Aerial application of agricultural chemical sits under two separate regimes at once — CASA aviation rules and your state's chemical-use law. Here's exactly what that means and how we work.
A 92 kg aircraft carrying 40 litres of chemical is not a consumer drone, and it isn't regulated like one.
| Aircraft weight | What applies |
|---|---|
| Up to 7 kg | Base RePL |
| 7 – 25 kg | Weight rating upgrade |
| 25 – 150 kg | Aircraft-specific CASA approval + flight assessment |
| Over 150 kg | Further certification again |
The Agras T50 at 92 kg all-up sits in the 25–150 kg bracket — where most Australian ag drone contracting happens.
Holding a pilot licence doesn't authorise you to apply chemical. That's regulated separately by each state and territory, and it applies to the person doing the applying.
Chemical-use training and accreditation (ChemCert / AQF3 equivalent) held by the operator, in the state the work is done. Requirements differ between jurisdictions — we hold what the state we're flying in requires.
Every product label sets rates, water volumes, buffer distances and permitted application methods. Some products are not registered for aerial application at all. If a label says no, the answer is no — there's no negotiating that one.
States set minimum distances from dwellings and sensitive areas — Western Australia, for example, requires 150 m from a dwelling. We check the rules for the jurisdiction before we plan the flight lines.
Where notification of neighbours or a sensitive-area register applies, we handle it as part of job planning. We'll tell you what's needed and who needs to know.
Off-label use requires an APVMA permit. If your agronomist's recommendation relies on one, we need to see it before the job goes in the calendar.
Chemical use records are a legal requirement in every state, with set retention periods. Ours are generated automatically off the flight log and emailed to you.
Drift is the single biggest risk in aerial application, and it's the thing we're most willing to lose a day's work over.
Droplet size is the main control. Bigger droplets drift less but cover less; there's a real trade-off and we set it deliberately for each job rather than leaving it on whatever was used last. Beyond that:
A stood-down job gets rescheduled at the earliest workable window. We'd rather have the awkward phone call than the incident.
Not because we enjoy paperwork — because it's a legal requirement, and because it's what protects you if a question ever comes up about what went on your crop.
Emailed within 24 hours of the job, in a format you can hand straight to an auditor, a processor or an insurer.
Before a single commercial job is flown, we carry:
Certificates of currency available on request — ask for them. Any operator who hesitates to send them is telling you something.
Veldta Tech is a small owner-operated contracting business getting off the ground for the 2027 season, built by people with hands-on heavy machinery and diesel backgrounds rather than a marketing department.
That shows up in how we work. We maintain our own gear, we understand why a machine is doing something strange before we fly it again, and we'd rather tell you a ground rig is the better tool for your job than take the money and do it badly.
We're building the season run list now. If you've got country a boom can't get to, we'd like to hear about it — even if you're not ready to book.