How to Write a SORA in the UK: A Practical Guide

Writing a SORA is as much about clear documentation as it is about risk analysis. A technically sound assessment that is poorly presented will struggle; a clearly structured, honestly evidenced package moves smoothly through review. This guide sets out a practical structure for writing a SORA for a UK Specific Category application.

Start with the Concept of Operations

The ConOps is the foundation. Write it so a reader who has never seen your operation can picture it completely. Include:

• The unmanned aircraft and its key characteristics (size, mass, energy, propulsion).
• The operating area, operational volume and ground-risk buffer.
• Crew roles and responsibilities.
• Normal, contingency and emergency procedures.
• The operating environment, including airspace.

Every later section relies on the ConOps, so invest the time to make it precise and unambiguous.

Document the ground risk

State the intrinsic GRC and show how you derived it from aircraft size and the overflown area. Then set out each ground-risk mitigation (M1, M2), the robustness you claim, and — crucially — the evidence supporting that claim. Show the arithmetic from intrinsic GRC to final GRC clearly. Do not assert reductions without justification.

Document the air risk

Characterise the airspace using current aeronautical information and state the initial ARC. Describe your strategic mitigations (operational restrictions, segregation) and any tactical mitigations (detect-and-avoid, observers), with the evidence for each. Show how you arrive at the residual ARC.

Derive and state the SAIL

Combine the final GRC and residual ARC to read off the SAIL. State it explicitly. The SAIL drives everything that follows, so make the derivation transparent and easy for the assessor to check.

Address the Operational Safety Objectives

For each OSO applicable at your SAIL, write a short, focused section that:

• States the objective.
• States the robustness required at your SAIL.
• Describes how you meet it (integrity).
• References the evidence that proves you meet it (assurance).

This is where many SORAs fall down: claims without evidence. At higher SAILs, some OSOs need independent verification, so plan for that early.

Writing tips that make a difference

• Be honest. Overclaiming mitigations or robustness is the fastest way to lose assessor confidence. Conservative, well-evidenced claims read far better.
• Be traceable. Number your assumptions and reference your evidence so a reader can follow each conclusion back to its source.
• Be consistent. The ConOps, the risk analysis and the procedures must describe the same operation. Contradictions undermine the whole case.
• Keep evidence ready. Test reports, maintenance records, training records and procedures should be referenced and available, not promised.
• Write for the reader. Assume the assessor is thorough but does not know your operation — explain, don't assume.

Iterate before you submit

A first-pass SORA often produces a SAIL that is harder to satisfy than necessary. Before submitting, ask whether a smaller operational volume, an added parachute, or tighter airspace arrangements would lower the SAIL into a range you can comfortably evidence. It is far cheaper to redesign on paper than to be sent back for more evidence.

A note on editions

The SORA structure, GRC/ARC tables and OSO matrices are refined between methodology editions. Always build from the version the CAA currently references in its guidance, and treat any older template or worked example as illustrative rather than authoritative. Confirm the current expectations before you commit to a structure.

A well-written SORA tells a coherent story: here is what we will do, here is the risk, here is how we reduce it, and here is the proof. Tell that story clearly and honestly, and the review process becomes far smoother.