Philippine Aviation Law and CAAP RPAS Regulations
This domain tests whether you know who may authorize an RPAS flight in the Philippines, what documents must exist before launch, and which law sits above every other permit you might hold.
The legal chain
- Republic Act No. 9497 (Civil Aviation Authority Act of 2008) created CAAP and gave it rulemaking authority over all civil aircraft, manned or unmanned.
- CAAP exercises that authority through the Civil Aviation Regulations (CARs) plus supplementary Memorandum Circulars; the RPAS-specific circular is the operative instrument for registration, pilot competency and operator approval.
- Chicago Convention Article 8 underpins the whole scheme: a pilotless aircraft may not fly over another State's territory without special authorization. The domestic mirror is a CAAP authorization, not a local permit.
- Adjacent statutes: NTC rules for radio spectrum, RA 10173 (Data Privacy Act) for camera and surveillance work, and LGU/barangay clearances for land use.
What CAAP actually controls
Registration of the aircraft, remote pilot competency, the operator's certificate or organizational approval, airspace authorizations and exemptions (BVLOS, night, over people, above 400 ft), event permits, occurrence reporting and enforcement.
Worked example
A 5 kg multirotor is hired to film a fiesta 8 km from a provincial airport. Reasoning: (1) paid work makes it a commercial operation, so operator authorization and pilot competency apply - hobby rules do not; (2) the aerodrome proximity triggers ATC/CAAP coordination and likely an altitude cap; (3) flying over a crowd needs specific approval with mitigation; (4) the video downlink must use NTC-accepted equipment and the venue needs privacy notices. The city permit is the last step, never the first.
Traps
Assuming payment is what triggers registration (it is mass and use that do); assuming a barangay or city permit legalizes the flight; assuming a hobby exemption survives the moment a client pays.