Partners and Supporters
Flight Safety Foundation - BARS Program
UAVNZ is an Affiliate Member of the Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Program run by the Flight Safety Foundation. We share a similar outlook, aim, and view to the conduct and safety of contracted aviation operations. We encourage members to use the BARS for RPAS Implementation Guidelines as a suitable resource to achieve best practice. This standard is agnostic to regulatory requirements and supports organisations to go beyond regulatory minima. Organisations may also pay to be audited to the standards. UAVNZ is committed to providing input into and support for the BARS Program.
New Zealand Defence Force
UAVNZ regularly liaises with the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) on matters of best practice for UAV operations. While there are peculiarities to a military context, there are also a lot of issues that are shared with civilian operations. Wing Commander Richard ‘Dicko’ Beaton sits on our Executive Committee in a non-voting role to provide and seek input on behalf of NZDF. The NZDF, like UAVNZ members, are heavy users of low level airspace. Both organisations share a similar view to mitigating risks in this space as far as reasonably practical.
Aspeq
In November 2022, UAVNZ and Aspeq signed a Letter of Intent to begin working on a UAV Pilot Accreditation Programme. Within the current regulatory framework, there is a gap in the ability for pilots to demonstrate that they have the competency, knowledge, and professionalism required for commercial operations. The programme aims to provide reputational advantages to pilots, easier approvals to overfly public lands, insurance benefits, and make it easier for pilots to move between employers. As part of this, we are creating an assessment with Aspeq to assess pilots against a professional code. Aspeq conduct such assessments on behalf of government agencies and professional bodies internationally, making them an ideal partner for this initiative.
Aerospace New Zealand
UAVNZ and Aerospace New Zealand fulfil different, but complementary roles within New Zealand’s aerospace sector. UAVNZ is an industry and professional body for the uncrewed aerospace sector, while Aerospace New Zealand is focussed on growing the aerospace capability of New Zealand in general. The two organisations can work together on advocacy for the sector, cross-pollination of ideas, professionalisation initiatives, and in promoting each other’s work and events.
AirShare
AirShare is an uncrewed traffic management solution that provides a free tool for checking airspace requirements and logging flights. Since February 2023, UAVNZ and AirShare have been partnering to improve the platform in line with industry requirements. UAVNZ provides an official feedback channel to AirShare, who have regularly been making updates as part of this partnership. UAVNZ recognises the value that AirShare provides to the industry ecosystem and will continue to support AirShare in delivering value to the industry. UAVNZ appreciates that UAV users in New Zealand have a free tool to use thanks to AirShare.