Drone futures – how the CAA strives to minimize risk while enabling innovation

The UK government is taking bold, if underfunded, steps to help the drone market take off in the UK's crowded airspace – as my previous report explained. Technical, cultural, and geographical challenges abound. And, as D-RiSQ CEO Nick Tudor set out in that report, there are risks in reaching for the sky on an updraft of hype.

Air transport demands a resolute focus on customer safety – not to mention the safety of everyone in the vicinity of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or Systems (UAVs/UAS). But the UK also needs to help innovation flourish. So, how can it balance these competing objectives?

Shifting priorities at the CAA

Sophie O'Sullivan is Director of the Future Flight Program at an organization which finds itself, willingly or otherwise, at the center of this disruption: the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Over the years, it has often been described as conservative and too concerned with ...