A phased approach would be adopted to manage uncrewed aerial vehicles, as the number of people sitting drone pilot license tests has increased to about 8,000 per year, the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said on Friday.
Amendments to the Regulations of Drone (遙控無人機管理規則) were announced in December last year and would take effect this year to aid the development of the drone industry, the CAA said.
The amendments lowered the minimum age to apply for a student drone pilot license and register a drone to 14 from 16 to encourage young people to learn about drone use, it said.
Photo courtesy of a reader
In the initial stage of implementing the new system, authorities would assist with license replacements and guide people seeking to upgrade their licenses to sign up for higher-level tests without retaking the base written test, it said.
That would help drone pilots retain their fundamental skills and knowledge required to proficiently operate the vehicles, it added.
The next stage would focus on development of the drone industry, it said.
The CAA said that it would collaborate with the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection and the Ministry of Digital Affairs to enhance drone product safety and boost the global market share of Taiwan-made drones.
From Dec. 1, commercially available drones weighing 2kg to 25kg will have to pass CAA flight security inspections, it said.
The CAA is collaborating with qualified laboratories to conduct the inspections, it said.
It would visit drone manufacturers nationwide to help them learn more about the inspection rules, as well as to plan inspection schedules and register their products, it said.
Commercial drone products that enter the market after Dec. 1 must abide by the new regulations, while corporate drone use would be required to pass inspection and registration requirement from Dec. 1, 2027, the CAA said.
There are more than 38,000 registered drones of up to 528 different types owned by corporations, of which 422 weighing 25kg or more have passed the inspections, CAA data showed.
There are 749 corporations eligible to apply for drone activities and the number of applications has increased every year to more than 23,000 annually, it said.
The CAA has set up 24 sites for written and flying tests nationwide and issued 22,589 drone pilot licenses, it added.
Demonstration videos of flying tests are available for reference, the CAA said, adding that it would continue to promote license applications with the goal of establishing at least one test site in every administrative region.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS