Rules of the Air
UK Rules of the Air framework.
Current Legislative Framework
The current UK Rules of the Air framework comprises the Rules of the Air Regulations 2015, UK Standardised European Rules of the Air (SERA) and the permissions, authorisations and exemptions published within Official Record Series 4 (ORS4). Together, these documents establish the operating rules applicable to aircraft operating within the UK.
What is UK SERA?
SERA was originally developed by the European Union (EU) to establish a common set of operating rules across participating States. SERA is the transposition into law of ICAO Annex 2 (Rules of the Air) and parts of ICAO Annex 3 (Meteorology), Annex 10 (Communication Procedures), Annex 11 (Air Traffic Services) and Doc 4444 (PANS-ATM).
Following the UK's departure from the European Union, SERA was assimilated into domestic law as UK SERA. Since that time, both the UK and EU have made amendments to their respective rulesets. As a result, UK SERA has diverged from EU/EASA SERA and differences now exist between the two frameworks. Users should not assume that provisions appearing under the same rule reference or title contain the same requirements.
Future Development
The CAA is undertaking work to consolidate UK SERA and the Rules of the Air Regulations 2015 into a single UK Rules of the Air framework. This work aims to simplify the legislative structure, improve clarity and usability and provide a coherent basis for future development of the UK Rules of the Air.