The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has issued its first ‘light UAS operator certificate’ (LUC) to Manna Aero, the Irish drone delivery operator. Manna Aero was the first company to apply for a LUC, following their recent trials of drone delivery services in rural Ireland. Their successful application follows a rigorous assessment of their operational capabilities in line with the new EU drone regulations, which came into force at the start of the year.
The LUC is recognized in all EU Member States and provides drone operators with significant business opportunities across the single market.
Speaking at the handover of the certificate by video conference call, the aviation regulator, Diarmuid Ó Conghaile, congratulated Manna CEO, Bobby Healy on their success to date and reaffirmed the importance of a pro-business regulatory environment for Ireland’s drone industry.
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“The light UAS operator certificate is a very exciting development in EU regulatory terms and provides Irish companies like Manna Aero with access to a potential European market of over half a billion customers. Drone services are an important part of the green technology mix in Europe and provide a competitive alternative to traditional service delivery. Our ambition for the new IAA is to facilitate UAS innovation and competitiveness with the highest safety and security standards, ultimately providing benefits to consumers at the end of the supply chain.”
Bobby Healy, CEO of Manna Drone Delivery reacted to the news: “This achievement marks the culmination of our two-year engagement with the IAA and is a strong endorsement for Manna, the nascent European Drone Delivery Industry, and Ireland as a tech-epicenter for drone technology. We thank EASA, and IAA for their vision and leadership, our delivery partners, and of course our wonderful trial customers in Oranmore and Moneygall for helping us to get this far”
What is a light UAS operator certificate?
A light UAS operator certificate (LUC) is an organizational approval certificate that assigns certain privileges to a drone operator. When the IAA is satisfied that the LUC applicant has demonstrated all the necessary capabilities, it issues the certificate and assigns privileges to the drone operators based on their level of maturity. The privileges may allow the organization to self-authorize operations, removing the requirement to obtain prior authorization. The privileges may be one or more of the following:
– conduct operations covered by standard scenarios without submitting a declaration;
– self-authorize operations conducted by the drone operator and covered by a pre-defined risk assessment;
– self-authorize all operations conducted by the drone operator without applying for authorization.
