Drone owners will soon have to register their aircraft in order to fly them in Malaysia. This is according to Captain Norazman Mahmud, CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), who spoke to news outlet NST about the upcoming regulation.
Norazman said that drone owners, both commercial and recreational, will have to register on CAAM’s Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UAS TM), which will be set up by the third quarter of 2025. “By then, when you buy a drone, you will have to register before flying it. Drone operators will need to request permission via a mobile app before flying their drones. If the drone meets all requirements and is in an unrestricted area, approval will be granted instantly,” he explained.
The current air traffic management system covers civil aviation, regular aircraft, and drones, but with the increase number of drone owners, UAS TM is being established to manage drones in the country’s airspace for efficiently. The CEO stated that according to the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM), there are 155,995 drone operators in the country, with 80% of usage being recreational and the remaining 20% covering surveillance and transport.
Under UAS TM, drone registration and flight approval processes will be automated through a four-stage process. U1 will register your name into the system when you buy a drone, U2 will address the flight approval process, U3 will cover advanced services in dense areas, and U4 involves manned aviation integration and high levels of autonomy.
(Source: NST)
