Authorisation dossiers

Example 1 Adjacent area size and containment level

Compare four drones and read SORA 2.5 Table 9 (3 m aircraft, sheltering applies). Column 3 is average density below 5,000 people/km² with assemblies below 40,000; column 1 is a denser adjacent area.

# adjacent area outer limit = distance flown in 3 minutes at max speed, clamped to 5–35 km (SORA 2.5 Step 8)
def adjacent_km(vmax_ms):
    return min(max(vmax_ms * 180 / 1000, 5.0), 35.0)

for name, v in [("small quad", 18), ("VTOL mapper", 30), ("fixed-wing", 45), ("fast fixed-wing", 250)]:
    print(f"{name:16s} {v:>3} m/s -> adjacent area out to {adjacent_km(v):.1f} km")

# Table 9 (3 m UA, sheltering applies): columns from high to low density/assemblies
TABLE9 = {"I-II": ["out of scope", "High", "Medium", "Low"],
          "III": ["out of scope", "Medium", "Low", "Low"],
          "IV": ["Medium", "Low", "Low", "Low"],
          "V-VI": ["Low", "Low", "Low", "Low"]}
col = 3                       # rightmost column: average density below 5,000 people/km² and assemblies below 40,000
for sail in TABLE9:
    print(f"SAIL {sail:5s} -> containment {TABLE9[sail][col]} (column {col}),"
          f" {TABLE9[sail][1]} (column 1)")

small quad        18 m/s -> adjacent area out to 5.0 km
VTOL mapper       30 m/s -> adjacent area out to 5.4 km
fixed-wing        45 m/s -> adjacent area out to 8.1 km
fast fixed-wing  250 m/s -> adjacent area out to 35.0 km
SAIL I-II  -> containment Low (column 3), High (column 1)
SAIL III   -> containment Low (column 3), Medium (column 1)
SAIL IV    -> containment Low (column 3), Low (column 1)
SAIL V-VI  -> containment Low (column 3), Low (column 1)

Most small drones get the 5 km minimum, while fast fixed-wing aircraft hit the 35 km ceiling. The table also shows something counter-intuitive: a lower SAIL needs higher containment when the adjacent area is dense, because a low SAIL carries few other reliability requirements and so relies more on keeping the drone in its area. Some cells read “out of scope”, meaning the operation cannot be done in the Specific category.

Example 2 Evidence enough for SAIL III but not for SAIL IV

The team holds evidence at Medium for OSO#01, Low for OSO#05, Medium for OSO#13 and Medium for OSO#16. If a new route raises SAIL from III to IV, what must be added? (Training case.)

SAILS = ["I", "II", "III", "IV", "V", "VI"]
OSO = {   # required robustness from SORA 2.5 Table 14
    "OSO#01 operator competent": ["NR", "L", "M", "H", "H", "H"],
    "OSO#05 system safety and reliability": ["NR", "NR", "L", "M", "H", "H"],
    "OSO#13 external services adequate": ["L", "L", "M", "H", "H", "H"],
    "OSO#16 multi-crew coordination": ["L", "L", "M", "M", "H", "H"],
}
LEVEL = {"NR": 0, "L": 1, "M": 2, "H": 3}
claims = {"OSO#01 operator competent": "M", "OSO#05 system safety and reliability": "L",
          "OSO#13 external services adequate": "M", "OSO#16 multi-crew coordination": "M"}

for sail in ("III", "IV"):
    i = SAILS.index(sail)
    gaps = [f"{k} needs {v[i]}, has {claims[k]}" for k, v in OSO.items()
            if LEVEL[claims[k]] < LEVEL[v[i]]]
    print(f"SAIL {sail}: " + ("evidence meets all four" if not gaps else "; ".join(gaps)))

SAIL III: evidence meets all four
SAIL IV: OSO#01 operator competent needs H, has M; OSO#05 system safety and reliability needs M, has L; OSO#13 external services adequate needs H, has M

At SAIL III all four items are sufficient, but at SAIL IV three fall short: operator competence, system reliability evidence, and evidence for external services such as the mobile network used for C2. This is why redesigning the route to lower the SAIL is often cheaper than gathering more evidence, and it is an open issue that must be stated plainly in the dossier.