How to apply for UK SORA: a step-by-step guide to the CAA portal

Every UK SORA application goes through the CAACivil Aviation Authority's online UK SORA Application Service. Before you can pay for your first assessment, you'll click through around 50 screens. Most of them ask a simple question. The hard part is the work you have to do before you can answer them.

This guide walks through the process as it stands in October 2026, stage by stage, so you know exactly what you're taking on if you do it yourself. If you're new to UK SORA, start with our guide to what UK SORA is.

What you need to work out before the portal gives you a SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level

The portal only asks for your answers. It won't draw your safety margins or count the people under your flight for you. Apart from the adjacent area, which it works out from your drone's top speed, everything below has to be ready before you start.

1. Your drone's size, top speed and weight. The maximum dimension (wingspan, or blade tip to blade tip), the top speed it can reach and whether it weighs more than 250 g, all from the manufacturer's data. Flying more than one model? Use the largest size and the highest speed across them. How the CAACivil Aviation Authority defines these
2. Your flight volume and contingency volume. The area you'll fly in and the safety margin around it, drawn as a map file (KMLKeyhole Markup Language, a map file format or KMZA compressed KML map file) with a maximum height. CAACivil Aviation Authority guidance
3. Your ground risk buffer. The strip of ground beyond that margin where your drone should come down if you lose control. You work it out from how your drone flies and falls, such as its glide ratio, turn radius or a ballistic descent calculation. CAACivil Aviation Authority guidance, which points to the JARUS calculations
4. The maximum population density under your flight volume, contingency volume and ground risk buffer, or whether you can keep that whole area clear of anyone not involved (a controlled ground area). CAP3239C, the CAACivil Aviation Authority's guide to population density
5. Any ground risk mitigations you'll claim, and at what robustness: sheltering (M1AGround risk mitigation M1(A), sheltering), operational restrictions (M1BGround risk mitigation M1(B), operational restrictions), ground observation (M1CGround risk mitigation M1(C), ground observation) and reducing the impact (M2Ground risk mitigation M2, reducing the effects of ground impact). How they work
6. Your airspace. The class of airspace you'll fly in and whether you'll only fly in an Atypical Air Environment (AAEAtypical Air Environment), such as very close to buildings or structures. In Class C or D airspace you'll also need to know about nearby instrument flight traffic, VFRvisual flight rules corridors and low-level helicopter routes. How the CAACivil Aviation Authority scores air risk and CAP 3040 on AAEs
7. Any air risk reductions you'll claim, such as keeping the drone in sight or restricting where and when you fly. How they work
8. The average population density of your adjacent area, the wider ring of land beyond your ground risk buffer. How to work it out
9. The largest gathering of people within 1 km of where you'll fly. CAACivil Aviation Authority guidance

In Assessment 1 you'll be asked to show how you worked these out, so keep your workings.

Step 1: Get into the service

You'll need a CAACivil Aviation Authority Operator ID and an operations manual before you start.

1. Log in to the CAACivil Aviation Authority's My Operational Authorisations service and choose SORA.
2. Click Apply for a new UK SORA OAOperational Authorisation.
3. Check your personal and operator details. Your authorisation is issued in the name of the operator shown, so make sure it's right.
4. Read the list of operations the service can't be used for, such as drones over 40 m across or faster than 200 m/s, and check yours isn't one of them.
5. Give the application a reference of your own. You can't change it once you continue.

Step 2: Ground risk

This stage works out your GRCGround Risk Class, the risk of your drone hitting someone on the ground. It's a short run of screens, one question each.

• Your drone's maximum dimension, picked from bands of 1 m, 3 m, 8 m, 20 m or 40 m
• Its top speed, in metres per second
• Whether it weighs more than 250 g
• Whether you'll only fly over a controlled ground area
• The maximum population density, picked from bands of up to 5 people per km² through to over 50,000 (skipped if you said yes to a controlled ground area)

The portal then shows your starting GRCGround Risk Class, before any safeguards. Next you choose which ground risk mitigations you'll use and at what robustness. The portal warns that if you combine sheltering at medium robustness with any operational restrictions, it will decline your application. Finally it shows your GRCGround Risk Class with a summary of the answers behind it.

Step 3: Air risk

This stage works out your ARCAir Risk Class, the risk of your drone meeting a crewed aircraft.

• Whether you'll only fly in an AAEAtypical Air Environment
• Which classes of airspace you'll fly in, from A, C, D, E or G (skipped if you said yes to an AAEAtypical Air Environment)
• If you tick Class C or D, up to three more questions about known instrument flight traffic, VFRvisual flight rules corridors or low-level helicopter routes, and flying above 500 ft

The portal shows your starting ARCAir Risk Class, from ARCAir Risk Class-a (lowest) to ARCAir Risk Class-d. You then say whether you'll fly VLOSvisual line of sight, BVLOSbeyond visual line of sight with visual mitigations or BVLOSbeyond visual line of sight, and whether you want to claim a lower ARCAir Risk Class. If you do, you pick the class you're aiming for and tick the strategic mitigations you'll rely on, from restrictions on where and when you fly to issuing a NOTAMA notice that warns pilots about activity or hazards in an area of airspace and contacting local flying clubs. The portal then shows your ARCAir Risk Class.

Step 4: Your SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level and containment

The portal combines your GRCGround Risk Class and ARCAir Risk Class into a preliminary SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level, from 1 (lowest) to 6.

It then moves on to containment, which sets how strongly you have to keep the drone inside your planned area.

• It works out your adjacent area from your drone's top speed and shows how far out it reaches.
• You type in your ground risk buffer in metres. You'll have to show how you worked it out later.
• You pick the average population density of the adjacent area.
• You pick the largest gathering of people within 1 km, up to 40,000, up to 400,000 or over 400,000.
• You say whether the drone is tethered or untethered.

You then get a preliminary containment level and a summary of your SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level, containment level and the CAACivil Aviation Authority's charges. To carry on, you tick a box confirming you want to continue at those levels. Once you continue to Assessment 1, you can't change your SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level or containment level.

Step 5: Assessment 1

Assessment 1 is where you back up everything you've told the portal. A task list shows what's left to do.

• Upload supporting evidence. Everything goes here first, including the document setting out your operation and your workings, your map files, spec sheets for each drone, your operations manual and the evidence for every mitigation you've claimed. Video files are accepted too.
• Operation details. Up to nine pages covering an overview of the operation, how far you'll fly from the pilot or observer, the make and model of each drone, your industry, your operational volume and ground risk buffer, how you worked out both population densities, dangerous goods and dropping articles.
• Ground risk mitigations. A set of pages for each mitigation you've claimed, with two each for sheltering and operational restrictions. Each page lists the CAACivil Aviation Authority's requirement codes for your robustness level, and every code has its own evidence box.
• Air risk mitigations, if you've claimed a lower ARCAir Risk Class.

Almost every page has a box of up to 1,000 characters asking "Where should we look in your evidence?", where you give the document name and the section or page. Many also have a box of the same size for your answer. The CAACivil Aviation Authority's guide to what Assessment 1 evidence should cover is CAP3239A.

Step 6: Pay and submit

Pay and submit only unlocks once every task is complete. Assessment 1 costs £2,422 whatever your SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level, paid online by card or digital wallet. Before you pay, you confirm you understand that Assessment 1 charges aren't refunded, even if the CAACivil Aviation Authority declines your application.

Assessment 2 is charged separately, set by your SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level, and invoiced. These are the CAACivil Aviation Authority's charges for 2026/27.

If Assessment 2 takes longer than the fixed charge covers, the CAACivil Aviation Authority can add £346 an hour. There's no VAT. You don't pay for Assessment 2 if you withdraw during or after Assessment 1, or if the CAACivil Aviation Authority refuses your application at that stage.

What happens after Assessment 1

The CAACivil Aviation Authority checks that your SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level, containment level and mitigations are right. If it can't approve something, it raises a finding, which you have to address before you can move on. If you disagree with a finding, you can appeal.

Once Assessment 1 is approved, Assessment 2 opens. This is where you show how you meet every requirement at your SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level, covering the containment requirements, the OSOsOperational Safety Objectives and the measures you'll use to avoid other aircraft in flight. Depending on your SAILSpecific Assurance and Integrity Level and mitigations, you may also need an RAE(F)Recognised Assessment Entity for Flightworthiness to assess your drone. When Assessment 2 is approved, the CAACivil Aviation Authority grants your Operational Authorisation, which lasts 12 months.

References

• CAA, Preparing your application
• CAA, Operational volume, ground risk buffer and adjacent area
• CAA, Step-by-step guide to applying
• CAA, Charges for a UK SORA-based Operational Authorisation
• CAA, CAP3239A, evidence for Assessment 1
• CAA, CAP3239C, determining population density
• CAA, AMC1 to Article 11, Conducting a UK SORA (ORS9 Decision 46)
• Screenshots from the CAA's UK SORA Application Service