The Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2019

Replacement of articles 94A and 94B

4.  For articles 94A (small unmanned aircraft: height restrictions on flights) and 94B (small unmanned aircraft: restrictions on flights that are over or near aerodromes) substitute—

“Small unmanned aircraft: permissions for certain flights

94A.— (1) If the permission or permissions that are required under this article for a flight, or a part of a flight, by a small unmanned aircraft have not been obtained—

(a) the SUA operator must not cause or permit the small unmanned aircraft to be flown on that flight or that part of the flight, and

(b) the remote pilot must not fly the small unmanned aircraft on that flight or that part of the flight.

(2) Permission from the CAA is required for a flight, or a part of a flight, by a small unmanned aircraft at a height of more than 400 feet above the surface.

(3) But permission from the CAA is not required under paragraph (2) if—

(a) the flight, or the part of the flight, takes place in a flight restriction zone at a protected aerodrome, and

(b) permission for the flight, or the part of the flight, is required under paragraph (4) from an air traffic control unit or a flight information service unit.

(4) Permission for a flight, or a part of a flight, by a small unmanned aircraft in the flight restriction zone of a protected aerodrome is required—

(a) from any air traffic control unit at the protected aerodrome, if the flight, or the part of the flight, takes place during the operational hours of the air traffic control unit;

(b) from any flight information service unit at the protected aerodrome, if the flight, or the part of the flight, takes place during the operational hours of the flight information service unit and either—

(i) there is no air traffic control unit at the protected aerodrome, or

(ii) the flight, or the part of the flight, takes place outside the operational hours of the air traffic control unit at the protected aerodrome;

(c) from the operator of the protected aerodrome, if—

(i) there is neither an air traffic control unit nor a flight information service unit at the protected aerodrome, or

(ii) the flight, or the part of the flight, takes place outside the operational hours of any such unit or units at the protected aerodrome.

(5) In this article, “operational hours”, in relation to an air traffic control unit or flight information service unit, means the operational hours—

(a) notified in relation to the unit, or

(b) set out in the UK military AIP in relation to the unit.

(6) In this article and article 94B, “protected aerodrome” means—

(a) an EASA certified aerodrome,

(b) a Government aerodrome,

(c) a national licensed aerodrome, or

(d) an aerodrome that is prescribed, or of a description prescribed, for the purposes of this paragraph.

(7) The “flight restriction zone” of a protected aerodrome is to be determined for the purposes of this article in accordance with the following table—

Type of protected aerodrome	The “flight restriction zone”
A protected aerodrome which is— (a) an EASA certified aerodrome, (b) a Government aerodrome, or (c) a national licensed aerodrome, and which has an aerodrome traffic zone.	The flight restriction zone consists of— (a) the aerodrome traffic zone at the aerodrome, (b) any runway protection zones at the aerodrome, and (c) any additional boundary zones at the aerodrome.
A protected aerodrome which is— (a) an EASA certified aerodrome, (b) a Government aerodrome, or (c) a national licensed aerodrome, but which does not have an aerodrome traffic zone.	The flight restriction zone consists of the airspace extending from the surface to a height of 2,000 feet above the level of the aerodrome within the area bounded by a circle centred on the notified mid-point of the longest runway and having a radius of two nautical miles. But if the longest runway does not have a notified mid-point, the mid-point of that runway is to be used instead for the purposes of determining the flight restriction zone.
A protected aerodrome that is prescribed, or of a description prescribed, under paragraph (6)(d).	The flight restriction zone consists of the zone that is prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph.

Interpretation of expressions used in the definition of “flight restriction zone”

94B.— (1) This article makes provision about the meaning of expressions used in the definition of “flight restriction zone” in article 94A(7) that applies in relation to a protected aerodrome which is—

(a) an EASA certified aerodrome,

(b) a Government aerodrome, or

(c) a national licensed aerodrome,

and which has an aerodrome traffic zone.

(2) Subject to paragraph (4), there is one runway protection zone for each runway threshold of each runway at the aerodrome.

(3) A “runway protection zone”, in relation to a runway threshold at the aerodrome, is the airspace extending from the surface to a height of 2,000 feet above the level of the aerodrome within the area bounded by a rectangle—

(a) whose longer sides measure 5 km,

(b) whose shorter sides measure—

(i) 1 km (except in the case of Heathrow Airport), or;

(ii) 1.5 km, in the case of Heathrow Airport, and

(c) which is positioned so that—

(i) one of the shorter sides of the rectangle (“side A”) runs across the runway threshold, and

(ii) the two longer sides of the rectangle are parallel to, and equidistant from, the extended runway centre line as it extends from side A out to, and beyond, the runway end to which the runway threshold relates.

(4) There is no runway protection zone—

(a) for any runway threshold at the London Heliport;

(b) for any runway threshold that is prescribed, or of a description prescribed, for the purposes of this paragraph.

(5) The “runway threshold” of a runway at the aerodrome is the location that, for the purpose of demarcating the start of the portion of the runway that is useable for landing, is—

(a) notified as the threshold of the runway, or

(b) set out as the threshold of the runway in the UK military AIP.

(6) The “extended runway centre line”, in relation to a runway at the aerodrome, is an imaginary straight line which runs for the length of the runway along its centre and then extends beyond both ends of the runway.

(7) An “additional boundary zone” is the airspace extending from the surface to a height of 2,000 feet above the level of the aerodrome within any part of the area between—

(a) the boundary of the aerodrome, and

(b) a line that is 1 km from the boundary of the aerodrome (the “1 km line”),

that is neither within the aerodrome traffic zone nor within any runway protection zone at the aerodrome.

(8) The 1 km line is to be drawn so that the area which is bounded by it includes every location that is 1 km from the boundary of the aerodrome, measured in any direction from any point on the boundary.”.