On December 18th, the Office of the Sichuan Low-Level Airspace Collaborative Management Committee officially released the first batch of airspace pilot projects for low-level airspace management in Sichuan Province, and notified the first batch of low-level airspace operational rules. That represents the first "pilot field" for the collaborative management of low-level airspace across the country, and also constitutes the top priority for Sichuan to secure the first flight under the new mechanism before the end of the year.

　　According to the plan, the first batch of airspace will be designated. The key point is to verify the new airspace management and operation mode in the “pilot field” and to form the “experience of Sichuan” which can be promoted to a wider area. This is the crowning mission and important responsibility given by the state to Sichuan Province to build a pilot area for low-level airspace collaborative management.

　　Where to launch the flight?

　　Designing “four points, three districts and one channel” to target at the market with the most urgent demand

　　The first batch of airspace includes "four points, three districts and one channel". The "four points" are distributed in the of LongquanyiLuodai, DujiangyanAnlong, ChongzhouHaoyun, and PengshanJiangkou airports around Chengdu which have been opened up to air navigation. The "three districts" includes the three airspaces of Dujiangyan-Chongzhou, Luodai and Pengshan; the "one channel” refers to the low-level visual channel of Pengshan.

　　Mr. Cao Kun, a special expert of the Provincial Low-level Office, said that this does not only meet the most urgent market demand, but also stands out as the region with less military-civil aviation contradiction. 17 out of the 23 navigation enterprises of Sichuan are distributed in the area.

　　In the past, under the traditional administration of isolated flight modal, various navigational airspacesare like several “isolated islands” without any connection. The first batch of airspace has formulated a new low-level visual flight channel of Luodai-Pengshan. The “isolated islands” can thus be connected, contributing fresh and feasible methods for “linking the isolated areas into a whole” for more low-level airspace.

　　According to the plan, the airspace design will be carried out by three steps. The first step is to verify the new airspace management and operation mode through the first batch of airspace; the second step is to form a loop around Chengdu; the third step is to expand to the whole province to form interwoven low-level flight airspaces, and to gradually incorporate unmanned aerial vehicles.

　　How to launch the flight?

　　The pilot visual flight can be launched in an hour’s notice

　　According to the Operation Rules for the Collaborative Management of Sichuan Low-level Airspace (Provisional), the first batch of airspace is open to all navigation users who meet the airspace usage conditions and comply with the airspace operational rules. There is no need to approve the flight launched in the first batch of airspace.A noticesubmitted to the provincial low-level airspace collaborative management operation center one hour in advance would suffice.

　　"In the past, low-level flights had to apply for airspace, file for operation, and file for flight before launching. It would usually take a week or so." The relevant person in charge of the Southwest Regional Administration of Civil Aviation and Bureau of Air Traffic Control said that the flightsconducted within the first batch of airspace have cut out the examination and approval steps, filing has become all that is needed, which has greatly improved the efficiency. The channelsfor filing have been diversified and turned outmore convenient. Filings can be answeredthrough various channels such as website, APP, telephone and fax.

　　Most importantly, only companies and organizations were granted with the right to file an application in the past, individuals were not in the consideration list. But now, "private planes" are also entitled tofile for flights in the first batch of airspace.

　　In addition, the management of the first batch of airspace once subjected to separate administration of military and civil aviation has been changed to "military and civilian and local" joint management, and the current "low-level airspace controlled flight" has been replaced by "low-level visual autonomous flight".

　　How to manage the flight?

　　Autonomous flight offers no random channel and does not open to unmanned aerial vehicles.

　　“Low-level visual autonomous flight” is currently themain mode of global navigation. The relevant person in charge of the Provincial Low-level Office stated that low-level visual autonomous flight refers tothe flight mission conducted in compliance with the corresponding airspace operating rules and subjected to management, the pilot is to judge the flight conditionthrough “observation and avoidance” under visual flight conditions, to perform flight missions, and assumeany safety related consequences. "It is different from random flight."

　　In order to better ensure flight safety, aircrafts flying within the first batch of airspace are required to be equipped with ADS-B (broadcast automatic correlation monitoring system) and other equipment for the Center for Collaborative Management and Operation to monitor the aircraft status and guarantee low-level flight. Such precautionswere done to make sure that the low-level flightsare conducted in more controllable and safer way. The relevant person in charge of the Provincial Low-level Office said that the concerning parties are make new explorations. Going forward, they hope to bring in more advanced technologies such as Internet+, big data, gridding, 5G, Beidou satellite navigation to further enhance the ability to control low-level flight situations.

　　Regarding UAV flight which has aroused much attention, the Provincial Low-level Office also made a clear reply: UAV can carry out flight activities in the fixed airspace provided that such flight conforms to the specific requirements of local airspace main responsible unit. However,UAV is prohibited from operating in the low-level visual flight channels. By the time when all facilities are being put in place, the integrated operation of UAV with other aircrafts may be put on agenda.