We are pleased to announce that our drone operations have successfully renewed our CAA Part 102 Certification just before Christmas 2024. This being extended the maximum allowable period of 5 years through to 2029. This achievement reaffirms our professional drone services team’s position as a leader in the sector. With over 14,383 logged flights, 1.1 million photos taken, and 25,421 kilometers flown, we continue to set industry standards (see the heat map of our flights across New Zealand below).
What does being CAA CAR 102 Certified Mean ?
Part 102 is based on the risk of the operations. Applicants such as Interpine submit an ‘exposition’ showing that they have identified hazards and risks of their operation, and ways they will mitigate those risks. Each application will be considered on its merit – this allows for the wide scope of operations made possible by RPAS. – CAA Website. Part 102 captures all unmanned aircraft that do not operate under Part 101. This includes any autonomous aircraft. The most common type of unmanned aircraft are remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS). Again, for the purpose of the Civil Aviation Rules (CARs), a remotely piloted aircraft is: ‘an unmanned aircraft piloted from a remote station and includes a remotely controlled model aircraft’. Any unmanned aircraft operation will introduce hazards and risks that will need to be managed. Certificate holders like Interpine have an operational Safety Management System (SMS) in place. This is a crucial to the acknowledgement of all the potential hazards, the level of risk each hazard poses, and the measures that will be taken to mitigate these risks. The focus is on certificate holders, such as Interpine demonstrating that their operations will be safe, providing for regular audits of equipment and training of pilots across their operations. The CAA looks at the people involved in the operation, the aircraft, and the scope of the operation. The Director must be satisfied that the operation is safe, and that the operator is able to mitigate and control the risks before issuing the certificate. This requires the application of extensive standard operating procedures (SOP). These SOP include a process for conducting a risk assessment on the type of operation, and the organization intends to undertake.
Our Drone Services
Our services include LiDAR, aerial imagery, volumetric surveys, thermal inspections, flight training, pest monitoring, and vegetation monitoring. We operate our drone teams from our Otago and Central North Island offices, if you have a project in mind or want to upskill in the application of drones reach out to our team.
