Specific category: STS-01, STS-02, PDRA or SORA — which framework?

The Open category has fixed limits: an aircraft under 25 kg, always in sight, no more than 120 m from the surface, kept away from people and never over an assembly of people (Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2019/947). A mission that leaves any one of those limits falls under the Specific category, and three routes lead there:

• The declaration — the operator declares on AlphaTango that it operates under a European standard scenario, STS-01 or STS-02, and flies without prior authorisation as long as it meets every rule of that scenario. According to the DGAC, this covers the vast majority of operators.
• The operational authorisation — issued by the DSAC on the basis of a risk assessment: a predefined assessment (PDRA) when the operation fits one, a full SORA otherwise.
• The light UAS operator certificate (LUC) — for legal entities with a safety management system, which then approve their own operations. It is meant for large organisations with varied operations.

STS-01 is the scenario for filming, inspections and surveys in town. Its conditions are set in points UAS.STS-01.010 and UAS.STS-01.020 of Regulation (EU) 2019/947:

• The aircraft stays in the remote pilot's direct visual line of sight throughout the flight.
• It stays within 120 m of the closest point of the surface; within 50 m of an artificial obstacle taller than 105 m, it may climb up to 15 m above the obstacle, at the request of the entity responsible for it.
• Its ground speed stays below 5 m/s, except in tethered flight.
• It flies over a controlled ground area that no one outside the operation enters, surrounded by a ground risk buffer whose width depends on height and mass.
• It is marked class C5 and its direct remote identification is active and up to date.
• The remote pilot holds the theoretical knowledge certificate for standard scenarios (the CATS in France) and an STS-01 practical skill training accreditation.
• No dangerous goods are carried.

STS-01 allows populated environments. In France, a flight in a populated area — inside an agglomeration shown on aeronautical charts or within 50 m of one, or within 150 m of an assembly of people — must also be declared to the prefecture, with ten working days' notice.

On the operator's side, the scenario rests on the operational declaration on AlphaTango and on an operations manual that covers STS-01.

STS-02 is the scenario for linear inspections and wide-area surveys. Its conditions are set in points UAS.STS-02.010 and UAS.STS-02.020:

• The controlled ground area lies entirely in a sparsely populated environment: under 250 inhabitants per km², confirmed by an analysis of the site according to the DGAC.
• The aircraft is in the remote pilot's sight at launch and recovery, except for an emergency flight termination.
• Without an airspace observer, it flies no further than 1 km from the remote pilot, on a pre-programmed trajectory whenever it leaves their sight.
• With observers, it flies no further than 2 km from the remote pilot and 1 km from the nearest observer; each observer stands within 1 km of the remote pilot, with a reliable means of communication.
• Flight visibility exceeds 5 km.
• The maximum height is the same as in STS-01: 120 m, with the same exception near obstacles taller than 105 m.
• The aircraft is marked class C6, carries a system that prevents it from leaving the flight geography and an active direct remote identification.
• The remote pilot holds the CATS and an STS-02 practical skill training accreditation.

Every flight beyond the remote pilot's sight is notified in advance to the Ministère des Armées, online on AlphaTango (DGAC Specific category guide, §21.2; the French airspace order, Article 6.2). The terms are those of §19.6 of the guide:

• A flight due to start between 08:00 on day D and 08:00 the next day, Paris time, is notified at the earliest on day D-2 at 04:00 and at the latest on day D at 04:00, Paris time.
• AlphaTango is stricter at the start: it refuses a notification filed before 06:00 on day D-2. It accepts it until 06:00 on day D, or until 12:00 if the flight starts after 14:00. On the day before day D, it accepts it at any hour.
• One notification covers a window of 12 hours at most. It may group several flights within that window; beyond it, another one is needed.
• The Ministère des Armées does not reply: there is no approval to wait for.

This notice comes on top of the other formalities of the site: near an aerodrome, every flight beyond sight needs an approval, whatever its height (§18.1 of the DGAC guide).

Height is measured from the closest point of the surface, ground or water. The table gives the limit written for each framework, and the text that sets it:

In an STS, the operational volume may extend 30 m above the maximum height: that is the margin kept for contingency procedures, not a working height. Near aerodromes, lower heights apply, and any departure from the height limits goes through an operational authorisation (§5.1 of the DGAC guide).

What is often called the third-party exclusion zone is called, in the texts, the controlled ground area. Only people involved in the operation or protected by a structure enter it, and the operator must be able to control access to it: tape, barriers, staff, sometimes the municipal police. It has three rings:

1. 1The flight geography area, the ground projection of the volume the aircraft must stay in.
2. 2The contingency area, reaching at least 10 m beyond it: this is where the procedures that bring the aircraft back into its flight geography apply.
3. 3The ground risk buffer, beyond the contingency area, which absorbs a fall.

In STS-01, the minimum width of the ground risk buffer is set by a table (UAS.STS-01.020; annex 5 of the DGAC guide):

In STS-02, the ground risk buffer covers at least the distance the aircraft is most likely to travel after its means of terminating the flight is activated, as stated by the manufacturer. For a tethered aircraft, whatever the scenario, the area is a circle whose radius is the tether length plus 5 m.

Outside the two STS, every operation in the Specific category needs an operational authorisation from the DSAC, sent to its central office on the METEOR platform. PDRA or SORA is not a matter of preference: first check whether the operation fits a predefined assessment.

A PDRA is a risk assessment EASA has already made: the operator does not produce one, it demonstrates that it meets each of its conditions. It is still an authorisation, granted by the DSAC. The SORA is the full method of AMC1 to Article 11: the concept of operations (ConOps), ground risk class, air risk class, assurance level (SAIL) and the operational safety objectives (OSO) to demonstrate.

Drones of 25 kg or more, or with a characteristic dimension of 3 m or more, fall outside the standard scenarios (§4 of the DGAC guide) and go through an authorisation.

The French national scenarios S1, S2 and S3 ended with the transition period on 31 December 2025: since 1 January 2026 no one may operate under them, and everything attached to them is obsolete — design attestations, the CATT, the S1, S2 and S3 practical training (§2.2 of the DGAC guide). No national practical attestation converts into an STS one (§13.3).

The DGAC notes that STS-01 shows « strong similarities » with the former S3, and STS-02 with the former S2. Similarities, not equivalence: the C5 or C6 marking, the CATS and the STS practical training are required, however long the operator has been flying.

• STS-01: class C5 only (UAS.STS-01.020, Part 16 of the Annex to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945).
• STS-02: class C6 only (UAS.STS-02.020, Part 17 of the Annex to the same regulation).
• PDRA-S01 and PDRA-S02: the same flight without a class marking, provided comparable characteristics are demonstrated.
• PDRA-G01, G02 and G03: a characteristic dimension of 3 m at most and a typical kinetic energy of 34 kJ at most.

There is no type approval for the STS: only the class marking, affixed by the manufacturer, says whether an aircraft may be used for them (§10.1 of the DGAC guide). The operator keeps the declaration of conformity of each class-marked aircraft.

1. 1Register the operator on AlphaTango. You receive an operator number (FRA followed by 13 characters) and an electronic identifier to enter in every C5 or C6 drone.
2. 2Write the MANEX: a scenario can only appear in the declaration if the manual covers it.
3. 3Train the remote pilots: at least one holds the CATS and a practical training accreditation naming the STS (which certificate for which framework).
4. 4Declare online the scenarios and every aircraft you may use, rented or borrowed ones included. No document is attached: the MANEX, certificates and declarations of conformity are kept and made available to the authorities.
5. 5Download the statement of situation, which serves as acknowledgement of receipt. The declaration is valid for two years and is amended or renewed online.

The declaration covers the operator, not the flight: each mission keeps its own formalities — the prefecture in a populated area, the Ministère des Armées beyond sight, approvals near aerodromes and in restricted areas.