Experts say changes to drone rules have been a 'long time coming'

New rules for drone users Pilots of aerial drones will have to abide by some new rules in June. Stephanie Wiebe tells us more.

The federal government is imposing some tough new rules for drone pilots in Canada and they include mandatory registration and certification, restrictions on drug and alcohol use and rules on where and how high the drones can be flown.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced the new rules on Wednesday in order to avoid the ‘enormous repercussions’ that can result from an incident involving a remote control drone.

Starting June 1, all drone operators will require a valid pilot’s licence that can be obtained on Transport Canada’s website.

The licence possesses two levels, basic and advanced, and those pilots will also need to register their drones as long as they are within 250 grams and 25 kg.

Drones that are over 25 kilograms will still require a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC), but it will no longer be a prerequisite for commercial operations as long as those businesses keep their devices under 25 kg.

Other rules include:

It costs $5 to register a drone and the pilot basic operations test costs $10. Advanced drone operators will need to pay $25.

Aviation advisor David Curry, who worked on the rules alongside Transport Canada, says the new regulations have been a long time coming.

“We didn’t really have any regulations before. All we had were advisory notices, staff instructions and this dreaded thing called an SFOC. These regulations are very welcome and I think Transport Canada and the advisory committee did a very good job of it.”

Now that the rules are set to come into effect this year, the landscape of drone flying in Canada has fundamentally changed, Curry says.

“Before these new regulations came into effect, we used to have two groups. We used to have a recreational user and we used to have someone who was working for hire. That’s all gone with these new regulations.”

Curry says the rules focus a lot more on where drones are being operated. The basic and advanced licences each have their own zones they can operate within.

Basic pilots will be allowed to fly anywhere outside controlled airspace while continuing to follow the rest of the rules. Advanced users will have a more difficult test, but will be allowed to fly in controlled airspace, close to people and buildings.

“That online exam is going to be more in-depth,” Curry says. “You’re going to have to study before it. You may have to take some training and then write that exam.”

There are some penalties for those who don’t follow the new rules too. Details on the associated fines can be found on Transport Canada’s website.

According to Transport Canada, there are 193,500 remotely piloted aircraft systems in Canada, in contrast to the 37,000 "traditional" aircrafts such as commercial, cargo or recreational small planes.

Current drone operation rules will remain in place until the changeover on June 1.

(With files from Mark Villani and CTVNews.ca)