The Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has released the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) for operation of civil Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS), or as it is commonly known as, drones. As per the CAR, in order to operate a drone one will have to obtain an Unique Identification Number (UIN), an Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (UAOP) and comply with certain other operational requirements. Note that this CAR is specifically for RPAS, and the operation of autonomous aircraft are strictly prohibited. One can send their comments regarding this to the DGCA within December 1, 2017. Write to: hbiswas[dot]dgca[at]nic[dot]in In April last year, DGCA had released a draft policy with guidelines for obtaining a Unique Identification Number (UIN) and permission to fly a civil unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The current Civil Aviation Requirements for operating a drone has been built on top of this draft policy. DGCA had begun the process of framing guidelines for the operation of drones in the country, back in April 2015, post which drones were expected to be legalized. Note that in March 2016, the government of India had amended the Customs Baggage Declaration regulations to make it mandatory (pdf) to declare drones in customs forms, for people coming to India. On declaration, users had to report to the customs officer at the Red Channel counter and were liable to pay duty on the item. The regulation came into force on April 1, 2016. Lowdown on DGCA's operational requirements for remotely piloted drones To begin with, DGCA has divided drones into…
