RPAS Terminology

Within the context of its Global Access Initiative, UVS International has produced three documents, which will hopefully contribute to making it possible for the international Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) community to start using a common terminology.These 3 documents are:

RPAS Glossary

This is a list of the terms and definitions which are most commonly used in the field of civil RPAS operations and is based on the definitions found in:

• 18 Annexes of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation (Recognized by the Contracting States) produced by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
• ICAO Circular 328 (Explanation of Terms – Not yet formally accepted by ICAO) produced by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
• CAP722, 5^th edition, 10 August 2012 (Recognized in UK) produced by CAA, UK
• Proposals by UVS International

The purpose of this document is to supply the international RPAS community with a list of terms and definitions, as well as the applicable acronyms that are relevant to RPAS operations. It is anticipated that this document will have significant educational value (especially for persons who are not native English speakers & for persons with limited aeronautical experience).

RPAS Civil Operation Categories

This is a list of civil RPAS operations in 4 categories (Commercial Air Traffic, General Aviation, Aerial Work, State Flights), which is based on the European Coordination Centre for Accident and Incident Reporting Systems (ECCAIRS) 4.2.8 document produced by the European Commission Joint Research Centre, which in turn is based on the ICAO ADREP 2000 document.

Where considered necessary, clarifying explanations have been supplied.

The RPAS operation examples (references numbers in regular print) indicated have been compiled going out from various European Commission (EC) documents & studies, including, amongst others, the EC’s report of the hearing on Light RPAS and the presentations given at this hearing, the USEP study produced by the Conseil Général de l’Armement (France), the survey on Light RPAS conducted by UVS International for the EC, information obtained from the EC Joint Research Centre, and the documents submitted to the EC within the framework of the EC UAS Panel initiative. The indicated examples are not to be considered exhaustive.

ICAO Definitions

This document brings together, in alphabetical order, all the terms and definitions in English, as well as the related acronyms, which appear in the 18 Annexes of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation (1944). The complete texts of these 18 Annexes are part of the ICAO Technical Publications, which can be purchased from ICAO in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. This is the first time that these terms and definitions are available in one single document.

This document has been produced for the benefit of the international RPAS community with the intent to make it contents available to this community in order to promote the use of the correct aviation terminology.

These three documents are now available and downloadable by the international RPAS community. See the “RPAS Terminology” tab in the main menu bar on www.uvs-info.com.