7.1 Flight Procedures & Basic Practical Drills

Procedures Reduce Workload

A procedure is a planned sequence that helps avoid omissions when workload rises. It must be specific enough for the aircraft and operation, consistent with the manufacturer’s guide and operator procedures.

For A2 self-training, perform drills in Far from People (A3) conditions with a representative aircraft. Add difficulty gradually. The goal is predictable control, observation, and safe decisions—not aerobatics.

Planning and Site Setup

Before power-up:

1. Check the subcategory, aircraft eligibility, IDs, and documents.
2. Review airspace, geographical zones, temporary restrictions, and land permission.
3. Obtain current weather and perform a local assessment.
4. Identify people routes, obstacles, emergency activity, and manned-aircraft exposure.
5. Set the operating volume, buffer, contingency area, and landing alternatives.
6. Confirm mass, balance, payload, battery, propellers, software, control link, Remote ID, geo-awareness, and lost-link settings where applicable.
7. Brief the observer or assistant on VLOS, airspace scan, people calls, stop calls, and lost-link actions.

A checklist prompts a decision; it does not prove that a failed item is safe.

Start-Up and Control Check

Position the aircraft so propellers cannot strike people or loose material. Power equipment in the manufacturer’s sequence. Confirm the correct profile, controller inputs, battery and cell status, GNSS/compass indications, home point, height reference, and warnings.

In a clear area, check:

• pitch, roll, yaw, and vertical response;
• stable hover or straight tracking;
• correct control orientation;
• braking and return toward the launch area; and
• expected telemetry and warnings.

Unexpected drift, vibration, noise, heat, or warning means land and diagnose.

Core Manoeuvres

Rotorcraft

Practise smooth take-off; hover at different orientations, including nose-in; straight tracks and turns; climbs and descents without crossing a boundary; direction changes; controlled braking at a marked line; normal landing; and landing at an alternate clear point.

Markers are training aids, not minimum legal distances. Use a buffer so an ordinary error remains inside the segregated area.

Fixed-wing

Practise safe launch or take-off, straight and level flight, climbing and descending turns, speed control, circuits, approach, go-around where possible, and landing within a planned corridor. Maintain stall margin and account for wind over the ground.

Hybrid

Practise approved vertical and forward-flight phases and transitions at adequate height and distance, including a transition abort only as the guide permits.

Low-Speed and Distance Drills

For a UK2 aircraft with compliant low-speed mode, verify selection, indication, maximum speed, and handling change. In a clear area:

1. establish the mode before the exercise;
2. fly toward a conservative stop line;
3. stop at different approach speeds and wind directions;
4. observe actual ground stopping distance;
5. repeat with intended payload and battery; and
6. exit if gusts or response become inconsistent.

This does not grant a 5 m permission by itself. It provides performance evidence for the weather, performance, and segregation evaluation.

Check distance estimation against measured markers, mapping, or another suitable method. Decisions near a statutory floor should not rely on an uncalibrated guess.

Automated Functions

Automation can reduce routine workload but creates monitoring duties. Where fitted, practise automated take-off or landing, position hold, return-to-home, planned routes, and safe cancellation or override.

Know the triggers, route, height, landing behaviour, and what happens if sensors degrade. Maintain VLOS and readiness to intervene. An autonomous route that would overfly people or enter restricted airspace is not made lawful by software.

Crew Coordination

The remote pilot and observer should be co-located for immediate communication. Use short calls such as “traffic left,” “person entering,” “visual lost,” and “land.” Confirm who maintains direct unaided visual contact, especially during FPV, and what follows a warning.

A marshal watching the ground does not automatically perform the unmanned-aircraft observer function. Assign roles based on competence and briefing.

Recovery and Post-Flight

Approach a clear area with battery reserve. Stabilise, land, disarm, and power down in the manufacturer’s order. Protect damaged batteries and inspect for damage, loose payload, contamination, or abnormal heat.

Record aircraft/configuration, site, date, weather, flight time, drills, mode tests, warnings, maintenance needs, and lessons.

Practical Progression

First sessions: orientation, hover or straight flight, normal take-off and landing.

Middle sessions: accurate paths, stopping, wind, alternate landing, observer calls.

Later sessions: representative payload, automation and override, simulated abnormalities, and the full procedure.

Do not induce a hazardous real failure merely to say it was practised. The declaration follows demonstrated competence—not one successful automated flight.