OhAyVee
Glad to help a little its an interesting subject.
I had intended to give a follow up but my PC crashed.. On the subject of being PC, ICAO a couple of years back were starting to refer to "unmanned" vehicles as "uninhabited"
I take mild issue with one of the previous posts that suggests using airspace reservations, this is an eminently practical solution but gives an erroneous impression of ocean traffic below FL120 "Given how little traffic operates within the NAT at or
below FL120"
In general terms there are numerous potential operations that use these levels. I concede the comment is correct from a
controller perception as his main interest is IFR aircraft, BUT he doesnt always know everything operating below in class g
airspace nor even within class A airspace if it is operating under special procedures.
In a long winded fashion i am saying dont go away with the impression that you will be alone at these levels and that your needs wont clash with other users on occasion..
Letsl give you a topical example,at the present time for a couple of weeks there is a large scale nato exercise with activity in
the lower levels down to the surface
this is including anti- aircraft, surface- air, surface surface, towed targets,close air support, med range gunnery, large formations of fast jets plus air to air refuel, maritime patrol, awacs tc atc...wouldnt think a uav will survive a Navy gunner etc etc
oh yes theres a full carrier strike group too
Exercises aside there are numerous run of the mill activiies, maritime fishery patrols sar ops lght aircraft ferries and a host of
activity that is given reservations...in conclusion
yer aint alone
Some suggestions, if you still have had no contact with ICAO yet you could try the NAT PCO office (programme coordination
office..Its manned by NATS at present on behalf of ICAO )...its usually a one man operation with a high workload..they usually
are custodian of useful docs for download that might give you an idea of the complexity of the airspace. The MNPSA guidance
doc although writte nprimarily for mnps/rvsm operations has some references to reservations..i vaguely recall the Faa were
authors of a guide for ferry operations..if you do a google for NAT PCO office you should get contact details..
Without doubt you should touch base with the Manager ATC (Ocean) at the Scottish and Oceanic Area Control Centre at
Prestwick aside from the day to day operation of Shanwick he is also a member of the ICAO group that develops procedures
Also at Prestwick is the Airspace Reservation Cell who have huge experience in these matters....think they are available 7 days
Better still arrange a visit...theres much to take in..the Nat over the years has seen most things Balloon races, dicchings,microlights,helicopters,glidersh
uge rogue met balloons,global hawk ops etc etc...
one final note i am not certain but I think the current ICAO position is that a UAV is an aircraft by definition.
In my first post the references to Aerosonde complying with the rules for model aircraft only worked out because after it left
ocean airspace it was contained completely in an existing danger area which was activated.
The specific rules applicable to Uav operationsare complex and i suspect there is a learning curve to go through. I amaware of
at least one service provider demand the carriage of transponder on one Uav that would have been heavier than the whole
aircraft.
Hopes this helps and the best of luck in your quest.., you might just need it
Ps Groan..whatever did i do to the formatting..hope you could read it gnite all