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Safety Requirements Document and Relevant Guidelines

Under the SUA Order, small unmanned aircraft (“SUA”) operations will be regulated under a risk-based approach and be classified according to the weight of the SUA and the operational risk level. Operations of different risk levels will be subject to the corresponding regulatory requirements. These requirements may include registration and labelling of SUA, registration of remote pilots, training and assessment, equipment, operating requirements and insurance.

To ensure aviation and public safety, all SUA should be equipped and operated in compliance with the requirements of the SUA Order. With the diversified SUA types and applications, the CAD understands that there may be special circumstances where there are unavoidable practical and operational difficulties in fully complying with certain operating parameters. To strike a balance between protecting public safety and facilitating the development of SUA, flexibility has been built in the SUA Order to cater for different types of SUA operations and the rapid development of SUA.

Due to the higher risks involved, operations that are classified as “Advanced Operations” shall be conducted with prior permission from the CAD in accordance with the SUA Order. Additional safety requirements may apply to safeguard aviation and public safety. A streamlined permission application process is implemented to facilitate the industry. This includes, inter alia, the publication of detailed advisory guidelines for reference by the industry, and also for experienced SUA operators, the application for a longer term permission covering various types of advanced operations is possible allowing flexibility in the planning of their operations.

Publications and Downloads

To facilitate the industry to perform SUA operations while ensuring aviation and public safety, the CAD has published a series of guidance materials. These include the Safety Requirements Document (“SRD”) published pursuant to section 63 of the SUA Order, as well as a number of advisory circulars to provide guidance on safe operation of SUA operations and compliance of requirements under the SUA Order.

These publications should be read in conjunction with the SUA Order and the relevant Gazette Notice(s); and are subject to review and update from time to time. Please visit this website regularly for the latest updates of the publications.

Publication No.	Subject	Download
SRD	Safety Requirements Document for Small Unmanned Aircraft Operations	Safety_Requirements_Document.pdf (PDF: 703KB)
AC-001	Current List of Publications related to Small Unmanned Aircraft	AC-001_E.pdf (PDF: 90KB)
AC-002	Permission for Conducting Small Unmanned Aircraft Advanced Operations	AC-002_E.pdf (PDF: 255KB) Advanced Operations Permission (AOP) Application Form (PDF: 278KB) AOP Renewal Application Form (PDF: 257KB) AOP Variation Application Form (PDF: 262KB) Sample Operations Manual (Word: 149KB)
AC-003	Permission for Small Unmanned Aircraft Night Operations	AC-003_E.pdf (PDF: 285KB) Appendix A (PDF: 927KB)
AC-004	Permission for Small Unmanned Aircraft Extended Visual Line of Sight Operations	AC-004_E.pdf (PDF: 242KB)
AC-005	Guidelines for Building Survey/ Inspection Operations using Small Unmanned Aircraft	AC-005_E.pdf (PDF: 316KB)
AC-006	Guidelines for Aerial Survey or Aerial Photography Operations using Small Unmanned Aircraft	AC-006_E.pdf (PDF: 326KB)
AC-007	Permission for Heavy Small Unmanned Aircraft Operations	AC-007_E.pdf (PDF: 240KB)
AC-008	Guidelines for Small Unmanned Aircraft Operations within Enclosed Area	AC-008_E.pdf (PDF: 228KB)
AC-009	Guidelines for Small Unmanned Aircraft Operations within School Premises	AC-009_E.pdf (PDF: 220KB)
AC-010	Guidelines and Permission for Drone Show Event	AC-010.pdf (PDF: 486KB) Application Form (PDF: 815KB)
AC-011	Guidelines and Permission for Drone Racing Event	AC-011.pdf (PDF: 325KB) Application Form (PDF: 719KB)
AC-012	Operations of Model Aircraft under the Small Unmanned Aircraft Order	AC-012.pdf (PDF: 389KB)

Gazette Notice

Government Notice Number	Subject
G.N. 1276	Specification of Parameters for Operating Requirements
G.N. 4991 (Superseding G.N. 3305 of 2022)	Designation of Restricted Flying Zones by the Director-General of Civil Aviation
G.N. 4994 (Superseding G.N. 3306 of 2022)	Designation of Restricted Flying Zones by the Secretary for Security
G.N. 7688 (Superseding G.N. 5215 of 2023)	Designation of Restricted Flying Zones by the Commissioner of Police
G.N. 7689 (Superseding G.N. 5216 of 2023)	Designation of Restricted Flying Zones by the Commissioner of Police
G.N. 7690	Designation of Restricted Flying Zones by the Secretary for Security
G.N. 2303	Exemption Notice for Category A1 SUA