Australia's New CASA Rules Ease Large Drone Certification

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) gave operators of large remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) — drones with a gross weight over 150 kg — new certification flexibility starting September 29, 2026. Instead of being confined to restricted or experimental certificates, large RPA can now qualify for any applicable certificate of airworthiness, or in some cases operate with no certificate at all, provided operators pass a risk assessment and hold CASA approval.

Background

CASA regulates RPA under Part 101 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations — the same framework that sets registration, RePL, and ReOC rules for every operator in the country. Under the previous framework, any drone weighing more than 150 kg — a threshold that captures large fixed-wing survey aircraft, heavy-lift agricultural spray drones, and cargo-carrying RPA — had only two certification routes: a restricted certificate of airworthiness or an experimental certificate.

Neither route fit most commercial work. Experimental certificates exist mainly to support research, development, and testing, not ongoing operations. Restricted certificates only cover a narrow set of predefined activities, such as aerial survey or agricultural spraying, and don't extend to newer use cases like cargo delivery or infrastructure inspection at scale. CASA first flagged the change in a July 2026 policy proposal, saying the existing pathways "do not suit every large RPA or operation."

What the New Rules Allow

Effective September 29, 2026, operators of large RPA gain two additional options:

• Any applicable certificate of airworthiness. Large RPA can now be certified under whichever certificate type matches the aircraft's design and intended use, as long as it meets the relevant airworthiness standard and operating conditions — not just the restricted or experimental categories.
• Operation without a certificate of airworthiness. For qualifying aircraft and operations, CASA will allow flight with no certificate at all, subject to a documented risk assessment and specific operating restrictions set out in an amended Part 101 Manual of Standards.

Even under the no-certificate pathway, operators must still hold a remotely piloted aircraft operator's certificate (ReOC), secure CASA approval for the specific operation, and show the aircraft's design suits the proposed use without adversely affecting other airspace users or people on the ground. Registration, maintenance, continuing airworthiness, and remote pilot licensing (RePL) requirements are unchanged.

What This Means for Drone Pilots

The change is aimed squarely at commercial operators running large RPA in Australia — agricultural businesses spraying with heavy-payload aircraft, survey and mapping companies, infrastructure inspectors, and cargo-delivery operators moving beyond pilot programs into sustained service. Previously, an operator with a large aircraft that didn't fit a restricted certificate's narrow activity list, and wasn't a research project, had no clean legal pathway to fly commercially. The new options close that gap.

For operators already flying under 150 kg — the vast majority of commercial and hobbyist drones on the market, including virtually every DJI, Autel, or Skydio platform — nothing changes; RePL, ReOC, and registration rules stay the same. Pilots planning to import or build heavier fixed-wing, VTOL, or cargo aircraft for the Australian market should now budget for the new certification conversation with CASA rather than assuming an experimental certificate is their only option, and should check that their liability coverage matches the operation's new certification status. Operators elsewhere should watch this space: as regulators in the US (FAA Part 108) and Europe (EASA) work through their own frameworks for larger, BVLOS-capable RPA, CASA's move toward flexible, standards-based certification — rather than a blanket ban on commercial use above a weight threshold — is a model other authorities may reference.

Sources: CASA — More flexible airworthiness pathways for large RPA | Australian Aviation — CASA to ease certification of large drones