PreFlyy Survey

Thank you for participating in this important survey investigating the need for national standards relating to Canadian RPAS (remotely piloted aircraft system, aka drone) operations. FLYY Professional Drone Alliance (https://flyy.ca/) has been tasked by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Group (https://www.csagroup.org/) to determine whether or not standards need to be developed for commercial drone operations in Canada.

In the context of this study, a standard is defined as the specific rule or procedure to be followed to achieve the highest level of quality or performance for an item, process or human factor. For example, standards can be applied to drone parts such as airframes or avionics, operational processes such as how to safely deliver packages or to human factors including training certifications and maintenance manuals. The main goal of developing and implementing standards is to reduce risk and elevate public and operational safety. The added benefit is that they serve as a means of verifying whether a part, process or human factor adheres to published and agreed-upon rules and procedures.

The survey is organized into the five following categories;

• Respondent Profile – Questions relating to the sector you or your organization work in, your involvement with drones through your work, your geographic scope of operation and your involvement with standards development.
• Assessing Need for Canadian RPAS Standards – Questions relating to whether Canada needs RPAS standards, how standards will impact safety, the RPAS industry, Canadian perception of the industry by others, and industry growth as well as ranking gaps in existing standards.
• Scope of Standards – Questions relating to how standards should be adopted, and which sectors, people, companies or organizations should be involved in their development.
• Funding Sources – Questions relating to how the development of standards should be funded and by when
• Engagement – Questions related to your personal and/or your organizations interest in participating in the development of Canadian-specific drone standards.

The information collected from these interviews will ultimately feed into a research paper which FLYY will be preparing for CSA, and which will be shared with all of the interviewees and other interested parties. We will not be attributing comments to individuals, but rather will prepare a synthesis of input and ideas generated through all of the interviews. During the second phase of the work, we will be sharing the initial research in a workshop where we will seek additional input. CSA’s intention is for the final research paper to be published.