Move to regulate drone use

PUTRAJAYA: All drones in the country will need to be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) by next year as part of moves to regulate this thriving ecosystem.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said drones started as toys but this was no longer the case as the explosive growth in their use – which is a type of unmanned aerial system – over the past few years had led various regulators around the world to introduce measures to control their use in the interest of national security and public safety.

The regulation for drones is expected to be tightened under a system called Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) – a “traffic management” system for drone operations.

Dr Wee spoke yesterday during the CAAM workshop on drone handling for the Malaysian media, one of the groups increasingly reliant on drones for reporting.

“While we support excellence in photography and video, we want this activity to be controlled as flying a drone comes with factors that affect privacy, safety, and security,” he said at the workshop attended by nearly 100 media practitioners here yesterday.

The CAAM, the lead agency to regulate the use of drones, has been refining the rules governing this equipment that is now ubiquitous in filming, photography, surveillance, mapping, and agriculture, to name a few.

In his speech, CAAM CEO Datuk Capt Chester Voo said the sophistication of drones might make them seem easy to handle.

“However, when things go wrong, drones can also cause injuries, other than giving rise to issues such as safety and invasion of privacy.

“This is why we constantly emphasise the importance of risk assessment concerning drones, even as we play our role to facilitate the industry’s growth,” he said.

Capt Voo added that CAAM would keep a tight watch on the industry to keep up with this rapidly evolving field, and for this, it is in the midst of calling for a tender for the UTM system.

“That said, I want to thank the media for being supportive of the endeavours of CAAM as it plays its role as an aviation services regulator while guiding the development of the growing industry,” he said.

The special CAAM workshop at its office explained current regulations and the latest updates on Malaysia’s ecosystem and sought feedback on coming up with a flowchart on how the media can apply for special approval to fly drones.