Written evidence submitted by Kent academic Dr Alan Mckenna has been quoted within a House of Lords report on the civilian use of drones.
The report, Civilian Use of Drones in the EU, was prepared by the European Union Committee and published on 5 March.
Dr McKenna, an Associate Lecturer in Law at Kent Law School, submitted written evidence about the civil use of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) in the EU in September. His evidence was subsequently quoted a number of times within the final report.
Dr McKenna was quoted as recommending that ‘all small RPAS commercial pilots should be required to undertake training to obtain a licence.’ He was further quoted saying that there should be a ‘requisite standard recognised across Europe, but that there should be adequate competition amongst such certification providers’.
In respect of concerns about the capacity of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to regulate the increasing number of RPAS, Dr McKenna was quoted as being in agreement with both ARPAS-UK and the British Model Flying Association, that ‘they did not think the CAA had the human resources necessary to enforce the regulations for RPAS use.’
Dr McKenna will attend the House of Lords later this week, to discuss the report in more detail in a seminar with fellow evidence contributors.
Dr McKenna’s research interests include the information society, communication law, information law, media, human rights, information technology law, international commercial law, data protection, privacy and asbestos-related issues.
For further details of Dr McKenna’s research interests and publications, visit his staff profile page.