Canadian Lawyer

ing A number of businesses have teased customers in the past year or so with the suggestion online orders could be delivered by unmanned drones. We've had the Burrito Bomber — self-dubbed as "the world's first airborne Mexican food delivery system," — and variants such as the LobsterCopter, TacoCopter, and, most recently, Amazon. com Inc.'s Octocopters. Most of these have been greeted with a healthy dose of skepticism south of the border, largely due to the strict United States Federal Aviation Administration rules governing the use of civilian drones. In this country, however, commercial organizations can already apply to Transport Canada for licences to use drones or "unmanned air vehicles." Transport Canada's web site states UAVs currently operate in "diverse environments," including research, mineral exploration, police surveillance, border patrol, survey and inspection of remote power lines and pipelines, traffic and accident surveillance, emergency and disaster monitoring, cartography and mapping, search and rescue, agricultural spraying, aerial photography, promotion and advertising, weather reconnaissance, and fire fighting monitoring and management. Canada's vast land mass and resulting infrastructure challenges could make drones an increasingly attractive proposition for companies with a large geographic reach as the technology continues to improve. Lawyers will certainly be required to help clients navigate the complex legal landscape. But is this landscape keeping pace with technology and demand? Not according to Joe Barnsley, an aviation lawyer at Winnipeg's Pitblado LLP. "Regulations aren't developed at all. It's a real issue for a whole number of reasons. It's really safety regulation and airspace regulation where the issues arise," he explains, equating the flying of drones with "driving down the road and sharing it with a bunch of radio-controlled cars, where the person controlling the vehicle is nowhere in sight." Governments have failed to adequately address what happens if the motor stops running — sending the drone crashing to the ground — or to fully deal with the risks of drones colliding with other aircraft, he warns. The Canadian Aviation Regulations, authorized under the Aeronautics Act, define a UAV as a "power driven aircraft, other than a model aircraft, that is operated without a flight crew member on board." Part VI of the regulations covers general operating and flight rules. Section 6.01 deals with airspace, and ss. 602.12 to 602.18 deal with low-level flight. The regulations are split into two categories. The first is used in reference to "flight crew licensing, the classification of aircraft as an aeroplane, a balloon, a glider, a gyroplane, a helicopter or an ultra-light aeroplane." The second refers to the "certification of aircraft, a grouping of aircraft based upon intended use or operating limitations such as normal, utility, aerobatic, commuter and transport." As Barnsley points out, "There is no category in which UAVs fit, so there is no clear regulation." There are certain restrictions, however. Section 602.41 prohibits anyone from operating a UAV in flight "except in accordance with a special flight operations certificate or an air operator certificate." To obtain a certificate, applicants must submit information such as the dates and times of the proposed operation, a detailed plan describing how the operation shall be carried out, and an emergency contingency plan. A separate certificate is required if the applicant wishes to fly the UAV out of sight. The system is not overseen centrally, and Transport Canada was unable www.CANADIAN L a w ye r m a g . c o m F e b r uary 2014 39

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