What is a ARO?

ARO is short for Aviation Recreation Organization. All aviation that involve non-commercial activities are catered for under ARO regulations, ie Gliders, Experimental craft and Radio Control crafts.

For obvious reasons there is a lot of talk regarding ARO’s amongst the RC fraternity and we felt it worthwhile to provide some information, clearing possible rumours and provide factual information.

As it stands today, the CAA regulation has changed mid-November around recreational flying.

In the PAST Model flying did not really fall under any part of the CAA regulations, and it was dealt with by RAASA.

RAASA has closed a couple of years ago, leaving us in limbo.

A couple of facts then:

• Remote control flying UNDER 150 FEET is not regulated, leaving space to activities such as park flyers.
• Flying at RC fields are now regulated and it falls under SACAA part 149( Recreational flying.)
• ANY organization to allow its members to fly higher than 150 feet, the organization needs to be a registered ARO.
• The Clubs belong to their respective owners, the ARO is an extension of CAA in ensuring all flying happens in harmony and all regulations are adhered to. So no club belongs to any ARO as such.
• The ARO forms a bridge then between the Club, its members and CAA and for that, the ARO submit and commit itself with its members to operate within the rules as accepted within their Manual of Procedure (MOP) as approved by the CAA.

RCASA applied some while ago and is expecting an approval within weeks, awaiting a final audit from CAA. The final audit is performed by CAA ensuring the ARO (RCASA in this case) can deliver an operation as per their MOP submitted.

NO Event, Fly in, or flying above 150 FEET can happen if you are not part of a ARO dedicated at RC Aviation.