The civil aviation ministry has abolished the requirement of drone pilot licence to fly drones in the country. In its order, the ministry stated that the Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC) issued by a DGCA-approved drone school through the single window DigitalSky Platform shall be sufficient for operating a drone in the country.
In a tweet, the Ministry of Civil Aviation also pointed out, “No remote pilot certificate shall be required for operating a drone upto 2 kg for non-commercial purposes.”
The new notification will take effect from February 11.
Under the previous rules, the drone pilot licence could only be issued by the Director General of Civil Aviation. However, the new rules mandate that the remote pilot certificate can be issued by any authorised remote pilot training organisation.
With the new rules in place, more individuals could apply for drone flying licenses with the process also becoming even faster and smoother.
The latest rules to fly a drone in the country come just a few days after the government decided to put a ban the import of drones with certain exceptions as part of efforts to promote domestic manufacturing of drones in the country.
It may be noted that the ministry had issued liberalised drone rules in August last year. A month after that in September, the ministry issued the drone airspace map and PLI scheme and UTM policy framework in October 2021. Besides, drone certification scheme and single window DigitalSky Platform were put in place last month.
