JARUS held its second in-person Plenary meeting in Ottawa from September 18 to 22, 2023.
This second Plenary meeting was filled with triumphant moments: the celebration for the 15-year anniversary of JARUS and for the new leadership following the re-election of Giovanni Di Antonio, from the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (Enac), as Chair of JARUS, and the election of Catalin Radu, Director General of Civil Administration of Kazakhstan, as Vice-Chair.
The event focused on the progress of regulation for integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and Innovative Air Mobility/Advanced Air Mobility (IAM/AAM) into airspace and presented the expansion of the scope of the Work Programs of the Working Groups.
During the event, the ICAO Secretariat sent a delegation to participate the plenary and working sessions and debriefed the JARUS community for the UAS/RPAS work in ICAO.
Nearly 130 officials, experts and industry representatives from 36 countries and international organizations, including ICAO, EUROCONTROL and EASA participated this event.
For details, please visit the Press Release below.
JARUS plenary news release 2023/2
Ottawa hosted the second JARUS Plenary Meeting celebrating 15 years anniversary and the new Leadership of JARUS
A milestone week in Ottawa where nearly 130 officials, experts and industry representatives, and international organizations, such as ICAO, EUROCONTROL and EASA gathered from September 18 to 22, 2023 for the second in-person Plenary co-hosted by Transport Canada Civil Aviation and the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems (JARUS).
This second Plenary marked 15 years of JARUS in the most fitting manner with the re-election of Mr. Giovanni Di Antonio, from the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (Enac), as Chair and the election of Mr. Catalin Radu, Director General of Kazakhstan Aviation Administration, as Vice-Chair.
At the meeting were present Giovanni Di Antonio, JARUS Chair and Enac Director of Innovation Technology, Craig Bloch-Hansen , Vice Chair and Leader of WG Automation Concept of Operation from Transport Canada, Prof. LIU Hao, JARUS Secretary General, Zia Meer, Leader of WG Operation Organization & Personnel from SACAA, Markus Farner, Leader of WG Airworthiness from FOCA, and Joerg Dittrich Leader of WG Safety Risk Management from DLR/LBA.
Yves Morier remotely joined the first day of the Plenary to congratulate JARUS on its 15th anniversary. He highlighted the importance of this milestone which is a testament to the high level recognizing of the values and contributions of the work of JARUS experts over all these years.
Updates were provided by the JARUS working groups (WG) leaders.
Zia Meer presented the WG OPS ORG & PERS update. The WG has expanded its scope to CAT B operations and reported progress on revision of Annex A. The draft decision of the extended working Programme has been submitted for Plenary approval.
Markus Farner shared the updated Work Program 3.0 of the WG AW and reported the progress on CS-UAS, Annex B and C, the Airworthiness recommendations for HAPS-HAO and the FAA D&R and EASA Light UAS Certification Requirements Factual Comparison.
Joerg Dittrich presented WG Safety Risk Management update regarding the process of SORA and its integration between Annexes, the progress of SORA 2.5 and SORA 3.0, and Annexes A, B, E, F, H and I.
Craig Bloch-Hansen updated the starting of the Internal Consultation for the Airspace Whitepaper drafted by the WG AUTO CONOPS. The meeting also featured discussions on use cases for UAS and IAM/UAM, supported OOP WG with interpretation of Automation Level approach; contributed to AW/SRM WG discussions.
On the last day, the JARUS Plenary Team (PT) approved the “CS-HAPS” for internal consultation, the “Whitepaper – Automation of the Airspace Environment” for internal consultation, the “PDRA 06 UAS testing in VLOS” for external consultation, the “PDRA 08 Swarming Operations” for external consultation, the “PDRA 10 VLOS up to 200m” for external consultation, and the “Whitepaper, FAA D&R and EASA Light Certification Requirements, Factual Comparison, Edition Number 1.1” for publication.
John Walker, Chair of the Industry Stakeholder Body (ISB), and Julie Garland, Vice Chair of the ISB, provided a comprehensive debrief of the ISB subject matter expert policy. The ISB reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to collaborating with JARUS and pledged to continue working closely with the unmanned aviation community and stakeholders.
Frédéric Malaud, RPAS Panel Secretary, Thomas Bombaert, AAM SG, and Mark Wuennenberg, Operations, UAS-AG, drone enable, from ICAO, joined the Plenary meeting in-person and presented the ongoing activities of the RPAS Panel, AAM Study Group and UAS Advisory Group. This participation and discussion witnessed the resumed and enhanced long-term collaboration and coordination between ICAO and JARUS. The Plenary expressed gratitude for the in-person participation of ICAO colleagues.
Ron Van de Leijgraaf, the founder and first JARUS Chair, joined the final day of the Plenary meeting to congratulate the growth and successes of JARUS in the fifteen years of continuous activity. As the former leader of Chairs, he shared his advice for the future of JARUS.
In addition, the distinguished speakers presented on various UAS/RPAS projects, covering a wide range of topics.
Jeannie Stewart-Smith, from Transport Canada and the former Vice Chair of JARUS, provided an overview of Canada’s regulatory framework for remotely piloted aircraft systems, the Canadian Aviation Regulations Part IX.
Barry Koperberg, from Wings for Aid, presented their practice of delivering humanitarian goods with unmanned aircraft system to people in a safely and precise manner.
Other major updates were presented by Christopher L. SWIDER, from the FAA, Illyaquila Fateen Binti Ismail, from Malaysia CAA, Edwin Purnell, from UK CAA, and Raynold Senam Komla Atadja, from Ghana CAA.
Special thanks to Félix Meunier, Director General of Transport Canada Civil Aviation, Craig Bloch-Hansen, Vice Chair of JARUS, and the entire Transport Canada team for kindly hosting the JARUS Plenary in Ottawa.
It was announced that the upcoming first JARUS Plenary 2024 will be held between May 13 and 17 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan, and the second JARUS Plenary 2024 will be held in the week of Nov 18 and 22 2024, in Vienna, Austria.
