Australian drone operator Sphere has been awarded Gold status under the Flight Safety Foundation’s Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) program, the highest designation available to remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) operators under the scheme.
The company also received a BARS Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Operational Category endorsement, which applies to operators approved to conduct BVLOS flights under the program. Sphere said holding the endorsement alongside Gold places it among a small group of operators globally.
According to Sphere, Gold status requires at least three consecutive annual audits against the RPAS Standard, Comprehensive protocol, and closure of priority non-conformities within each audit cycle. The protocol assesses areas including safety management systems, flight crew qualifications and currency, maintenance and airworthiness, operational procedures, emergency response, and organisational governance. Under the BARS process, an accredited auditor verifies whether an operator’s documented procedures are being applied in practice.
Sphere said its first BARS audit was completed in early 2024, and that the Flight Safety Foundation verified across three consecutive audits that its documented standards align with operational practice.
Chief executive Paris Cockinos said the Gold status reflected “years of consistent” work by the operations team, including Chief Remote Pilot Elliot Cummins and the flight operations function.
BARS accreditation is used as a procurement requirement by some large Australian resource and mining companies, and is often referenced in tender processes where aviation safety credentials are formally assessed. Sphere said Gold status can reduce procurement friction for customers operating under BARS member organisation frameworks, including deployments at remote mine sites, critical infrastructure and emergency response operations.
Cummins said the accreditation provides independent verification that Sphere’s stated operating model matches its practices in the field.
Sphere said its next assessment will be a monitoring audit rather than another full Comprehensive renewal, citing sustained compliance across the three audit cycles.
