The Government recently published its response to the consultation it ran on the safe use of drones in the UK. The headline announcement is the plan to introduce mandatory registration for drones over 250 grams in weight, as well as mandatory competency testing to support it.

The closure of Gatwick airport’s runway on Sunday, as a result of a drone flying in the way of arriving aircraft, has prompted further debate about how we deal with the growing number of drones in the skies….

Safety is our first priority and our commitment to a culture of safety has resulted in significant improvement in recent years to our safety record. In the past ten years we have halved the number of reportable safety incidents and reduced the number of airprox by 75%. It is a record of which we are justifiably proud but by no means complacent, and we continue to place our Just Culture at the heart of all we are doing to improve our record further.

NATS manages some of the most complex airspace in the world and we have achieved excellent levels of safety performance. However, the ATM world is undergoing unprecedented change and a number of new challenges face our industry.