Last 6th October 2021, the European Commission appointed ASSORPAS, the Italian Association for Light RPAS, as a member of the Informal Drone Expert Group (E03533) of the Directorate – General for Mobility and Transport. Marco Ducci, CEO of EuroUSC Italia, is the ASSORPAS nominated representative within the Expert Group.
In the letter of appointment Henrik Hololei, the Director-General for Mobility and Transport, has justified the choice pointing out the relevance of the organisation’s objective and the demonstrated level of expertise.
« Joining the Drone Experts Group is a great opportunity for ASSORPAS and all its members» declares Nicola Nizzoli, president of ASSORPASS «I am sure that the experience of Marco and our members will be able to shape the drone sector of the future in the common market. »
«I am extremely honoured to receive this appointment» states Marco Ducci «As representative member I will help the Group to further develop and implement measures for the safe and secure integration of drones in the aviation system. »
The term of office is 5 years and Marco Ducci will officially hold his first meeting with the Informal Drone Expert Group on 8th November 2021.
THE EXPERT GROUP ON DRONES
The Expert Group on Drones was set up by the Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport in 2017 and firstly meet on 11 July 2017. It has the following missions:
- Assisting the Commission in the preparation of delegated acts;
- Acting as a sounding board for the conception and implementation of the EU drone policy;
- Advising and assisting the Commission with the implementation of actions that can foster and accelerate the integration of drones in the aviation system and the emergence of a suitable operational environment and infrastructure for drones flying at low altitude, including over urban areas;
- Building upon the operational infrastructure and services to foster the development of a drone services market and of a robust, dynamic and innovation-oriented supporting framework;
- Drawing on best practice and “lessons learned” in other regions and/or in other industrial and service sectors that can be instrumental for the purposes referred to herein.
The group shall consist of up to 60 members, including EU and national level Organisations involved in drone sector, other entities such as NGOs, relevant EU agencies (such as EASA) and other public entities (such as EUROCONTROL).
MARCO DUCCI
Marco Ducci got a master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 2009 and obtained his PhD in Aerospace Engineering in 2012. He joined EuroUSC Italia in November 2014 where he was appointed as CEO in April 2018. He has worked on RPAS related projects involving the development of new technologies for cooperative and non-cooperative Detect & Avoid and the assessment of the safety of RPAS operations. He is the trainer of the courses “RPAS – A regulatory overview” and “UAS Safety Assessment methodologies for ATM” held at IANS – EUROCONTROL and “UAS-AWE – Airworthiness and Equipment for UAS” and “UAS-SORA” held at JAA-TO. He managed several RPAS-related projects including a study about Detect & Avoid State of the Art (project DASA) funded by the European Defence Agency. He was also one of the authors of the study for the TRAN Committee of the European Parliament entitled “Safe Integration of Drones Into Airspace”. He is member of EUROCAE and JARUS WG-SRM (formerly WG-6) since 2017 and is currently contributing to the development of SORA methodology Training material. Currently he is the Deputy Project Manager of AW-Drones, an H2020 project contributing to the identification of a well-reasoned set of standards in support of EU regulation (including SORA, U-space and SC-Light UAS).
