XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics, man.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   Canada’s air force has determined that, unlike its counterparts in the   
   United States and Europe, it does not need approval from civil aviation   
   agencies to fly drones in domestic airspace and it will operate those   
   unmanned planes as it sees fit, according to newly released Department   
   of National Defence documents.   
      
   But the air force acknowledges that flying the drones in domestic   
   airspace shared by civilian jetliners and other aircraft will be   
   challenging.   
      
   The issue of whether to allow unmanned aerial vehicles — or UAVs — to   
   operate in domestic airspace is currently being hotly debated in Europe.   
   In June, Germany’s defence officials were accused of wasting more than   
   $1 billion after they purchased long-range UAVs, only to be told by the   
   European Aviation Safety Agency that the aircraft would not be allowed   
   to fly in Europe. The aircraft did not have a proper collision-avoidance   
   system, the safety agency determined.   
      
   The debate was further fuelled by the leak last month of two videos to   
   German news outlets. One showed a German military UAV almost colliding   
   with a passenger jet over Kabul, Afghanistan; the other showed German   
   military personnel fleeing from an out-of-control Heron UAV, also in   
   Afghanistan.  The Heron later slammed into a military transport plane   
   sitting on the runway.   
      
   The Heron is the same type of drone the Canadian military leased for its   
   Afghanistan operations.   
      
   Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) planners examining the proposed purchase   
   of UAVs predicted back in 2011 that flying drones in commercial airspace   
   would become an issue, but noted they didn’t have to worry.   
      
   The RCAF doesn’t need approval from Transport Canada or Nav Canada to   
   fly the aircraft domestically, according to the documents obtained by   
   the Ottawa Citizen through the access-to-information law.   
      
   The RCAF pointed out that the Canadian situation is very different from   
   Europe and the U.S., where civilian agencies set the rules.  The air   
   force concluded that it saw no significant risks to routine operation of   
   UAVs in Canada.   
      
   But the briefing note also added that “in the domestic environment in   
   both high-use and uncongested airspace regions the employment of   
   military unmanned aircraft will provide greater challenges.”   
      
   The Conservative government wants to purchase a fleet of up to 18   
   medium-altitude UAVs for the RCAF. No specific costs have been released   
   but the project’s price tag is estimated to be over $1.5 billion.   
      
   The solution to operating in civilian airspace will be based on air   
   traffic management and collision and avoidance systems, the RCAF has   
   determined. “An autonomous ‘sense and avoid’ capability will be pursued   
   to permit ever increasing access to Canadian Airspace,” the briefing added.   
      
   Such technology would allow UAVs to automatically avoid mid-air collisions.   
      
   Capt. Holly-Anne Brown of the RCAF noted in an email sent Thursday to   
   the Citizen that while aerospace firms are working on a sense-and-avoid   
   system for UAVs, that is not considered an essential requirement for   
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   the Canadian military’s planned purchase of such aircraft.   
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   The RCAF has procedures in place that will ensure the safe operation of   
   any UAVs we operate,” she added.   
      
      
   But Steve Staples, president of the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute, says   
   the debate in Europe raises serious concerns about UAV flight safety in   
   Canada. “It’s one thing to be flying a drone over the desert in   
   Afghanistan but it’s something else to fly them over Ottawa or Toronto,”   
   said Staples, who is spearheading a campaign against the military’s   
   purchase of armed UAVs.   
      
   He said the lack of civilian safety oversight could lead to an accident   
   in the future.   
      
   Staples pointed out that the 2011 report from the military’s   
   flight-safety branch acknowledged 10 Canadian UAV crashes between 2007   
   and 2010.  Most of those happened in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and involved   
   engine failures. Since the early 2000s, there have been 42 accidents   
   involving Canadian Forces UAVs.         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
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   While the military conducted experiments with UAVs in domestic airspace   
   in 2004, the RCAF briefing note pointed out that “nowhere was civilian   
   approval or permission required or sought.”   
      
   Although Canadian Forces UAVs do not routinely operate outside their   
   restricted airspace at this point, that constraint is entirely   
   self-imposed by the military, it added.   
      
   Some police forces in Canada operate small UAVs but need special   
   permission from Transport Canada to fly them.   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)