UK CAA PfCO renewal dates pushed back

Permission for Commerial Operations (PfCO) renewals extended by the CAA.

On Friday 27th March 2020, the UK CAA released the snappily titled:  “ORS4 No.1360: Unmanned Aircraft – COVID19 Pandemic – Extension of Validity Period for all UAS Operating Permissions or Exemptions Expiring on or before 30 June 2020″.

This means that if you hold a current PfCO that renews on or before 30th June 2020, the PfCO renewal date has been pushed back 3 calendar months. So, if your PfCO renews on the 20th of May, then you now have until 20th August to renew it. This is to allow for the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Your existing permission remains valid until the NEW date and you need to carry a copy of the general authorisation if you intend to carry out operations under an expired permission.

You can obviously still choose to renew within your original window if you have up-to-date flight logs. For those of you who are worried about still getting the required hours logged by the new date, this is something that the CAA are reviewing and I will put more information here when I get it!

One thing to bear in mind is that, whenever you renew, your original renewal date for the following year will be maintained, hence the 9 months bit in the general Authorisation. So, in the example above, the next renewal date would still be May 20th 2021.

I hope that makes sense. We’ll continue to put out information to our School of Drones Free and Pro members by email, so please ensure that your email preferences are up-to-date by checking under “My Account”

If you are new here, welcome! If you’d like us to keep you in the loop about anything drone-related, including the upcoming regulation changes, please sign up for our FREE membership and then choose the notifications you would like to receive under “my account”.

We wish everyone all the best during this time. Please follow government guidance and look after each other!

the Global Drone Training team