Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems

There are many potential opportunities for operators of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) to carry goods classified as ‘dangerous’, such as transporting medical supplies to remote areas.

This publication  provides guidance to RPAS operators on the requirements and application process to gain approval from the CAA to carry dangerous goods in the UK, including a case study on dangerous goods related to COVID-19 relief efforts.

The CAA is currently refining its approach for assessing dangerous goods applications from RPAS operators, and we plan to update this publication to reflect future developments.

As a first step, the CAA (Dangerous Goods, Flight Operations) has provided an example Dangerous Goods Manual for RPAS operators carrying dangerous goods falling within UN3373 Biological Substances, Category B, which includes COVID-19 test samples.