Eagle Eye Innovations Secures CAA Operational Authorisation, Marking Major Step Towards RPC-L2 Training

Eagle Eye Innovations (EEI) has been granted an Operational Authorisation by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), marking a significant milestone in the company’s development of advanced BVLOS operations and its future RPC-L2 training and assurance capability.

The authorisation follows an extensive UK SORA assessment and provides the regulatory foundation for EEI’s automated BVLOS operating concept.

Crucially, the achievement also represents an important first step in unlocking EEI’s wider ambition to provide RPC-L2 training and assurance to other organisations seeking to develop the competencies required for more complex UAS operations. The authorisation moves EEI closer to being able to provide a practical environment in which future RPC-L2 candidates can develop, demonstrate and assure their operational competence.

For EEI, this means the significance of the authorisation extends well beyond its own BVLOS operation. It forms part of the wider development of a capability intended to support other organisations and remote pilots as they progress towards more advanced UAS operations.

Achieving the authorisation represents the culmination of a substantial programme of regulatory, operational and technical development, including refinement of the operating concept, risk assessment, operational procedures, technical controls and supporting evidence.

Jim Rowlands, Regulatory SME at Eagle Eye Innovations, said: “Today is a great day. This is a fantastic result for EEI and something the whole team can be genuinely proud of. There has been a huge amount of work behind the scenes to get us to this point.

“What makes this particularly exciting is what it unlocks next. This operational authorisation is an important first hurdle in developing our RPC-L2 capability, with the longer-term aim of enabling other organisations to come to EEI to train, develop their competence and work towards RPC-L2 qualification and assurance.

“We’ve always wanted this to be about more than securing an authorisation for ourselves. The real opportunity is to take what we’ve learnt through the process and use that capability to support others entering this increasingly complex area of UAS operations.

“I’d also like to recognise the constructive engagement we’ve had with the CAA throughout the assessment. That dialogue has helped us refine the operating concept and arrive at a stronger solution.”

The Operational Authorisation therefore represents both an achievement for EEI today and an important building block for what comes next

With this first regulatory hurdle cleared, EEI can continue progressing towards a capability that will allow other organisations to access RPC-L2 training and assurance through its training academy.