LV_Forestry
 First Officer
Flight distance : 4726654 ft
Latvia
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I have just read the 945 (from 09/08/2020) and 947 (from 04/04/2022).
In the 947 we can read:
UAS types within the meaning of Decision No 768/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 6 ), which do not comply with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945 and which are not privately-built are allowed to continue to be operated under the following conditions, when they have been placed on the market before ►M4 1 January 2024 ◄:
a)in subcategory A1 as defined in Part A of the Annex, provided that the unmanned aircraft has a maximum take-off mass of less than 250 g, including its payload;
b)in subcategory A3 as defined in Part A of the Annex, provided that the unmanned aircraft has a maximum take-off mass of less than 25 kg, including its fuel and payload.
Part A of the annex :
UAS.OPEN.020 UAS operations in subcategory A1
UAS operations in subcategory A1 shall comply with all of the following conditions:
"..."
(5) be performed with an unmanned aircraft that:
(a)has an MTOM, including payload, of less than 250 g and a maximum operating speed of less than 19 m/s, in the case of a privately built UAS; or
(b)meets the requirements defined in point (a) of Article 20;
(c)is marked as class C0 and complies with the requirements of that class, as defined in Part 1 of the Annex to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945; or
(d)is marked as class C1 and complies with the requirements of that class, as defined in Part 2 of the Annex to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945 and is operated with active and updated direct remote identification system and geo-awareness function.
So we are talking about the MTOM as maximal take off weight. So far there is nothing prohibitive
Let's go to the 945 Part1 C0
A class C0 UAS shall comply with the following:
(1) have an MTOM of less than 250 g, including payload;
"..."
(8) be placed on the market with manufacturer’s instructions providing:
(a) the characteristics of the UA including but not limited to the:
— class of the UA
— UA mass (with a description of the reference configuration) and the maximum take-off mass (MTOM);
— general characteristics of allowed payloads in terms of mass, dimensions, interfaces with the UA and other possible restrictions;
At no time does article 20 or appendix A of 947 mention referring to appendix part 1 C0 of 945 which specifies that it is the manufacturer who must provide MTOM's instructions.
There remains a blocking point is the definition of MTOM in Chapter 1 article 3 of the 945 and article 2 of the 947:
‘maximum take-off mass’ (‘MTOM’) means the maximum Unmanned Aircraft mass, including payload and fuel, as defined by the manufacturer or the builder, at which the Unmanned Aircraft can be operated;
We come back to the same point, just declare the drone in self-build. It is possible in France when registering the drone on the civil aviation website, just check self-build. In Latvia it is at the time of contracting the insurance it is necessary to indicate that it is self-build.
This is debatable because the statements on the EASA and CAA websites provide a different version:
Open Category - Civil Drones | EASA (europa.eu)
Then on this page they write again MTOM and January 2023:
Drones (UAS) | EASA (europa.eu)
But let's not forget that the texts issued by the European Commission are not authoritative. Each State has its own law and should align as much as possible with EU texts to "harmonize". Personally, I rely on information from the CAAs of the countries in which I fly my drones. Because the local police do not care much about European regulations, what is in force is the law of each country.
Latvia : Atvertā kategorija – CAA
Poland : Kategoria Otwarta - informacje - ULC
Lituania : Bendra informacija - TKA interneto svetainė
I write this on 07/26/2023. Maybe these laws at the national level will evolve, but for the moment it is like that. The MTOM, a good bureaucrat thing, that's all the good I think of it.
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Second Officer
