State of Drone Report 2018 now available

15 Mar 2018

Rocketmine has released its State of Drone Report 2018. According to the report, in such a rapidly evolving and growing sector of the economy, adherence and implementation of firm guidelines, safety standards, and compliance will result in growth and a business advantage for the South African drone industry to compete in this developing and under-regulated sphere of the global economy.

State of Drone Report 2018 now available

The report states that currently, there are 663 remote piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) registered in South Africa, which tallies with the growing number of remote pilot licences (RPLs) issued of 686. This growth correlates with figures released in February 2017 of 368 RPLs and 468 RPAS, providing further proof that the drone community has come to terms with South Africa's leading RPAS legal framework.

In comparison to the explosive growth seen in RPLs and registered RPAS, the number of approved operators, or ROCs, and training centres remains low with 20 ROCs and four training centres approved. For an industry still in its infancy, these numbers are likely to increase due to the factors of growing market demand and as expertise filters throughout the industry, within the regulatory, operator and training environment.

Since the third quarter of 2015, DJI has increased its drone registration market share in South Africa steadily. This relates to worldwide drone ownership trends, where DJI holds a 70% total market share as reported by the Financial Times on 10 August 2017.

For more, download the report here.