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Receiving an operational authorization in the EASA Specific category often feels like a milestone worth celebrating—because it is. After months of preparing your SORA, Concept of Operations (ConOps), and Operations Manual (OM), your competent authority has signed off. But the reality is: the work doesn’t stop here. It’s just beginning.

Once approval is granted, you shift from application mode to execution and oversight. And that means putting in place a robust compliance monitoring framework to ensure that your operations consistently align with what was approved—and remain aligned as your organization grows, the tech evolves, and the rules change.

Why Compliance Monitoring Matters

An operational authorization is not a free pass. It’s a regulatory contract, with clear expectations and boundaries. You’ve committed to fly in certain environments, using specific aircraft, under documented procedures and mitigations.

Every flight you conduct—whether manual or automated—needs to stay within those bounds. Deviations can lead to enforcement, reputation damage, or operational shutdowns. Compliance monitoring ensures that doesn’t happen.

It’s not just about ticking boxes. A good compliance program:

• Detects and corrects deviations before they become incidents

• Maintains audit readiness (for both internal and external reviews)

• Enables safe scaling across teams, locations, and operations

• Supports renewal, amendment, or new authorization applications with evidence-based documentation

What Needs to Be Monitored?

Post-approval compliance spans the full drone operations lifecycle. Key areas include:

• Pilot qualifications and training: Are your pilots current? Have they been briefed on the latest procedures?

• Aircraft configuration and maintenance: Are you using the aircraft types and payloads listed in your OM? Are maintenance records and airworthiness checks in place?

• Operational limits: Are you flying within the geographies, altitudes, and mission types permitted by your authorization?

• Procedural adherence: Are flight procedures, emergency actions, and communications being followed as documented?

• Data and log management: Are all flights, anomalies, and deviations properly recorded?

The Role of a Compliance Monitoring System (CMS)

Just like manned aviation, uncrewed aviation increasingly requires structured oversight. A Compliance Monitoring System (CMS) helps ensure that internal operations match regulatory expectations—continuously, not just at audit time.

It typically includes:

• Defined compliance responsibilities within the organization

• Processes for monitoring, reporting, and correcting non-conformities

• Regular internal audits and operational reviews

• Evidence trails for competent authorities

This isn’t just for large organizations. Even smaller operators with complex or cross-border operations benefit from proactive oversight.

How AirHub Supports You

At AirHub, we’ve helped dozens of organizations move beyond one-time approvals toward sustainable and scalable drone programs. We offer:

Consultancy Support

• Designing and implementing a fit-for-purpose CMS tailored to your operations

• Performing internal audits and compliance checks

• Supporting post-authorization change management and amendments

• Aligning your CMS with future requirements (e.g. LUC-level privileges)

Software Support

Our Drone Operations Platform offers built-in compliance features:

• Track pilot qualifications and flight authorizations

• Log and manage flights with linked ConOps and checklists

• Monitor live operations for adherence to mission limits

• Store audit-ready documentation (OM, SORA, evidence of mitigations)

• Flag anomalies or out-of-envelope operations

For public safety and critical infrastructure users, our Drone Operations Center (DOC) provides added situational awareness and control - especially useful for remote or automated operations.

Final Thought

The approval may be the start of your operations, but compliance is what keeps you flying. By setting up the right monitoring tools and processes, you’ll not only meet your regulatory obligations, but also build a safer, more accountable, and more future-ready drone program.

Need help designing your compliance monitoring setup or choosing the right tooling? Let’s talk.

For many organizations navigating the EASA Specific Category, achieving an operational authorization feels like crossing the finish line. Months of hard work go into developing a SORA, an Operations Manual (OM), and all the required documentation. Once the competent authority grants approval, it's tempting to put those documents on the shelf and focus solely on flying.

But in reality, approval is just the beginning.

An operational authorization is not a static checkbox. It's a living agreement between you and the regulator—one that should evolve as your operations grow, technologies develop, and the regulatory landscape changes.

Operations Change. Your Authorization Should Too.

Your first operational authorization might cover a simple VLOS or BVLOS scenario in a low-risk area. But what happens when you want to:

• Extend to new locations or countries?

• Add new aircraft types or sensor payloads?

• Integrate drone-in-a-box systems for automated operations?

• Work with new partners or subcontractors?

Each of these changes likely affects your Concept of Operations (ConOps), risk assessment, flight procedures, and emergency protocols. And that means your OM, SORA, and associated documentation must be reviewed and updated—often with re-approval required.

Regulations Evolve. So Should Your Documentation.

The regulatory landscape in Europe is shifting rapidly. We’ve seen the introduction of SORA 2.5, PDRA templates, updates on U-space implementation, and more detailed guidance on overflight of people and BVLOS operations.

If your documentation still follows outdated frameworks or omits key updates, you may run into compliance issues during audits, spot checks, or when requesting future authorizations.

A Living Process = A Scalable Operation

By treating your operational authorization as a living process, you unlock greater agility:

• You can proactively align with new requirements instead of playing catch-up.

• You reduce friction when scaling across geographies, platforms, and mission types.

• You strengthen internal accountability and reduce the risk of non-compliance.

But keeping everything up-to-date takes effort. That’s where AirHub comes in.

How AirHub Supports Ongoing Compliance

Our Consultancy team helps you maintain alignment between your operations and your regulatory framework. We support:

• Periodic reviews of your SORA and OM in light of operational or regulatory changes

• Preparing and submitting updates to competent authorities

• Translating technical updates (e.g., new aircraft or automation features) into compliance-ready documentation

Our Software platform makes this process easier:

• Update and store your OM, checklists, and ConOps centrally

• Link operational procedures directly to your live flight operations

• Maintain pilot, aircraft, and mission records for audits and renewals

• Monitor operational parameters to ensure you stay within your approved limits

Whether you're scaling a public safety program, building automated infrastructure inspections, or operating across borders, treating your authorization as a living process will keep you ahead of the curve—and regulators.

Ready to make your compliance workflow smarter and more sustainable? Let’s talk.

Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations represent one of the most critical frontiers for the drone industry. Allowing drones to operate beyond the pilot’s direct line of sight will unlock a new era of scalability, efficiency, and public value. For the United Kingdom, achieving routine BVLOS operations is not merely a technical ambition but a cornerstone of the national Future of Flight objectives agreed upon by the Department for Transport (DfT), the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and industry stakeholders.

The shared vision is clear: routine BVLOS operations across key sectors by 2027, supporting public and commercial services such as emergency response, healthcare logistics, and infrastructure management.

Yet, as the CAA highlights in its Future of Flight: BVLOS Roadmap (CAP3182), this transformation cannot happen through a single regulatory overhaul. Instead, it must be achieved through carefully managed learning loops, operational trials, and evidence-based policy evolution.

From Segregation to Integration

A defining theme of the roadmap is the recognition that segregation is a stepping stone toward integration. Early BVLOS operations conducted in segregated or temporary airspace allow industry and regulators to collect operational data, validate detect-and-avoid (DAA) technologies, and refine risk assessments.

The CAA’s delivery approach is built on four key principles:
1. Segregation as a stepping stone – segregated operations are used to safely collect data and inform policy.
2. Iterative policy development – interim Concepts of Operations (ConOps) are published to mature policy and industry capabilities in parallel.
3. Outcome-focused progress – industry use cases drive learning and measurable outcomes.
4. Operational pathways – defined pathways allow tactical flying and controlled scaling toward integration.

This delivery model ensures that progress remains measurable, safe, and adaptable. Rather than aiming for a “big bang” regulatory change, the roadmap embraces a learn-and-evolve approach that aligns policy development with real-world operations.

Defining Operational Pathways

To manage the diversity of UAS applications, the CAA structures the BVLOS roadmap around operational pathways: groups of operations sharing similar concepts of operation, regulatory needs, and safety cases.

Three of these pathways are central to the roadmap:
1. Atypical Air Environment (AAE) – operations near infrastructure or specific ground environments such as power lines, railways, wind farms, or agricultural areas.
2. Integrated Low-Level BVLOS over Urban Areas – low-altitude operations in populated environments such as last-mile deliveries, medical logistics, or inspections between hospitals.
3. Fully Integrated BVLOS – operations seamlessly integrated into controlled and uncontrolled airspace such as offshore inspections, emergency services, and middle-mile logistics.

Each pathway evolves through operational scenarios that progressively expand operational freedom, moving from single-operator trials within controlled volumes to multi-operator environments across national airspace.

Operational Scenarios: Learning by Doing

The roadmap emphasizes operational scenarios as the bridge between experimentation and full-scale integration. Each scenario defines a specific combination of airspace environment, technology maturity, and policy conditions.

For example, an initial scenario might authorize a single operator to perform linear inspections within a defined corridor. The operational data and safety evidence gathered can then support expanded permissions for multiple operators in the same area.

This approach delivers tangible value to industry while enabling the regulator to build confidence in emerging technologies such as:
• Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems
• Electronic Conspicuity (EC) technologies (ADS-B in/out at 978 or 1090 MHz)
• Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) for strategic and tactical deconfliction
• Command and Control (C2) link performance aligned with SAIL (Specific Assurance and Integrity Level) requirements

By building evidence through real operations, these scenarios support iterative policy development and help define the risk-based framework for routine BVLOS flight.

The Roadmap to 2027

The roadmap describes a gradual transition from segregated, single-operator environments toward fully integrated, multi-operator airspace. In the early years, operations are confined to defined or temporary structures where safety can be closely monitored. As experience grows and technologies such as DAA, EC, and UTM mature, reliance on bespoke procedures decreases.

By 2027, the goal is to enable routine BVLOS operations across a wide range of environments, from linear infrastructure inspections to urban deliveries and offshore missions. Beyond this point, integration with crewed aviation will become increasingly seamless through standardized procedures, shared airspace data, and automated deconfliction.

Policy and Airspace Development

While operational progress drives much of the roadmap, policy and airspace integration remain the backbone. The roadmap is closely aligned with the UK Airspace Modernisation Strategy (AMS) Part 3, which defines the long-term framework for integrated airspace up to 2040.

Key developments include:
• Publication of CAP 3145 for BVLOS testing and evaluation.
• Progressive definition of AAE environments in CAP 3040.
• Future publication of UK airspace architecture proposals to provide a unified framework for integrated crewed and uncrewed traffic.

All new policies will be developed through engagement and consultation, ensuring that industry participation remains central to shaping safe and scalable integration.

A Collaborative Path Forward

The Future of Flight roadmap is more than a regulatory document; it is a blueprint for collaboration between government, industry, and the regulator. The CAA’s role is to enable, not to restrict, by developing evidence-based frameworks that ensure safety while promoting innovation.

For UAS operators and technology developers, this roadmap provides clarity and direction: how capabilities will be recognized and approved, which technologies must mature, and how operations will evolve from isolated trials to nationwide networks.

The roadmap also reinforces the importance of data-driven regulation. Every operational scenario contributes real-world insights into human performance, automation reliability, communication robustness, and overall airspace safety, ensuring that BVLOS integration advances responsibly.

AirHub’s Role in the Future of Flight

At AirHub, we share the CAA’s vision of enabling safe, scalable BVLOS operations. Through our combined expertise in regulatory consulting and digital flight operations, we help operators, governments, and industry partners translate this roadmap into reality.

AirHub Consultancy supports organizations in building compliant BVLOS programs, developing safety cases, and integrating operational procedures into national frameworks.

AirHub Software provides the digital backbone for those operations through its Drone Operations Center (DOC), offering fleet management, live situational awareness, and compliance-by-design workflows for remote and long-range operations.

Together, these capabilities empower stakeholders to move from pilot projects to routine BVLOS operations, contributing directly to the safe and integrated future of flight envisioned by the UK CAA.

Conclusion

The Future of Flight: BVLOS Roadmap marks a decisive step toward a fully integrated airspace ecosystem. Through structured operational pathways, iterative learning, and close cooperation across sectors, the UK is setting a model for how BVLOS operations can evolve safely and sustainably.

As the roadmap progresses toward 2027 and beyond, the focus will remain on balancing innovation with assurance, enabling drones to deliver real societal value while maintaining the safety and trust of all airspace users.

At AirHub, we believe that future is already taking shape, and we are proud to help make it fly.