Altitude

At DroneX, there was no shortage of ambition. Drones are already being used by emergency services, delivery operators and infrastructure organisations, while work continues to make longer-range, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations more routine. NATS Altitude Host Russell Porter spoke to a line-up of the key players in this transformation:

• Andy Sage from NATS, identifies uncrewed traffic management, or UTM, as a critical next step, particularly as demand grows in already busy areas such as London.
• Taryn Evans from the Metropolitan Police, explains how, for emergency services, drones are already becoming part of a much broader operational capability.
• John McKenna from sees.ai, explains that autonomous drone inspection is moving beyond trials and becoming an operational capability for critical infrastructure.
• Kevin Houston from Manna Air, argues that, for a delivery business, the type of aircraft is only one part of the equation.
• Dave Pankhurst from BT,  discusses the role connectivity could play as larger and faster aircraft, including eVTOLs, enter the market.
• Praveen Raju from Wing, discusses multiple simultaneous operations, where one pilot controls several drones and how Wing has secured UK approval for one pilot to operate up to four aircraft, while its US operations have gone considerably further.
• Sofia Stayte from the Department for Transport, expresses her ambitions for the UK to achieve routine BVLOS operations and then expand them nationally within the UK’s advanced and stable regulatory environment.
• Jan Domaradzki, Dronecloud and Simon Bachelor, British Transport Police discuss the collaboration between policing, technology providers and airspace organisations is turning complex drone operations into practical capability.
• James de Beauvoir-Tupper from the CAA, highlights the human factors involved in scaling these operations and how regulators need to understand how those responsibilities evolve as operations become more complex.