Hey there all. I've been busying myself with test flying foamies and getting all my Ardubugs ironed out.
I haven't checked in on the CASA regulations for ages...
Finally I feel i'm ready to step up to a large airframe so have a Mugin 3m wingspan airframe on it's way.
I'm guessing that it will have a MTOW of somwhere just north of 10 kg.
As all flights will be within visual range, do the rules for r/c model aircraft still apply? i.e. not within 3nm of an aerodrome,not above 400ft AGL in controlled airspace and use common sense in uncontrolled airspace?
Back when I last checked, if you were under 25kg MTOW then you did not need your airframe certified.
Eventually I will want to try some long range flights to test out the range of my "special" telemetry and I assume that that will require applying for an operators certificate?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Cheers
John Cousins
Replies
Hi John,
We, www.canberrauav.com/, were donated with a Mugin by http://www.cybertechuav.com.au/ from Western Australia.
I made these comments about the Mugin on another thread.
"We are flying the Mugin from 2000 ft. With 4.5 kilos on the nose just for balance, all up weight of 16 kilos, it requires a lot of speed for its lift. The slowest comfortable speed is around 100 km/hr, wide open throttle level flight is about 180 km/hr. This thing uses up the field at a great rate, and I have to work hard to keep up with it. Now, I consider myself an experienced, but ordinary weekend hack pilot of a wide range of nitro planes. We have a perfect 90 metre long, 9 metre wide, artificial strip visitors drool over, and it takes all my skill to get the Mugin down on it safely without running off the end. see http://www.cmac.org.au/about.htm The plane is well built, but in a manner that makes field repairs difficult. A few rolls of duct tape will just not do. The aluminium tubes are a close fit, and bending one would be hard to patch around. We cannot source spare tubing anywhere - and we have tried. The nose undercarriage is not all that strong, and has such a long moment that it is very vulnerable to not the best landings, or even running into obstacles at take off speed."
Ours is probably an earlier version. I would be interested to see how the later models, like yours might be, turn out.
The CASA regulations take a bit of interpretation. My understanding is that if the UAV is used for profit of any kind, it comes under CASA regulations for UAVs, and all the red tape you can imagine applies. Otherwise, CASA classifies it as a model aircraft, and says the MAAA is responsible body. But the MAAA are only concerned with models flown at MAAA recognised fields. I am sure alot of odd regulations do apply, but it is up to you to find out. I understand changes are are on the way, and what you determine today, may not apply tomorrow.
Best of luck. Jack.