Back in 2017 there were rumours that the CAA was about to increase the drone application costs for new Permission for Commercial Operation submissions and in March 2018 it was finally officially announced, so, here they are.
Total Read Time: ~2-3 Minutes
Initial application and issue of standard permissions - £247
£247 is how much you will have to pay the CAA once you have completed a drone course such as the ICARUS Standard or ICARUS Pro course and completed an Operations Manual.
Your NQE will help you with your initial submission, but you will have to pay the CAA this cost directly.
Renewal or Variation to Standard Permissions - £185
£185 is how much you will have to pay the CAA every 12 months when it comes around to renewing your PfCO, or, should you wish to make an amendment before your renewal such as requesting for Night Permissions to be added.
Did you know we have recently released an Online Night Rating Course to help you get your permissions?
Initial Application for an OSC - £1749
£1749 is the baseline cost for an initial application for an OSC + £173/hour for any work required over and above 7 hours.
This will make a lot of people consider the cost implications of applying for an OSC without any prior experience. If you are considering applying for an OSC to get your standard permissions lower than 50m (for <7kg aircraft) then we recommend you contact Open Sky Consulting for expert guidance when writing your first OSC.
http://www.open-sky-consulting.com/osc/
Why have the prices increased?
The CAA is a public corporation, established by Parliament in 1972 as an independent specialist aviation regulator. The UK Government requires that their costs are met entirely from charges services they provide or regulate.
http://www.caa.co.uk/Our-work/About-us/Our-role/
As the industry is continuing to grow rapidly there is an increasing demand on the CAA to support UAV operators and NQEs. The only way they can achieve this and (hopefully) improve their service is to increase the size of their team which requires more resource.
Hopefully we'll start to see better and quicker responses from the CAA when dealing with applications for Permission for Commercial Operation and any other general enquiry.
We'll always try to keep you up to date with the latest updates to the rules and regulations so make sure you subscribe to the blog or regularly check back!
If you missed it, the CAA recently updated the Air Navigation Order, check the blog out here as you may need to update you Operations Manual.
https://blog.flyicarus.co.uk/caa-cap-393-ano-updated-to-new-2018-version
