First Flights of Dragon Drone at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre
Snowdonia Aerospace is pleased to announce the successful first flights of their new Dragon drone at the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre, Llanbedr, last week.
Working in partnership with SwiftFlight Avionics and supported by Innovate UK Future Flight Challenge grant funding, the Dragon drone will be a major research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) platform for demonstrating the safe integration of drones into UK airspace for regular and routine beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations. Further flight envelope expansion and capability development activities will continue over the summer at the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre (SAC), which offers the only dedicated commercially-run, permanent Danger Area for drone testing in the UK.
The Dragon drone is equipped with an Echodyne airborne detect-and-avoid radar and Uavionix electronic conspicuity devices and will use the unique test environment at SAC to demonstrate integration with the ground-based Altitude Angel Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system and the potential for further integration with the UK 5G network in partnership with Virgin Media O2.
The Dragon also has the capacity to accommodate a further 5kg mass / 10 litres volume of third party payloads either in the nose or in a ventral pod for experimental test purposes. The maximum take-off weight is 55kg and endurance for RDT&E activities will be 2 to 4 hours depending on payload.
As well as the necessary technical developments to ensure safe BVLOS operation, Snowdonia Aerospace is also working with NHS Wales and a number of blue light and emergency services (including mountain rescue) to establish how drones can effectively contribute to supporting / working in parallel with these services whilst also delivering economic and societal benefit across Wales and beyond.
Lee Paul, Chief Executive Officer of Snowdonia Aerospace, said:
This is a great milestone passed and we look forward to regular BVLOS flights from later this month and engaging with others companies / operators who may wish to test their equipment /payloads along with taking advantage of our unique new Danger Area at the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre.
Snowdonia Aerospace is an ARPAS-UK Member.
SAM IS ....
Snowdonia Aerospace Future Flight Challenge
Snowdonia Aerospace is pleased to announce that we have received a grant award from UK Research & Innovation for an 18-month drone development programme in partnership with Swiftflight Avionics as part of the UK Future Flight Challenge, a £33.5m element of the Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
The primary objective of our Project “Gold Dragon” is to accelerate development and testing of an active detect-and-avoid solution for light drones, typically less than 150kg take-off weight, enabling their safe and full integration into the UK aviation system. Our aim is to achieve approval for regular and routine beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations in non-segregated airspace by the end of the project so we can start to deliver commercial drone services in Wales and beyond.
We have already built a successful relationship with the Welsh Ambulance Service via our recent proof-of-concept demonstration for delivery of a mini-defibrillator by drone to a remote rural location and will continue to prioritise health services in remote and rural communities as part of this project along with the wider NHS Wales network.
Snowdonia Aerospace has already completed proof-of-concept demonstration for delivery of a mini-defibrillator by drone to a remote rural location
The UK survival rate for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is only 8.6%. Resuscitation Council guidelines recognise that survival rates of 50 to 70% could be achieved with defibrillation within 3 to 5 minutes of OHCA, but each minute of delay reduces the probability of survival by 10%, and in the UK fewer than 2% of victims have a defibrillator deployed before the ambulance arrives. The situation is most acute in remote and rural locations.
Flight testing in the unique operational environment provided at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre will also allow us to involve other potential emergency response stakeholders such as the Police, Fire, Coastguard, and Mountain Rescue, and we have already begun engagements to capture their key requirements.
Lee Paul, CEO of Snowdonia Aerospace said:
“We are delighted to be awarded funding through the Future Flight Challenge programme. The grant will enable us to continue the development of our proposed drone service provision in support of the NHS and other emergency services initially across Wales. Our earlier work demonstrated the advantages of using drones to support remote and rural areas with the drone covering 4.5km in under 3 minutes compared to an equivalent road journey of 20 minutes. The time saving being critical in cases where early defribilation is required.
As the UKs leading aerospace R&D test centre, the airfields environment, facilities and infrastructure will also support a range of other companies looking to develop their own Future Flight programmes in a safe operating environment and we look forward to working with them also.”
Dr. Phil Geoghegan, MD of Swiftflight Avionics said:
“This project is an exciting application of UAV active sensor technology, with the aim of routine point-to-point BVLOS UAV flight. We see this as a game-changer for UAV operation. We are delighted to be working with the test and evaluation specialists at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre and the Welsh Ambulance Service.”
Councillor Gareth Thomas, Cabinet Member for Economy and Community, Gwynedd Council, said:
“We are delighted to see that the drone technology trialled earlier in the year from Llanbedr to transport medical defibrillators to remote communities will now be further tested for other responses by the emergency services. We also look forward to linking this work to the STEM Gogledd programme, which supports and promotes STEM education across north west Wales”
Dr. Nigel Rees, Head of Research and Innovation for the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, said:
“The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust is looking forward to continuing this exciting development which has the potential to improve the care we provide and save lives.”
John Whalley, CEO of Aerospace Wales, said:
“Aerospace Wales is working closely with Welsh Government on the strategy for Future Flight in Wales and we are delighted that Aerospace Wales member, Snowdonia Aerospace, has been successful in its bid to the UK’s Future Flight Challenge phase 2 competition. The “Golden Dragon” project, in partnership with Swiftflight Avionics, builds on the highly successful BVLOS emergency medical response drone trial carried out earlier this year. This continuing development places Snowdonia’s airfield at Llanbedr right at the heart of BVLOS development in the UK.”
