Last week SABCA was granted the Light UAS Operator Certificate (LUC) by the Belgian Civil Aviation Authorities. This certification demonstrates SABCA’s capabilities of self-assessing the risk of its operations. This Certification came after a long period of monitoring SABCA’s operational capabilities with fixed-wing and multi-copter UAS, verifying and approving operational authorisations and assessing the management and safety culture of the organisation.

The LUC certificate was issued under the new European Regulation of EU Regulation 2019/947 and is the first-ever issued in Belgium (LUC 001).

With the LUC Certificate, certain privileges have been granted by the NAA to SABCA. The end-goal for the SABCA UAS team is to obtain the privilege to self-authorise high SAIL type of operations without having to apply for an authorisation.

SABCA’s BU Director, Steven Wille said: “SABCA is thrilled to have achieved this major milestone. It is the result of great and hard teamwork, allowing our organisation to carry out successful missions in Belgium and abroad and to gain the trust of National Aviation Authorities and industrial organisations. With this LUC Certificate, we will further keep on challenging and pushing the boundaries in operations with a strong emphasis on safety and efficiency. Whether is flying offshore BVLOS fixed-wing missions or inter-hospital multi-copter missions, our goal is to offer aerospace-grace end-to-end solutions to industrial customers”.