Kea Aerospace is working on prototypes with the first full-scale Kea Atmos expected to be built in 2022. Photo: RNZ
The aerospace industry is warning companies face with too much red tape and are on the verge of quitting New Zealand.
Regulators say they are under pressure and adding resources, but the backlog for a burgeoning industry is daunting.
Companies say it is taking 10-to-18 months to get approval from the Civil Aviation Authority, whether to test reusable rockets or commercialise drones to spray crops or weeds.
One consultant who RNZ is not naming said they had just sent two companies to Queensland rather than wait around here.
Separately, Syos Aerospace of Mt Maunganui is about to begin testing its black drone helicopter able to lift 200kg in the UK, and open an office over there.
Chief executive Sam Vye is considering whether to take that further.
"Certainly there is an attractive route to going overseas permanently to actually have a faster regulatory sign-off," Vye said.
"We could go to Australia, we could go to the UK.
"The UK, it seems like they can approve things within two to three months, because we're doing that right now. So it's significantly faster than New Zealand."
Tipping point
President of Aerospace New Zealand Mark Rocket is fearful of an industry boom degenerating into a mass exodus.
"We're talking about just a few that I've heard about so far, but there's a whole bunch of other companies that are looking to move if they can't get the work done here," Rocket said.
"So, yeah, we're at a sort of tipping point."
Civil Aviation (CAA) said it was taking measures though its "regulatory functions are under considerable pressure as the aviation sector rebuilds".
Government ministers met with CAA and the Transport Ministry a few weeks ago about the holdups.
RNZ is seeking comment from these bodies.
CAA is adding two more inspectors to its four-person team who assess applications for a Part 102 safety signoff for unmanned aircraft.
40th in queue
Dr Andrew Shelley of Aviation Safety Management Systems has helped dozens of drone operators apply for a Part 102.
One client who wanted to spray with a drone on farms, was told in June that they were 40th in the queue, Shelley said.
By August they were 31st; in November they were 29th - "they've only moved two spots", he said, quoting CAA emails.
"At the moment they can't do anything."
CAA's existing four inspectors should be able to clear 40 applications in 10 weeks, and it was not clear why they were so slow, said Shelley, who shot down CAA's other recent efforts to streamline things using new software and templates, as largely duplicating what was already there.
Another client had a remote farm lined up to test a courier drone, but 12 months on was still waiting on CAA and appeared to have given up, Shelley said.
Giving up, or shifting overseas, were two options, and he added a third: "If we make it too hard for people, they will look for ways around that, and they could operate illegally.
"That means that there won't necessarily be the necessary safeguards in place."
The industry said Civil Aviation was ahead of the global game back in 2015 when Part 102 was introduced, but had slipped back through lack of funding, staff, and strategy, and the likes of Canada, the UK and Australia were regulating better now.
Shaun Johnson was the manager of certification at CAA until 2020, when he left to head up Merlin New Zealand, which is building an autonomous pilot system.
"Frankly, the CAA just don't have the resources and the levels of competency - and I don't mean competency in a rude way, I just mean they don't have the skills needed - to meet the demand," Johnson said.
"What this country needs is more inspectors, more engineers and pilots to support us getting through the certification gates."
Civil Aviation said in mid-2022 it had clarified what it needed from applicants after some were held up by lack of information.
It was also setting up an Emerging Technology team in January with government funding of $3.7m over three years.
Syos's Sam Vye said he saw early signs CAA might be improving.
And Canterbury start-up Dawn said it was hopeful of getting a Part 102 by Christmas, after a 10-month wait - "certainly longer than we hoped" - to put a rocket engine on a reusable spaceplane.
"We're not ready to fly the aircraft yet so it's not holding us back ... but it could be getting close to it," said chief executive Stefan Powell.
"We do see it as a major risk for Dawn that, you know, eventually we'll be able to innovate faster than the regulators can handle that innovation.
"That certainly is already the case for many other aerospace companies around," Powell said.
"And that's just a real shame, because there's a huge opportunity here. We're such a great country for it."
Clear skies, low population and government security and regulatory links through the Five Eyes relationships with the US, UK, Canada and Australia all position New Zealand well for aerospace investors.
For Mark Rocket , it is make or break time.
"We are seeing some good changes coming through CAA," he said.
"I think next year will be a really crucial year.
"We've had companies that have been holding on and delaying their projects, and if it doesn't happen next year then they will be forced to move into other countries."
An industry group organised by Shaun Johnson met CAA in recent days to propose an alternative way to approve innovative proposals, and Johnson is hopeful.