CASA consults on broad-area BVLOS guidance for Australian drones

By James Calloway

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority will accept comments on draft broad-area BVLOS guidance until 7 December 2026.

CASA describes broad-area beyond visual line of sight operations as flying across larger areas without the operator keeping the drone in direct sight. The draft Annex B to AC 101-06 sets out proposed pathways for eligible operators.

CASA says the guidance should help drone designers, manufacturers, system integrators and operators "understand the evidence needed to support broad area BVLOS applications." It is not an approval for a named drone, operator or operation.

What does this change for operators?

For eligible operators, the draft could widen the geographical area covered by an authorisation. That may increase usable capacity without expanding the fleet. It could also reduce dependence on direct visual monitoring. Neither effect is quantified by CASA.

The draft covers six areas:

• Pathways for broad-area BVLOS operations.
• Eligibility requirements and operational limitations.
• Application and assessment requirements.
• Responsibilities of authorisation holders and nominated responsible persons.
• Renewal of existing broad-area BVLOS authorisations.
• Steps for preparing an application.

These six sections address the route from preparation to assessment and renewal. They do not amount to a completed approval. Each applicant would still need to satisfy CASA's evidence requirements and any operational limits imposed on its authorisation.

Eligibility opens an application; authorisation permits the operation. A submission by itself changes neither status. It does not grant a wider operating area.

The announcement does not identify eligible platforms, flight-hour limits, cost figures, processing times or named applicants. It gives no fleet count or revenue model. Operators cannot use this notice to price a wider network or assume faster approvals.

What remains unresolved?

CASA is asking stakeholders whether the draft guidance "adequately addresses safety issues." That question remains open, and the announcement does not disclose the proposed evidence tests or technical thresholds behind the draft.

Manufacturers and system integrators face a documentation question, not a product-approval announcement. The draft asks what evidence an application needs. It does not approve a design or guarantee a successful review.

It also does not disclose technical benchmarks, operational tolerances or assessment criteria. Nor does it provide a cost schedule for applications. That leaves design teams without enough information to estimate compliance work.

Existing broad-area BVLOS authorisations sit in a different category. Their renewal forms one part of the draft, but CASA does not state how many exist, who holds them or whether their terms will change.

What happens next?

Comments can be submitted through CASA's Consultation Hub until 7 December 2026. The agency wants views on safety adequacy and on whether the draft explains the required evidence sufficiently.

CASA has not promised a final publication date or described how comments will change the text. The notice also gives existing authorisation holders no assurance of broader approval. The draft remains consultation material.

Cost and network effects will depend on what the final document permits: how wide an area one authorisation may cover, what duties attach to nominated responsible persons and whether renewals preserve current operating scope. Those details are absent.

Manufacturers should also resist treating the consultation as a market signal. The announcement names no company or aircraft type and approves neither. It provides no delivery, certification or deployment schedule.

After 7 December 2026, the decisive test will be whether CASA can turn a general evidence pathway into predictable authorisations with clear safety limits and measurable capacity effects. Until then, broad-area BVLOS remains a proposal under consultation, not a settled route to scaled Australian drone networks.