LUC Cross-Border Application Requirements

In plain language

If you hold a LUC and want to operate in Portugal, you must submit a signed application, your LUC terms of approval, and your intended flight locations to ANAC.

Requirement as structured

ANAC's cross-border guidance states that a UAS operator notifying an operation in Portugal on the basis of an LUC should submit a filled and signed application form, a copy of the terms of approval received in accordance with point UAS.LUC.050 of the Annex to the UAS Regulation, and the location or locations of the intended operation in accordance with paragraph 1(b) of Article 13(1) of that Regulation; ANAC states that an ANAC decision is always required.

Original regulatory text

\- Filled and signed application form; - A copy of the terms of approval received in accordance with point UAS.LUC.050 of the Annex to the UAS Regulation; and \- The location(s) of the intended operation in accordance with paragraph 1(b) of Article 13(1) of the UAS Regulation. Note: An ANAC decision is always required including If the LUC holder have the privilege to apply local conditions. If the privileges include an airspace reservation as a mitigation, the local conditions related with the Portuguese airspace management require an ANAC decision. No civilian airspace allocation is possible (e.g. NOTAM, airspace reservation) in the Portuguese Airspace without an approval of ANAC. Any airspace allocation needs to be limited in time and airspace (minimum to achieve the objective). The airspace should be used efficiently, meaning that NOTAM with low rate of utilisation, blocking the access to other undertakings, for example, UAS operators and manned aviation airspace users isn’t tolerable. The concept of continuity and availability of airspace should be always be present when proposing mitigations. If operating in Portuguese Controlled airspace and no U-space is implemented, the UAS operators should contact and agree the coordination process with the ATS unit before submit the application to ANAC. If U-space is available a lighter process adjusted to the specific airspace could be proposed and included in the manual (coordination procedure only in case of emergency). The process of coordination could be different from unit to unit since the capacity to participate in the coordination could be reduced due to the high traffic demand and need to focus in ATC service provision. The air risk increases in Portugal during the summer near the coastline (SPO manned operations and crowded beaches) and in AGIF wildfire risk priority areas (low level operational and training manned aviation operations during the wildfire season). The operation is conducted both by civilian and military aircrafts (real operations and training). Lakes, rivers and dams or internal waters will have an increased encounter risk (ditching training to collect water). A failure to properly assess these local conditions, information available in AIP supplements, NOTAMs or in public state information could lead to a situation of not issuing the confirmation of acceptability or of confirmation of receipt and completeness. The list of Competent authorities is available in EASA website. The available contacts could be used to inform your NAA. ( https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/domains/civil-drones/naa).