09/03/2026
Why is it so damn tough to fly a drone in Specific?
I am a drone pilot since 4 years and I have struggled and sweated more than anything in my life over SORA files. And I am far from done yet.
I have a car licence, a trailer licence, a scuba diver licence, a geomatics licence, a phytolicence, a master in business administration, a hunting licence, all the many drone licences (Open A1 A2 A3, BESTS, EUSTS, SORA light)…
I understand the importance of licences, I have many. But I find it near impossible to fly a 80kg drone over fields in Belgium.
In 2023 I spent more than one year and 3000€ to obtain a PDRA G03. The file was about 120 pages long.
Now I am working on a new SORA since more than a year. It is already 160 pages long and it is not finished yet. I just received a reply from BCAA and I will need to add another 40 pages I guess.
Why ?
Why is Europe so stressed with drones? Why so many rules and so little guidance?
When I take my 2000kg pickup and 700kg trailer :
- I don’t use checklists prior, during and after the ride.
- I don’t have a medium robustness ERP
- I don’t check the weather on three different apps on forehand
- I don’t log every ride
- I don’t have IMSAFE procedures
- I don’t have 24 OSOs
- And so on, and so forth…
Though I’m pretty sure that my pickup is more dangerous than a SAIL 2 operation. With a car, the smallest distraction could lead to a fatality.
And what about 50 ton trucks and busses on our roads ? Do they need more than one year and 100+ page documents before they can drive? I don’t think so. Any driver with a licence can drive any vehicle that the licence allows. Period.
Why is the gap so huge between a 50ton vehicle and a 80kg drone?
This situation is absurd and will lead to a loss of competitiveness in the drone sector in the long run.