The drone, which literally means a male bee buzzing around, is a type of unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) that is remote-controlled and/or automatic, without a pilot, carrying only equipment (camera, laser scanning device, etc.) suitable for its intended use. Indeed, drones are also considered UAVs under Turkish law. Nowadays, drones are used in a wide variety of fields such as the photography and cinema sector, health sector, shipping, firefighting, observation of natural life, inspections of oil and gas leaks, and agricultural and farming applications.
As drones have become more popular and widely used across various industries, regulatory bodies and governments have implemented specific laws and regulations to address the safe and responsible operation of drones. One of the most popular topics discussed for drone use is “Who is the responsible person if the drone harms any person?”.
This article aims to provide general information on the legal status of drones, which are among the most popular devices of today. In this respect, after giving a short history, we have set out the conditions for the legal use of the drones in accordance with Turkish Law and trying to find liable person behind the drone manufacturing and use activities.
1- Short History of Drones
The history of UAVs dates back to 1849. In 1849, Austria used the first unmanned balloon to bomb Venice. Although the balloons used in this attempt, which failed to achieve its goal due to the return of some of the balloons, were not a real example of a UAV, this initiative pioneered the development of UAVs. Following this first attempt, the United Kingdom and the United States conducted various trials for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in World War I. Indeed, UAVs were used only for military purposes for a very long time.
After Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2006, drones began to be used for humanitarian purposes for the first time. By 2014, the cinema industry and production companies started to make their visual broadcasts with drones. In the same year, Amazon, one of the world's largest e-commerce sites, announced that it would use drones to deliver orders. In 2018, NASA announced that it will use unmanned robotic drones, which are very low-cost, for Mars research. Drones can be used for a wide variety of purposes even today and where new developments in technology are experienced every day, will be used in the future in areas that we cannot foresee today.
2- LAW The Position of Drones in Turkish Law
In Turkey, the legal status and conditions of use of drones are regulated by the Civil Aviation Law ("Law") and regulations issued by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation ("GDCA"). The GDCA, with the Instruction on UAV Systems ("Instruction") published on 22 February 2016, included the use of drones within the scope of civil aviation and determined the flight permits, authorizations, and restrictions. However, article 33 of the Decree-Law No. 674 published on 1 September 2016, article 144 of the Civil Aviation Law was revised and made directly related to UAVs. In this context, since the Law is superior to the Instruction as per the hierarchy of norms, the Law will be applied in case of any conflict between these regulations. For the scope of the authorizations left to the GDCA by the Law, the Instruction will have to be complied with.
The Instruction covers the UAVs that will fly in the Turkish Airspace, related systems, real and legal persons who will import, sell, operate, or use them, the person who will take part in this scope, the UAV crew and the air traffic services to be provided with the use of airspace.
Within the scope of the Instruction, UAVs are divided into 4 categories according to their weight:
- UAV0: UAVs with a maximum take-off weight between 500 g (inclusive) - 4kg,
- UAV1: UAVs with a maximum take-off weight between 4 kg (inclusive) - 25 kg,
- UAV2: UAVs with a maximum take-off weight between 25 kg (inclusive) - 150 kg,
Since drones are the subject of this article and considering the average weight of drones, they generally belong to UAV0 and UAV1 classes, the requirements for these classes will be examined.
Consisting of 30 articles and 9 annexes, the Instruction contains detailed regulations on almost every issue related to UAVs, and the provisions of the Instruction must be strictly complied with in order to produce and use drones in accordance with the law. Within the scope of the relevant Instruction, the features that the drone should carry and the issues to be considered in its use are discussed under some main headings:
2.1- Registration Obligation
Pursuant to article 144 of the Law, the responsible operators and managers of the companies selling UAVs are obliged to duly keep the information on the vehicles sold and the identity information of the buyers and to record the information on UAVs with a maximum take-off weight of five hundred grams (inclusive) in the registration system established by the GDCA on the same day. These records are shared with law enforcement agencies for use in crime prevention and criminal investigations. The Article imposes administrative fines on those who violate this obligation, those who fail to register the vehicle brought individually from abroad or acquired domestically in the system within three days at the latest, and those who make false declarations or data entered during registration.
2.2- Flight Zones
In accordance with the relevant legislation, the areas where drones can fly are limited. Administrative fines will also be imposed on persons who fly UAVs in violation of the rules determined by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure or outside the areas determined by the local authorities, and those who do not comply with the rules determined by the GDCA regarding UAVs and the measures to be taken for the regulation of civil aviation within this scope.
Regions are also defined in the Instruction. Accordingly, the areas below 400 feet (AGL), which have received a positive opinion from the relevant institutions and organizations and do not require coordination with the relevant institutions again, and whose conformity is confirmed by the UAV user/pilot through the application to be made through the system, are free (green) zones, while the areas defined by the relevant institutions and where flying is subject to special permission are red zones. Areas where flight is prohibited by the relevant institutions and organizations and where flight permission cannot be requested are considered no-fly zones.
At the same time; the regions, are also categorized according to population density. Accordingly, residential areas such as cities, towns and suburbs, industrial zones, trade zones, customs gates and areas or areas with high human density are defined as very crowded areas. Areas with permanent or temporary human and vehicle density such as highways and railways, temporary settlements such as plateaus, villages and hamlets, touristic and historical facilities/areas with low human presence, areas used for purposes such as picnics, rallies, concerts, sports activities, coastlines and inland waters used for purposes such as swimming, sea sports are classified as crowded areas. Finally, areas where there are no permanent human settlements and vehicles such as vacant lands, agricultural areas, forests, seas and inland waters are classified as uninhabited areas. While granting flight permits and conducting risk analyses, the characteristics of the region to be flown are taken into consideration.
2.3- Import Technical Conformity Certificate
If the drone has a Customs Tariff Statistics Position ("CTSP") code, an import technical conformity certificate must be issued. For this document;
- Product catalog containing technical specifications of UAVs and systems,
- Year of production of UAVs and systems and country of manufacture,
- Proforma invoice containing brand, model, serial number information and compliance with GTIP,
- Archived criminal record certificate of the person importing the UAV and its systems,
- Contact details of the real/legal person importing the UAV and its systems,
- A declaration of conformity issued by the manufacturer or importer/purchaser showing the standards used in the manufacture of UAVs and systems is required.
According to Article 4 of the Instruction, definitions, and abbreviations are given, and accordingly, an Unmanned Aircraft System ("UAS") is the whole of the separate system elements required to ensure flight, such as UAV and control station, command and control data link, take-off, and landing system, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle refers to an aerial vehicle operated as a component of UAS, capable of continuous flight by means of aerodynamic forces, and capable of being flown or kept in the air by being controlled remotely by the UAS pilot without a pilot on board or by planning the autonomous operation by the UAS pilot.
2.4- Mandatory Equipment
With the Instruction, the technical equipping of drones classified as UAV0 with equipment, systems and payload components is left directly to the discretion of the drone operator, owner, pilot or manufacturer. However, drones classified as UAV1 should have at least the following equipment:
- Emergency landing or flight termination capability in case of interruption of command and control data link,
- Continuous monitoring of battery power/fuel level,
- Flasher lamp,
- Automatic flight recording system on the drone or ground control station.
However, the Instruction also makes a distinction regarding the purpose of use of the drone and stipulates that drones in the UAV0 class, which are intended to be flown for commercial purposes, must have the characteristics required for UAV1 listed above.
2.5- Airworthiness & Special Flight Permission Certificate
There is no special flight permission certificate issued for drones in the UAV0 category. For drones in the UAV1 category, the certification and documents detailed in Article 8 of the Instruction must be provided. Similar to the above, the legislator has made a distinction according to the intended use here and has obliged drones belonging to the UAV0 and UAV1 classes, which are intended to be flown for commercial purposes, to provide the documents required for the higher class UAV2.
For example, people who want to obtain a flight permit for UAV0 must undergo a 12-hour training. In addition, the age limit for this certificate is also 12. However, in order to fly UAV1, 36 hours of training is required and the age limit for this drone class is 15.
2.6- Maintenance and Repair of Drones
One of the necessary things for drones to be flown is to carry out regular maintenance and repairs. These maintenances and repairs must be carried out in accordance with the manual published by the drone manufacturer.
The maintenance and repairs of drones shall be carried out by the manufacturer or authorized representative or persons who have received training from maintenance training institutions and have been awarded a certificate. All maintenance, repair, repair and modification operations to be carried out on the drone must be carried out according to the procedures determined by the designer or manufacturer. All of these operations will be recorded by the drone operator, owner and pilot, and these records and purchase documents will be kept for three years in case of renewed parts and equipment. If any part or equipment of the drone is changed, this change must be documented according to the manufacturer's standard.
The pilot of the drone will be responsible for the maintenance and repair of the drone and its systems according to the manuals.
3- Legal Use of Drones
In order for drones to be used in accordance with the law, they must first be manufactured in accordance with the law and the technical product specifications described above. For example, a drone in the UAV0 class, which is intended to be flown for commercial purposes, must be equipped with at least the technical specifications, hardware, and system components of the UAV1 class. The drone in UAV1 class must have technical equipment such as emergency landing or flight termination capability in case of loss of command and control data connection, continuous monitoring of battery power/fuel level, strobe lamp, and automatic flight recording system on the UAV or ground control station.
In order to receive a UAV purchased from abroad from the Customs Directorate, a petition must be written to the GDCA about the UAV import. To this petition; product catalog containing technical specifications of UAVs and systems, proforma invoice (signed and stamped by the seller) containing UAV and systems production year and manufacturer country, brand, model, serial number information, and Declaration of Conformity issued by the manufacturer or importer/purchaser showing the standards used in the manufacture of UAVs and systems must be attached.
Furthermore, according to the UAV legislation, any vehicle flying in the air, including UAVs, is considered an aircraft. In this context, every UAV, regardless of its weight, size, and speed, is likely to cause serious damage to humans and the environment. Therefore, since the use of UAVs is considered an aviation activity, mandatory safety rules are introduced by the national aviation authorities of countries to ensure that they do not cause damage to other aircraft, people, material, property, or anything else on the ground and/or in the air. Although these rules, which have been set especially for UAVs flown for recreational purposes, vary from country to country, they generally include issues such as flying the UAV below a certain height, making flights at a certain distance from people, never losing eye contact between the UAV and its pilot, registering UAVs with the relevant institutions, not flying UAVs over or near prohibited areas (residential areas, airports, stadiums, etc.), and not flying UAVs at night or in bad weather conditions. In order to use drones in accordance with the law and to avoid any liability arising from the use of the drone, these rules must be complied with as a priority.
At the same time, in order to establish security measures in the increasingly widespread use of UAVs and to prevent possible loss of life or property, the drone license/certificate practice has entered into force. With this practice, it is mandatory to obtain a training and license in accordance with the type of drone to be used. In this way, it is only possible to perform drone flights in accordance with the regulations and limitations determined by the GDCA. The license and training to be received for the drone can be obtained after the application to the training institutions authorized by the GDCA. Therefore, it is very important whether the institution that applied for training and licenses is a GDCA-approved institution in order to obtain the license.
However, having a drone license does not allow you to fly in every desired area. In other words, there are a number of factors that should always be considered in drone flights for people who have a driving license and if not applied, it results in criminal sanctions. For example, drone flight is not allowed in some areas referred to as "prohibited areas". Points such as near airports and military zones are considered prohibited areas. It is forbidden to fly drones in these areas even for people who have a license to fly drones. Therefore, a person with a driving license should also be careful to comply with all the rules required to fly a drone.
According to the Instruction, the operators of drones and systems, in other words, the real or legal persons who own the drone and in some cases mentioned above, the pilot of the drone, are responsible for any damage that the drone may cause to third parties.
4- Conclusion
Drones, which have been used in various fields for some time, will be used much more actively and commonly in the future. Various regulations have been made and will continue to be made in Turkish Law regarding drones, which may cause loss of life and property if they are produced and used in an uncontrolled manner. In any case, in order to avoid any damage and liability and the use of the relevant product in accordance with the specifications and accordingly in compliance with the law, it is essential to comply with these regulations at all stages from the production of drones to their use by the end consumer.