28/04/2025
Is your Drone business growing and changing? You may need to apply for an Air Service License Amendment.
Your Domestic Air Service License was granted, you proceeded to obtain your UASOC and hopefully you have been conducting a successful UAS operation ever since. Your encounters with the Department of Transport, however, do not necessarily end once you have proudly framed your license and hung it on the wall in reception. When you are in the business of flying drones commercially, any decisions or changes you make within the company could have an impact on your ASL.
Section 14 of the Air Services Licensing Act identifies instances in which you will need to apply for an amendment to your ASL, effectively notifying the ASL Council of certain changes should you intend to make them. You will need to apply for an amendment of your ASL if any of the following are on the cards:
1) If you intend to change the type of air service on your license you will need to apply to the Council for an amendment. This refers to the G codes, for example you might have started out as a purely surveillance operation, but you are expanding and wish to venture into crop spraying, you will need to apply to Council to add G5 to your ASL.
2) If you are a partnership and you intend to amend any of the particulars of any of the partners.
3) If you are a close corporation and you intend to change the particulars of any of the members, or if you intend to convert your CC to a company.
4) If you intend to amend the controlling shareholding in your company (i.e. more than 49% of the shareholding).
5) If you intend to amend the particulars of the prescribed personnel responsible and accountable for the safety and reliability of the air service (this refers to the Postholders, more specifically the Accountable Manager; Safety Manager; Responsible Person: Flight Operations and Responsible Person: Aircraft).
As a UAS operator, any business decisions you are about to make, need to be considered in light of the effect these might have on your ASL and ultimately your UASOC.
If you are on the verge of making changes in your operation which fit the above criteria, it is best to seek expert advice before effecting those changes, in order to properly assess whether an ASL amendment needs to be filed with the Council.
Failure to apply for an amendment under these circumstances could see you receiving an invitation to pay the Council a visit and explain the non-compliance. Should the Council rule that a licensee is non-compliant with a provision of the Act, they are vested with the power to cancel or suspend the license, or to direct the licensee to rectify the non-compliance within a certain period of time.
We are equipped to assist you with all of your ASL requirements and queries. Contact us for a consultation and let’s evaluate your compliance together.
www.ntsuaviation.com | jayne@ntsuaviation.com
