationary infrastructures either permanent (buildings, bridges, wires and cables) or temporary (cranes)

• Trees

• Mobile obstructions (vehicles, trains and vessels)

• Significant turbulence and very low visibility conditions

• Flying wildlife (flocks of birds airborne and on the ground, clouds of bats and swarms of insects). Individuals are foreseen to be difficult and unnecessary to detect.

The following are considered out of the scope of this OSED:

• Fully autonomous operations with no possibility of remote pilot intervention after take-off.

• Airport operations: UA operation in support of airport management or operations (e.g. runway inspection) will be conducted in a very controlled environment.

• Geo-limitation: geo-fences and geo-cages are not considered a hazard at DAA level. They are not “hard walls” that could damage the aircraft, should be relatively large. Dynamic geo-fences can even pop-up on the aircraft, hence cannot be detected upfront. As such, they should rather be considered as restricted areas or weather are today in manned aviation at planning phase (leaving room for manoeuvring in case of conflict with other aircraft). Flight rules should define priorities if needed to avoid infringement and the way to re-plan the flight path and manoeuvre (like today when aircraft are in a conflict situation close to a mountain). Also, geo-fencing/caging is currently maturing and may be foreseen as a stand-alone function working in parallel to DAA, though there are clear interactions identified between the two. Geo-fences/cages will be taken into account either during the flight planning phase or during the flight by navigation / re-routing functions, not necessarily by the DAA function.

• Birds attacking the own-ship UA: escaping the attack of birds (and other animals) will not be addressed in this OSED.

• Wake turbulence: the sizes and speeds of traffic flying in VLL are not expected to generate significant wake turbulence, for which no solution is satisfactory today. Separation minima as well as avoidance manoeuvres, e.g. not passing under large rotorcraft generating rotor wash, should mitigate the issue if any.

• Definition of VLLATM services: this OSED will not define what the different VLLATM services should be. It is nevertheless based on best knowledge of current activities undertaken in that domain.

• VLL Air Traffic Management specific issues: this OSED will not address issues related to the performance, deployment or usage of VLLATM services.

• Military operational flights: military and state operational flights will not be specifically addressed in this OSED, though parts of it could apply.

¹ UAS used for Open operations category are not addressed specifically since these would be conducted in Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) conditions and DAA would be by the remote pilot. Nevertheless, parts of this OSED could apply.

² “Terrain” is a generic term as can be found in ICAO RPAS Manual [Ref 13], and does not necessarily mean hard soil. Equivalent to “surface”, it also includes water, etc.