Results of the AW-Drones survey on drone operator’s perspective

In the last two years, our project partner Peter van Blyenburgh (Blyenburgh & Co) conducted two surveys on behalf of AW-Drones to explore the drone operator’s perspective of SORA and U-space. They examined the current and near-future situation for multiple market sectors in the European UAS industry; now, their results are available on this website for free consultation.

The survey on the operator’s perspective of SORA

In May 2020, AW-Drones promoted a survey on the operator’s perspective of SORA. Calling all drone operators, the UAS OPS survey on drone operations & safety risk assessment aimed to give the European drone operator community a chance to provide their opinion on current and future drone operational matters. Closed in June 2020, it identified the market sectors in which drone flight operations were taking place in compliance with the applicable rules or regulations, and their mission purposes.

Its results were delivered to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Commission (EC); both its results and its conclusions are now available, free-of-charge, to all interested parties.

The survey on the operator’s perception of U-Space

Later on, in April 2021, the project launched a survey again. Put together with the assistance of 23 experts with complementary expertise from various countries, this new survey meant to collect insight on U-space. Targeting the whole UAS community, including operators and manufacturers, it welcomed feedback from other aeronautical stakeholders as well.

The survey started from evaluating the comprehension of U-space in the Single European Sky (SES) Member State area; then, it assessed the knowledge level and expectations of the UAS community. In addition, it gathered opinions on the technical standards required to implement U-space, while also identifying bottlenecks and gaps. Finally, it scoped the possible concerns of the drone community about U-space and its implementation.

Today, the survey conclusions are publically available, free-of-charge, on this website.