Empowering BCAA: From standstill to pioneer
In late 2023, the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) was at a pivotal crossroads. While the drone department (UAS cell) had existed for some time, a full internal reshuffle meant that all existing staff were replaced. A completely new team was brought in, eager and motivated, but with no prior experience in drone legislation or operations. At that same moment, the department faced a growing backlog of operational authorisation applications, with some operators waiting up to a year for approval. Yet rather than maintain the status quo, the BCAA seized the moment to bring in a more progressive, pragmatic and transparent approach to the European drone regulation. That's where we came in.
A collaborative expert response
To support this transformation, three independent drone experts joined forces:
- Jon Verbeke, founder of Drone Architect
- Michael Maes, senior legal compliance consultant at Unifly
- Jean-Pierre De Muyt, founder of Feeding the Skies
Each of us brought complementary expertise in drone technology, regulation, and operations, creating a uniquely capable and well-rounded team.
Training & support in practice
The goal of the programme was twofold:
- Train the new BCAA UAS team to understand and apply European drone regulations (Open vs Specific category, OM, ConOps, PDRA, SORA etc.)
- Assist in processing the backlog of operational authorisation applications, side-by-side with BCAA staff to accelerate learning
Over the course of 400 hours, we covered a wide range of technical, operational, and regulatory topics, including:
- Drone technology
- Drone Operations (VLOS and BVLOS)
- Open and specific category
- STS, SORA, PDRA, LUC, cross-border operations
- Risk management, mitigations and assessment
- Operations Manual review
- Geozones and U-space
Each session was built around practical application: in addition to teaching, we jointly evaluated real incoming applications with the team, answering questions, resolving ambiguities, and demonstrating how to make sound, consistent assessments.
In addition, we created guidance documentation for drone operators, to improve their application documentation quality and as a result decrease the processing time per application.
From training to independence
By the end of the programme, the initial team had reached full autonomy.
When three new staff members joined in late 2024, we were invited back to deliver a second round of training, completed in March 2025.
Results you can see
This expanded maturing drone team now enables the BCAA to:
- Process higher volumes of applications
- Deliver faster approvals
- Support industry growth
- Pioneer in pre-U-space BVLOS drone operations
The number of authorisation applications has already increased significantly, reflecting renewed trust and momentum in the Belgian drone ecosystem.
Why this worked
This project succeeded because it combined real-world expertise, collaborative delivery and a shared vision for improvement.