When buying a drone, it’s important to choose the right one for you. That means selecting a drone that is safe enough to do what you want to do with it. We developed a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) Safety Assurance rating system to help with this.
On this page
- Operations that require RPAS Safety Assurance
- Declaring your drone for advanced or Level 1 Complex operations
- List of drones eligible for advanced or Level 1 Complex operations
Operations that require RPAS Safety Assurance
The RPAS Safety Assurance tells you what operations your drone is approved for.
You must operate your drone within the limits outlined in the RPAS Safety Assurance declared by the drone manufacturer. Manufacturers may self-declare to Transport Canada that specific models of drones meet the requirements for advanced or Level 1 Complex operations.
Drone safety requirements for basic operations
Basic operations pose less of a risk to people and aircraft. Your drone does not need to have an RPAS Safety Assurance for basic operations.
Drone safety requirements for advanced and complex operations
Advanced and Level 1 Complex operations pose a higher risk to people and aircraft. They include operations near people, over people, in controlled airspace using small or medium drones and some operations beyond the visual line-of-sight.
A drone must meet the relevant RPAS Safety Assurance requirements to conduct specific operations. Meeting the RPAS Safety Assurance for one operation does not make the drone fit for all of them.
For example, a drone may be allowed to operate at a horizontal distance less than 30 metres (100 feet) from bystanders but not over them.
Safety feature requirements are listed in the Drone operation categories and in Standard 922.
Applicable standards
- 922.04 Operations in controlled airspace
- 922.05 Operations near people
- 922.06 Operations over people
- 922.07 Safety and reliability
- 922.08 Containment
- 922.09 Command and control link reliability and lost link behaviour
- 922.10 Detect, Alert, and Avoid Systems
- 922.11 Control Station Design
- 922.12 Demonstrated Environmental Envelope
See Standard 922 for detailed technical requirements.
Declaring your drone for advanced or Level 1 Complex operations
If you build or modify drones, you can submit a drone safety assurance declaration to Transport Canada identifying the capabilities of the system.
List of drones eligible for advanced or Level 1 Complex operations
The table below lists drone manufacturers and models that are eligible for certain operations.
If your drone is listed
Drones are listed only if they have an RPAS Safety Assurance declaration (SAD) or pre-validated declaration (PVD) submitted by their manufacturer. If your drone isn’t listed, the manufacturer may have yet to submit the declaration, or the declaration is yet to be reviewed. You’ll be issued a new registration certificate if the declaration is submitted. Contact your drone’s manufacturer to ask if a declaration will be submitted.
Note: Declarations may be invalidated after being listed below. If you have a registered RPAS that has been invalidated, you will be notified by email that it no longer qualifies and you will be issued an updated registration certificate.
Find your drone and its ratings
Instructions: Sort any column by selecting the arrows. Enter a manufacturer, model or type in the filter items field to find your drone.
Safety feature requirements are listed in the Drone operation categories and in Standard 922.
Full list
Filter options
Use filters to focus your results in the following table.
| Manufacturer | Model | Type | Manufacturer RPAS Safety Assurance | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 922.04 | 922.05 | 922.06 | 922.07 | 922.08 | 922.09 | 922.10 | 922.11 | 922.12 | |||
Small VLOS + sheltered
Filter options
Use filters to focus your results in the following table.
| Manufacturer | Model | Type | Manufacturer RPAS Safety Assurance | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 922.04 | 922.05 | 922.06 | |||||||||