AtkinsRéalis has been appointed by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as its first approved assessor of commercial drones.
The company’s technical experts will assess the flightworthiness of drone designs across various sectors including cargo, medical deliveries, surveying and media to determine whether commercial operators and designers comply with the CAA’s new technical requirements for design, manufacturing and flying characteristics.
As a Recognised Assessment Entity for Flightworthiness [RAE(F)] for unmanned aerial systems (UAS), AtkinsRéalis will provide two critical services: assessing drone flightworthiness for commercial operators applying through the UK Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) process, and evaluating manufacturers’ drone designs under Safety Assurance and Integrity Level (SAIL) Mark policies.
These assessments will form the basis for AtkinsRéalis’ recommendations to the CAA, which will then issue the appropriate authorisation or certificate to successful applicants.
As of March 2025, the CAA reported there were more than 470,000 active registered drone users in the UK.
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Image: AtkinsRéalis
