UAS and SORA

Getting a drone operation authorised in the specific category

SORA risk assessment, standard scenarios, PDRA and the documentation that carries an operational authorisation. This area is about the paperwork problem that sits between a capable crew and a legal flight.

The problem

An operation falls into the specific category when it goes beyond the limitations of the open category. From that point the constraint is rarely the aircraft or the crew. It is the ability to describe the operation precisely enough that somebody else can agree it is acceptable.

Most applications that stall do so for the same reasons. The concept of operations describes an intention rather than a procedure. The ground risk buffer is asserted without an argument. Mitigations appear in the assessment but nowhere in the operations manual, so nothing shows they will actually happen.

The four routes, and choosing between them

EASA sets out four ways into the specific category, and picking the wrong one costs months. A standard scenario with a declaration is the fastest when your operation genuinely fits one. A predefined risk assessment covers common shapes without a full SORA. Outside both, you run a SORA. A light UAS operator certificate suits an operator planning enough recurring work to justify it.

Standard scenario, STS, with a declaration to the national authority.
Predefined risk assessment, PDRA, where one matches the intended operation.
A full SORA where no STS or PDRA fits.
A light UAS operator certificate, LUC, with privileges granted to the operator.

What NorthSky does here

Advisory work on the assessment and the documents around it: route selection, SORA arguments, concept of operations, operations manual alignment, and a read-through before you submit. An operational authorisation covers all flights within the limits it defines, so the limits are worth getting right the first time.

Who this is for

Operators moving from open to specific category for the first time, and discovering that the flying was the easy part.
Operators whose application has come back with questions and who need to know which of the questions is the real one.
Buyers of drone services who need to judge whether a supplier’s documentation would survive a look from the authority.

Articles in this area

One article so far. More will appear here when they are written.

Choosing a drone consultancy: what to ask

What a drone consultancy actually delivers, which documents you should expect, and the questions that separate competence from confidence.

Send the operation, not the form

Describe what you want to fly, where, over what, and how far from the crew. That is enough to say which route fits and roughly what the documentation load looks like.

Get in touch

Frequently asked questions

When does an operation need a SORA rather than a standard scenario?

When no standard scenario or predefined risk assessment matches what you intend to do. If one does match, using it is faster and the declaration route exists precisely to save you the full assessment. The mistake is forcing an operation into an STS it does not quite fit.

How long is an operational authorisation valid?

EASA states that an operational authorisation covers all flights conducted within the limits defined in it, and may be valid for an unlimited number of flights and time unless the national authority explicitly limits them. That makes the defined limits the thing to negotiate carefully.

Can NorthSky submit the application for us?

The application is the operator’s, and the authorisation is the authority’s to grant. What NorthSky can do is build or review the assessment and the operational documentation, and say plainly where a reader from Luftfartstilsynet will push back.