What “within visual line of sight” means
The regulation defines it closely. A drone is within the visual line of sight of the person operating it “if the person can continually see, orient and navigate the aircraft to meet the person’s separation and collision avoidance responsibilities, with or without corrective lenses, but without the use of binoculars, a telescope or other similar device.”
Operating an unmanned aircraft outside that is an offence of strict liability, with a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units (r 101.073(1)). The exception in r 101.073(2) has two parts, and both must be met: the person holds “an approval under regulation 101.029 to operate the unmanned aircraft beyond the person’s visual line of sight”, and “the conditions (if any) imposed on the approval are complied with.”
A remote pilot licence on its own does not cover it
“It is a condition of a remote pilot licence that an RPA must be operated within the visual line of sight of the licence holder unless he or she:” meets both of these, in full:
- (a) has passed one of three examinations
- An aeronautical knowledge examination for the grant of an instrument rating under Part 61; an aviation licence theory examination passed before 1 September 2014 and treated under r 202.274 as equivalent for that rating; or “an approved examination”.
- (b) and holds, or works under, two permissions
- Either the licence holder holds both an RPA operator’s certificate and a r 101.029 approval to fly beyond their visual line of sight, or they are a member of an RPA operator’s personnel and that operator holds both the certificate and a r 101.029 approval for its personnel to fly beyond their visual line of sight.
Breaching that condition is a strict liability offence for the licence holder, with a maximum of 50 penalty units (r 101.300(6)).
What CASA asks for
CASA describes BVLOS operations as those where the remote pilot is “operating in a different location to the drone” or “unable to maintain visual line-of-sight”. Its requirements, as listed on the page last updated on 9 September 2026:
- a remotely piloted aircraft operator’s certificate (ReOC);
- a remote pilot licence (RePL) with either “a pass in the Instrument Rating or BVLOS exam”, or supervision from someone who has passed one of those exams (CASA points to CASA EX63/26 for this);
- a BVLOS flight approval.
“Approvals may take several months to assess from the date of payment.” CASA will likely need to see a first-time applicant perform a BVLOS flight, and issues an approval instrument with operating conditions; “You cannot fly BVLOS if your approval expires.”
The supervision route, from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2028
CASA EX63/26 is the instrument behind CASA’s “supervision” line. It commenced on 1 September 2026 and is repealed at the end of 31 August 2028. An “exempted flight” is a flight of an RPA operated beyond the visual line of sight of the person operating it at any time during the flight.
- The exam. A remote pilot who flies an exempted flight as an RPA operator, or as a member of an operator’s personnel, is exempt from the exam requirement in r 101.300(4)(a) (s 4(1)).
- The offence. A remote pilot flying as a member of an operator’s personnel is also exempt from r 101.073(1), but only if the operator holds a r 101.029 approval for its personnel to fly beyond visual line of sight (s 4(2) and (3)).
- The conditions. The flight must follow the operator’s documented practices and procedures for exempted flights. The remote pilot must fly “under the immediate supervision of the supervising remote pilot”, who must be at the same place, readily accessible and immediately available to advise and direct, and the remote pilot must follow that pilot’s directions (s 5(1) to (3)). The supervision conditions do not apply to an enclosed operation or an EVLOS operation (s 5(4)).
Extended visual line of sight, and what the Manual of Standards covers
CASA’s EVLOS page describes extended visual line-of-sight operations as BVLOS with conditions “such as” a trained observer watching the airspace and related risks, and a maximum distance between the drone and the observer. To operate EVLOS, it lists a ReOC, a RePL and an EVLOS approval.
Chapter 5 of the Part 101 Manual of Standards, headed “RPA operations beyond VLOS”, “applies only for RPA operations of a certified RPA operator.” It prescribes the requirements for a r 101.029 approval to fly an RPA, other than a large RPA, beyond the person’s visual line of sight, and it names that approval as one of three kinds only: an EVLOS operation approval, an EVLOS operation class 1 approval, or an EVLOS operation class 2 approval (s 5.03). In class 1 the trained observer is in the same location as the remote pilot; in class 2 the observer is somewhere else, in continual spoken contact through an effective communication system. In both, a first person view camera may be used but never as a substitute for an observer (s 5.04).
So Chapter 5 sets the requirements for those EVLOS approvals; read alone, it is not the whole picture for a BVLOS application. CASA’s BVLOS page says: “We use the AusSORA assessment framework for BVLOS operations.”
One line on the BVLOS exam
CASA describes its BVLOS exam as an alternate pathway for remote pilots sitting the Instrument Rating Exam, for RePL holders wanting to fly BVLOS outside of controlled airspace.
Controlled airspace near an aerodrome has its own limits: even with a BVLOS approval or the EX63/26 exemption, CASA 40/26 says a pilot using its approved areas near controlled aerodromes must not fly beyond their visual line of sight. That is in flying near airports.
The baseline this guide departs from: the standard operating conditions · After dark: flying at night · All five waypoints