1. The future of Drones, UAVs, UASs, RPAs in Germany and Europe
Dr. Michael Erb
Managing Director AOPA-Germany

2. Drones are a reality and an important economic factor
Military Drones
Professional/Commercial Drone Applications
Law Enforcement, Engineering, Aerial Photography
Drones for Personal Fun
Can be anything between harmless fun, competition, nuisance, air safety risk and security risk
Critical only if operators don´t read or follow the instructions: Stay low, in line of sight and away from aerodromes and TFRs
Insurance, registration, licensing and maybe even electronic visibility would be useful requirements
Enforcement of the rules is a must, but difficult in practice
Worldwide we have 200,000 piloted airframes, worldwide drones are +2 Mio. with continous growth

3. Some drone scenarios are very uncertain, but scary for GA
Personal Mass Transport and Parcel Delivery, performed in a segregated low-level airspace band.
Are these scenarios all non-sense and the next business-bubble we can expect to implode, or rather ambitious but realistic?

4. Segregated Low-Level Airspace just for Parcel Drones?

5. Drones for Personal Mass Transport?

6. But are these scenarios realistic?
Christmas time is the traditional time for both parcels and snowstorms!

7. Massive regulatory and technological challenges
Drones are not yet robust enough, especially for all weather ops
The required data-network for operations out of the line of sight is not existing
Integration into the ATM system is not achieved
Collision avoidance is an issue, especially with EMS-Helicopters, Aerial Work Operators, etc.
“Amazon Air 30 minute delivery service“ was already announced in 2013 for But where are we now?

8. Drones can be great …
… and exciting, finally bring youngsters for low cost into GA.
Like myself: MSFS in 1983 at age 13, PPL in 1993 at age 23

9. What can we do? I would love to get a drone for X-mas
For GA it will be a mission impossible to stop drones/UAVs
Drones/UAVs can be seen as the new entry-level into GA
GA should support an early and safe integration of drones into the aviation system (with mandatory licensing / registration / insurance)
GA in Europe could benefit from an aviation-mobile-data-network built for drones/UAVs
We should not behave as arrogant towards drone-operators like the airlines tend to behave towards GA:
“What do you unprofessional guys want in our airspace?“
I would love to get a drone for X-mas