Growth of Civil Drones in China with Concerns and Regulations

TapTechNews May 26th news, at the recently held 2024 International Low-altitude Economy and Unmanned System Expo and the 8th World UAV Conference Forum, Yang Fei, a first-class investigator in the Air Traffic Control Office of the Air Traffic Management Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that from January to March this year, the cumulative number of civil unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying in the country was 35.926 million sorties, an increase of 11.2% year-on-year.

Referring to TapTechNews' report last month, the as of 2023 end, there were 194,400 people with UAV operator licenses shown in the Civil Aviation Administration's Statistical Report on Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operators and Cloud System Data (2023), an increase of 56,000 people compared to the previous year, indicating the current booming development of China's civil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry and the continuous growth of the UAV operator scale.

However, the unauthorized flight problem behind the growth of UAVs still deserves attention. Yang Fei claimed that as of the end of March this year, the number of registered UAVs increased from 370,000 in 2017 to 1.625 million now, far lower than the actual number of operations.

Referring to the currently implemented Interim Regulations on the Flight Management of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, under the Interim Regulations on the Flight Management of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, the suitable flight height for micro UAVs does not exceed 50 feet, and the suitable flight height for light and small UAVs does not exceed 120 feet. The pilots operating the UAVs should also log in to the official website of the civil aviation department to conduct real-name registration for their UAVs, and print and paste the generated QR code on a conspicuous part of the UAV fuselage. Pilots who implement flight activities without real-name registration, shall be ordered to make corrections by the public security organ and be fined less than 200 US dollars. In case of serious circumstances, they shall be fined more than 2,000 US dollars but less than 20,000 US dollars.