The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has approved six major drone pilots. The pilots include applications for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in inspecting infrastructure, aiding emergency services workers and delivery drones. Long barred from flying beyond the operator’s line of sight outside strict conditions, the trials – if successful – could pave the way for delivery drone flights in British skies within the next decade.
“These innovative trials mark a significant step forward in integrating drones safely into UK airspace,” said the CAA’s director, Sophie O’Sullivan. “Our goal is to make drone operations beyond visual line of sight a safe and everyday reality.”
Delivery drones in the offing?
The trials include testing of Prime Air, Amazon’s delivery drones project (the company has previously said it aims to move into mainstream flights in the UK and Italy by 2024 after eight years of work.) The pilot is likely to utilise the MK30, a drone equipped so-called “sense and avoid” technology that allows the UAV to avoid colliding with private property and more mobile obstacles like pets and passers-by. The unit also boasts six propellors, designed “to reduce the MK30’s perceived noise by almost half,” claimed the company late last year. “Even as the drone is descending, its sound is still quieter than the range of sounds you’ll generally hear in a residential area.”
Projects like Prime Air have long been mooted as a way for companies like Amazon to eventually phase out human delivery drivers. Other pilots approved by the CAA include Project Lifeline, which will test UAV’s utility in delivering medical equipment, and Airspection, which will use drones to inspect offshore wind farms. Both applications are well-trodden ground in drone testing, with the NHS and wind energy operators like Orsted and Equinor trialling UAVs in this context for several years.
Public sentiment toward drone flights mixed
Current legislation permits civilian drone flights beyond the operator’s line of sight so long as the UAV is flown in a strictly regulated test. However, recent improvements in remote navigation mean that applications for delivery drones are practically possible, with several successful trials being conducted in the UK in recent years. These include two projects in Scotland using UAVs to deliver medical supplies in Glasgow and the Inner Hebrides and another testing the use of drones in an emergency maritime context in Cornwall.
Public reservations about delivery drones operating over densely-populated areas, however, remain significant. In July, hundreds of objections to a proposed drone hub operating out of Seghill and Northumbria Hospital forced the trust to make changes to its plans. Plans for another proposed landing zone for delivery drones in an Isle of Wight car park were also decried as “inappropriate” by local residents, who claimed that the space was used intensively all year round.
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