Article 18 F of the European Commission’s U-space regulation (https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/default/files/c20212671-u-space.pdf) requires that the designated competent authorities shall: “establish a mechanism to coordinate with other authorities and entities, including at local level, the designation of U-space airspace, the establishment of airspace restrictions for UAS within that U-space airspace and the determination of the U-space services to be provided in the U-space airspace.”
“We are thinking of a three-step approach in order to ensure the involvement of cities not only for the designation of the U-space airspace but also for the determination of U-space services…and any operational constraints they will need to be involved in,” said Ken Englestad, Project manager Drones at EASA.
The U-space regulation was adopted by the Commission in April this year (https://www.unmannedairspace.info/emerging-regulations/the-european-commission-adopts-the-u-space-package-finally/) but a considerable amount of work is required to develop guidance to turn the high-level rules into operational and technical instruments.
“We have launched a steering group which is currently preparing the technical specifications by means of acceptable means of compliance to allow the industry and competent authorities to prepare for the implementation of the U-space regulation,” said Ken Engelstad. “There is lot of work on-going with 15 work packages involving more than 35 experts representing different organisations and will come up with a proposal to EASA to support the regulation. This will be done in a fast track mode and we will be ready to publish a first set of proposals a notice of proposed amendment by December this year.”
One of the stakeholder groups involved in this work is cities, he said, “because they crucial actors when it comes to UAM.”
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