The law in Australia: line of sight, and an approval for FPV.

What this page rests on

Every casa.gov.au page this site's research tried timed out, on four attempts. So this page rests on three kinds of source, and says which for every point:

• CASA's legal instruments and explanatory statements on the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), which describe the regulations;
• CASA instrument CASA.RPAS.0572, read from a copy hosted by the MAAA, and the MAAA's own FPV policy, MOP066;
• search summaries of CASA web pages, and a 2017 article in CASA's magazine, all marked unconfirmed.

The CASR compilation itself was not read. CASA's own current text governs. This page covers Australian federal aviation law only.

Visual line of sight: CASR 101.073

CASA's explanatory statement for instrument CASA EX64/24, registered 21 October 2024, describes CASR regulation 101.073: without a CASA approval, it is an offence to operate an unmanned aircraft that is not within the operator's visual line of sight. The same statement says an aircraft is within visual line of sight if the person operating it can continually see, orient and navigate it to meet their separation and collision-avoidance responsibilities, with or without corrective lenses but without binoculars, a telescope or a similar device. The MAAA's MOP066 quotes the same definition.

Distance from people: CASR 101.245

The same explanatory statement (21 October 2024) describes regulation 101.245: without a CASA approval, a person must not operate a remotely piloted aircraft within 30 m of another person who is not directly associated with the operation. CASA's magazine Flight Safety Australia reported the 30 m rule on 20 October 2017, wording it as not over or within 30 m of people unless the person is essential to controlling or navigating the drone; that article is older and its wording is unconfirmed as current.

Points that could not be confirmed

• Standard operating conditions: a search summary of a 2020 explanatory statement says CASR 101.238 prescribes the "standard RPA operating conditions" that make an RPA an "excluded RPA" in the circumstances in 101.237. The conditions themselves were not read.
• Height and aerodromes: secondary guides, seen as search summaries, give a 120 m (400 ft) height limit, citing regulation 101.085 among others, and a 3 nautical mile distance from a controlled aerodrome's movement area, but disagree on the exception for non-controlled aerodromes. None of this was read from CASA, so no limit is stated here as settled.

Flying by goggles: the MAAA approval

Because 101.073 requires the operator's own line of sight, goggle flying needs an approval. CASA instrument CASA.RPAS.0572, "First Person View Operation (Model Aeronautical Association of Australia) Approval 2022", was made on 26 August 2022 under CASR regulations 11.056 and 101.029. It commenced on 1 September 2022 and is repealed at the end of August 2027 (section 2).

• Section 3 defines first person view technology as flying a model aircraft without direct line of sight, navigating from a live video downlink from a camera fixed to it.
• Section 4(2), for subregulation 101.073(2): MAAA affiliate members and listed visitor classes are approved to fly beyond their own visual line of sight only if they use first person view technology, follow the MAAA FPV policy (MOP066 version D, 19 August 2019), and fly only at registered MAAA club fields or CASA-approved MAAA events.

Search summaries of CASA's own pages, unconfirmed, say FPV under the MAAA can take place only at a CASA-approved MAAA location; that people who are not members must join an association with FPV approval or apply to CASA directly to fly FPV outdoors; and that FPV inside a building needs no CASA approval.

What MOP066 requires (association policy under the approval)

MOP066 is the MAAA's policy, not a regulation, but CASA.RPAS.0572 makes following it a condition of the approval. It applies only to MAAA affiliate members at MAAA clubs and affiliated sites (section 3.1). Among its requirements:

• For models under 2 kg or below 100 ft, an FPV model is flown by two affiliate members, with the observer keeping it within visual range, able to take control at once through a radio handover, and solely responsible for the flight's safety (sections 8.1 to 8.5).
• Racing takes place on a course with at least one gate and one flag, in a designated area with run-off (a recommended minimum 30 m exclusion zone), below 100 m (section 9.1).
• Aircraft keep a minimum 30 m buffer from spectators and uninvolved people, and no pilots may be on the field while others fly (section 9.2).
• Racing multirotors need a failsafe that cuts the motors at once on loss of radio signal; carbon-fibre and metal propellers and return-to-home are not allowed in racing (sections 9.2 and 9.6).
• Pilots also follow other MAAA documents, including the Safe Flying Code (MOP056) and Insurance Conditions (MOP057), plus CASR Part 101 and the radio regulator's class licence (section 5).

The MAAA describes itself in MOP066 as recognised by CASA as a Recreational Aviation Administration Organisation administering model aircraft under Part 101; that is the association's own statement.

Registration and ages: not confirmed

The 2026 status of registration and accreditation for recreational flyers could not be confirmed, because CASA's site was unreachable. What was found is historical: an AIN report matching CASA's 2019 consultation said CASA proposed registering commercial drones of any size and recreational drones over 250 g, excluding drones of 250 g or less, flights at CASA-approved model airfields and indoor flights. A search summary of a CASA proposal (consultation CD 2113US) says the recreational start date was amended to 1 July 2022; whether that start happened is unconfirmed. No CASA minimum age for flyers was found.

Remote ID: consultation only

No Australian Remote ID rule or start date was found on an official page. Search summaries, unconfirmed because the government pages timed out, show a public consultation on a Remote ID discussion paper, described as a first stage toward possible requirements.

Radio rules for video and control transmitters come from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), not CASA; see radio rules by country.