AirShare New Zealand has introduced several new features to its AirShare uncrewed traffic management (UTM) system, aimed at enhancing drone operations, particularly at unattended aerodromes. The update follows an AirShare trial with 13 unattended aerodromes across New Zealand.
Pilots flying within 4km of unattended aerodromes must have an observer present during the flight. Pilots must now enter the name and mobile number of the observer in the flight planning stage. When a flight overlaps an unattended aerodrome 4km area, the system will prompt the pilot to enter observer details. This information can be reviewed in the pilot flight summary and edited if necessary. Airspace managers and relevant authorities can view observer details when reviewing the flight request.
Pilots can now upload up to three supporting documents when submitting a flight request for an unattended aerodrome. This allows them to provide operational details, risk assessments, or other required documents. Documents are stored securely and can be accessed from the flight details page. Airspace managers and relevant authorities can view attached documents. Pilots can also update or replace documents at any time before the flight is activated.
If a flight is planned in an unattended aerodrome where no AirShare approvals are available, pilots will see a warning message. This prompts the pilot to seek manual approval directly from the aerodrome before flying. The warning must be acknowledged before proceeding.
For flights at unattended aerodromes, pilots operating under Part 102 rules with the relevant variation are encouraged to notify the aerodrome, however they do not require official approval to fly. To reflect this, AirShare has introduced an “Acknowledged” status.
To help pilots manage their flights, the system now sends an SMS reminder to the pilot to terminate a flight when it is created in a control zone.
A further new feature, for AirShare Web, is designed to streamline operations, particularly for Part 102 pilots, by automatically segmenting a flight path into separate flight areas. When using the tool, the system will automatically divide the flight into segments, based on the vertices selected, and handle all technical details. Pilots click through waypoints in sequence, with the final waypoint requiring a double-click to confirm the end of the flight path. Pilots can only create segmented flights in uncontrolled airspace.
Other recent AirShare updates include general bug fixes, minor visual amendments and improvements to the multi-authoriser emails process.
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