CASA RPA Accreditation common mistakes
CASA RPA Accreditation · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating the 250 g threshold as the only line that matters and assuming any drone under 250 g can be flown anywhere without registration or exclusion-zone rules.
Candidates memorise 'under 250 g means no registration' as a single rule and stop reading, missing that excluded-category RPA still cannot be flown in prohibited areas or near people in a way that endangers them, and that the weight is the take-off weight including batteries and payload.
What to do instead
Learn the excluded category as a set of conditions, not one number: weight at take-off, not flown over populated areas or too close to people, not in a prohibited area. Practise classifying drones by take-off weight including battery and camera, and note that adding a payload can push a sub-250 g drone into the next category.
Confusing which weight band triggers which obligation, for example stating that a 2 kg drone needs CASA registration and accreditation but a 25 kg drone does not, or mixing up the very small, small, medium and large RPA categories.
The categories are defined by weight ranges with a boundary at 250 g, 2 kg, 25 kg and 150 kg, and candidates learn them as a list without a mental map, so boundaries blur under time pressure.
What to do instead
Draw the bands once from memory: excluded (under 250 g with conditions), very small (250 g to 2 kg), small (2 kg to 25 kg), medium (25 kg to 150 kg), large (over 150 kg). Attach the registration and accreditation consequence to each band and self-test by picking random weights and stating the band and obligation.
Answering that a RePL or remote pilot licence is required to fly a drone for business, when the actual requirement is operator accreditation (or ReOC) plus registration for the aircraft.
Candidates import terminology from other aviation contexts where a pilot licence is the headline credential, and the CASA structure of operator accreditation versus remote pilot licensing is genuinely unfamiliar.
What to do instead
Separate the three things clearly: the operator (business or individual) needs accreditation or a ReOC; the aircraft needs registration; the person at the controls needs competency, with a remote pilot licence only required in certain operations such as beyond visual line of sight or above 400 ft. Match each exam scenario to the correct one of the three.
Assuming that because a flight is for recreation it is exempt from all rules, and flying a recreational drone into controlled airspace or above 120 m without checking.
The recreational versus commercial distinction matters for accreditation and registration, but candidates over-generalise it into a blanket exemption from airspace and altitude rules.
What to do instead
Memorise that the standard operating conditions apply to all RPA operations regardless of purpose: visual line of sight, below 120 m above ground, not over populous areas, not near an aerodrome movement area, not in prohibited or restricted areas. Purpose affects paperwork, not the flight rules.
Flying above 120 m above ground level and justifying it by referencing altitude above sea level, or treating 400 ft as measured from the launch point rather than from the ground beneath the aircraft.
Altitude is quoted in feet in aviation and metres in drone rules, and the reference datum is easy to lose, especially on sloping terrain where the ground rises under the flight path.
What to do instead
Fix the conversion and the datum: 120 m equals roughly 400 ft, measured above ground level directly beneath the RPA at all times. Work through a slope example where the launch point is low and the terrain rises, and note that the ceiling follows the terrain.
Treating 'visual line of sight' as 'I can see the dot in the sky' and failing to account for first-person-view goggles, a spotter's role, or the requirement to see the surrounding airspace.
Candidates conflate unaided sight of the aircraft with the fuller requirement to maintain awareness of the surrounding airspace and other traffic, and they assume FPV goggles satisfy it.
What to do instead
State the standard as unaided visual contact sufficient to monitor the aircraft's flight path and detect conflicting traffic, with corrective lenses allowed but not binoculars or goggles. If FPV is used, a separate observer maintaining direct visual contact is required. Practise spotting the scenario where the observer is the correct answer.
Answering that a flight near a non-controlled aerodrome is fine because there is no tower, or that controlled airspace clearance is only needed if ATC answers the radio.
Candidates equate 'controlled' with 'towered' and forget that aerodrome movement areas and their surrounds are off limits for standard RPA operations regardless of whether ATC is present.
What to do instead
Learn the aerodrome rule as distance-based and independent of ATC presence: no flying within the movement area or the prescribed distance of an aerodrome without approval. Distinguish uncontrolled aerodromes, where the restriction still applies, from controlled airspace, where an airspace authorisation is separately required.
Assuming that because the drone is registered and the operator is accredited, no further approval is needed to fly in a restricted area, near an emergency, or beyond visual line of sight.
Registration and accreditation are administrative prerequisites, and candidates treat them as a complete permission set rather than as separate from airspace authorisation and operational approvals.
What to do instead
Build a checklist that separates four layers: aircraft registered, operator accredited or ReOC held, airspace approval obtained where needed, and operation within the standard operating conditions or covered by an approval. For each scenario, name which layer is missing rather than answering a vague 'needs approval'.
Leaving records to memory and being unable to state what must be kept, for how long, or who must keep it, such as recording flight logs but not maintenance or incident records.
Record keeping is low-salience compared with flight rules, so candidates skim it and cannot distinguish operator obligations from pilot habits.
What to do instead
Memorise a short list of record types (flight records, maintenance, training and competency, incidents) and the retention period, and tie each to the operator rather than the individual pilot. Test yourself by naming three records and stating who holds them and for how long.
Handling a fly-away or loss of link by continuing to describe the flight as normal, or answering that the remote pilot should chase the aircraft, rather than following the lost-link and incident-reporting sequence.
Emergency scenarios are tested as procedure, but candidates answer with general airmanship instinct and miss the specific programmed behaviour (return-to-home or land) and the reporting trigger.
What to do instead
Learn the lost-link behaviour as a designed function: the RPA executes its configured failsafe, and the remote pilot maintains visual contact and clears the area rather than following. Then state when a reportable matter must be reported to CASA or the ATSB. Rehearse the sequence as ordered steps.