Drone Specialist COPTRZ working with BT on their drone strategy
Drone Specialist COPTRZ working with BT on their drone strategy
BT is pushing ahead with its adoption of drone technology and the training of its people. This is where COPTRZ came in.
As a leading CAA registered RAE’s (Recognised Assessment Entities), BT chose COPTRZ for their capability to provide not only drone pilot training but also additional bespoke wraparound training solutions.
In addition, COPTRZ have supplied state-of-the-art and drone technology from a number of different manufacturers with a range of models for different tasks encountered.
COPTRZ initially curated a bespoke training week for a number of trainee pilots at BT’s site in Hereford. After an intensive week, 10 students successfully graduated as pilots with a number of recommendations that soon followed.
Richard Coles, BT Drone Solutions Field Systems Manager, said “Coptrz provided us with great expertise in our GVC training and procurement of Drones. They have a great team and give huge amounts of support where needed, we look forward to continuing working with them in the future”
Co-founder of COPTRZ, Steve Coulson commented – “We are excited and proud to work with BT as an organisation looking to benefit from the huge advantages drone technology brings. We look forward to continuing to support BT with ongoing training and technology”
COPTRZ are a UK-based drone solutions provider for organisations wishing to adopt drone technology and the benefits it brings in terms of productivity, safety and cost savings. This ranges across, airframes, payloads, software, peripherals and training.
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UKRI’s Advanced Air Mobility Demand Assessment Report
UKRI’s Advanced Air Mobility Demand Assessment Report
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) engaged EAMaven to analyze 20 potential routes across the #UK to assess the viability of advanced air mobility (#AAM) in the UK and chose 14 electric conventional take-off and landing (#eCTOL) and six #eVTOL routes.
Using a range of data sources and a bespoke AAM demand model, EAMaven determined the number of passengers who would switch from traditional road and rail modes of travel to AAM services.
It identified 390 potential routes with one airport having 28 routes which include both eVTOL and eCTOL routes, and estimated that over five million passengers per week could travel on these services where a large proportion of them would come from people traveling by car, helping to decarbonize regional travel in the UK.
We were delighted to meet so many members and key stakeholders, and to share our stand with a few members as well: Richard Gill of Drone Defence, Toby Townrow of Dronevolution and Chris Crockford of Electric Aviation. It was fantastic to see the interaction between them and other exhibitors and visitors, as well as being able to introduce a number of people to them.
This was the 2nd year of the UK’s only commercial UAV show, and focussed on The Future of Flight, Military & Defence, Emergency Services and the Commercial Sector.
With over 300 exhibitors and presentations, and positioned alongside Helitech, there was a wide variety of options for the visitor. Talks ranged from the Civil Aviation’s Mark Wharry on The Regulator’s Perspective (see our separate article on this keynote), PwC’s Craig Roberts on The Economic Impact of Drones on the UK Economy, to Inmarsat’s panel on Drone Deliveries: For the Good of our Health were fascinating, Thales’s Neil Watson on Accelerating the Adoption of Drone Services at Scale in the UK and Fraser Nash & The Thunderbird Project’s Stuart Keenan & Alan Bell on Priority Access to the Skies for Emergency Life-Saving Drones.
Now-Chair of ARPAS-UK, Graham Brown, spoke alongside Gordon Baker, the DfT’s Autonomous Systems Lead on Achieving the UK’s Drone Ambition and Some Steps to Achieve the Potential. If you would like a copy of this, please contact us.
There was a definite feel that the industry has become more well established, more mature and that it is being listened to by serious people. Where does the Show need to go from this solid position?
There are two complementary routes: one is to attract even more drone data end-users, i.e. industries using drones, to show how drones can help them deliver faster, safer, cheaper and more digital operations; the other is to attract (back?) the drone operators, for example by building on their professionalism via CPD sessions at the show. Sessions on different types of software, how to apply for an OSC, marketing your company, the importance of networking, the ins & outs of different types of work, how to go about finding work and how to apply for big contracts etc.
The team supporting DroneX have been very enthusiastic and supportive of the industry. They know our thoughts and we hope we will see this now being acted on.
If you would like to share your thoughts on how DroneX could evolve, please contact us [email protected].
Exhibiting at DroneX 2023: 26-27 September 2023, London
This is an opportunity to exhibit at the show for a vastly reduced cost. If you’re interested in doing so next year, get in touch with the Operations Team via [email protected]
ARPAS-UK was also delighted to be able to offer a 20% discount on exhibiting to our members. We know of a couple who weren’t able to take advantage of this offer, having already booked their stand before becoming aware of it. Please remember to read our emails! We can confirm that we can offer members a 20% discount on next year.
12 September 2022
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Skyborne graduates start new drone pilot career with Flyby Technology
Gloucestershire, UK – 2 December, 2021: Skyborne Airline Academy is celebrating the achievements of two graduates who have successfully secured commercial drone pilot jobs with Flyby Technology and are currently supporting operations for an NHS trial.
In July 2020, Skyborne announced a unique partnership with Flyby Technology, the leader in UK drone training and operations, to offer its trainees the opportunity to build a career flying unmanned aircraft. James Kirk and Adam Prince joined Flyby Technology after completing their UK CAA Integrated ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot License) programme with Skyborne. They are both currently employed as a Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone pilot.
Carl Haslem, Centre Director, Skyborne, says: “We’re very proud of James and Adam for not only completing their Integrated ATPL course with us, but for using their studies to embark on an exciting new career.
“At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Skyborne began implementing a number of initiatives to help its trainees improve their prospects of securing a job. Our partnership with Flyby Technology allows graduates to use their ATPL experience while enhancing their pilot skills and expanding their knowledge to operate commercial drones.”
Both graduates are currently working on a project with Apian for the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, researching the role of drone technology to increase speed of delivery and access to chemotherapy drugs between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
James Kirk, Skyborne ATPL graduate and BVLOS drone pilot at Flyby Technology, says: “Although being a drone pilot and airline pilot seem vastly different, the training I received at Skyborne has been extremely beneficial to me. In our MCC course, we learned to operate in a multi-crew cockpit which at Flyby has helped me to prepare for the pilot monitoring role and develop effective communication within the team.
“The work we’re doing with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust is really interesting and rewarding. I’m glad to be a part of this team making impressive steps in automation for the medical industry.”
Adam Prince, Skyborne ATPL graduate and BVLOS drone pilot at Flyby Technology, adds: I’m really enjoying my time at Flyby Technology. A big part of my day is learning skills from incredibly experienced ex-Royal Navy and Royal Air Force pilots, which goes hand in hand with my ATPL training.
“This opportunity created by Skyborne opens up another avenue for airline pilots who are out of work or even looking for a career change. It’s a really interesting industry to become a part of and I encourage more pilots to look into this line of work.”
Jon Parker, Founder of Flyby Technology, says: “Offering full time employment to Skyborne graduates is one of the easiest decisions we’ve had to make at Flyby Technology. James and Adam excelled throughout their training, rapidly adapting their commercial pilot knowledge to drone operations. Enthusiastic and hardworking, their contributions are helping shape the future of the unmanned aircraft industry.
“Our partnership with Skyborne has been a huge success so far and we look forward to seeing these two individuals thrive in their new career.”
For more information on Skyborne’s partnership with Flyby Technology please contact [email protected].
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Snowdonia Aerospace Secures First Commercial / Privately Controlled Permanent Danger Area in the UK
Following a formal 24 month Airspace Change Proposal process ARPAS-UK Member Snowdonia Aerospace Centre (SAC) is pleased to announce that Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approval has been granted for the establishment of the UKs first commercial and privately controlled Danger Area in support of the research and development of novel aerospace systems.
The new Danger Area provides an area of segregated airspace immediately around Llanbedr Airfield for testing of future air vehicles, including Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Drones and Electric Air Mobility Vehicles, together with an air corridor to link the Airfield to the existing adjacent MOD Danger Area D201 in Cardigan Bay to enable further extended range, altitude and endurance testing including potentially a number of near space operations.
The new Danger Area extends to 420km2 with the option of then using the adjacent MOD Danger Area which extends to a further 7000+km2
SAC began the process in July 2019 with an initial Statement of Need being issued to the CAA to support their Proposal. Prior to this SAC had operated under a number of Temporary Danger Areas (TDA) when customers were looking to test their experimental air vehicles at the Airfield. With an increasing customer base and demand for the facilities it was becoming no longer commercially viable for SAC to continue to operate under this basis. A more permanent solution was required. The new Danger Area became live from the 09 September 2021, some 2 years post the process starting, and will be activated by NOTAM as and when required.
The Welsh Government provided financial support to SAC to assist with a proportion of the costs of the 2 year project.
Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: “The Welsh Government is committed to supporting the continued growth of the aerospace and space sectors in Wales and I am delighted we have been able to assist in bringing this exciting and ambitious project to reality. As a UK first this scheme further enhances the unique physical and business environment Wales offers companies in the industry. The testing and evaluation capabilities available will make Llanbedr Airfield even more attractive to companies in the field. It also confirms its status as the Centre of Excellence for pioneering and innovative aerospace research and development in the UK.”
As part of the CAA’s formal CAP1616 process Snowdonia Aerospace had to follow and pass a number of set Stages including developing acceptable Design Principles, Design Options, Environmental and Noise assessments and a full public consultation from which 140 responses were received. The CAA were satisfied that the efficient use of airspace will not be compromised and the proposal would limit any impact to other aircraft users. The CAA were also satisfied that the new designated Airspace would have no discernible adverse environmental impact and all relevant environmental factors have been considered in line with government policy.
Jeremy Howitt, Future Flight lead at Snowdonia Aerospace said “The positive decision by the CAA illustrates their commitment to support the development of innovation across the aerospace sector in line with the UK Airspace Modernisation Strategy. The Llanbedr Danger Area provides an unrivalled operational test environment for customers looking to accelerate the development of their drones, urban air mobility vehicles and other novel aerospace systems and will also be a key element in Snowdonia Aerospace’s own flight testing under the UK Research & Innovation Future Flight Challenge as we seek to develop BVLOS drone services to support communities across Wales.”
SAC have been appointed the designated Danger Area Authority (DAA) and they are the first and currently only commercial DAA in the UK as all other existing Danger Areas around the UK have the MOD as the DAA. Within all MOD controlled Danger Areas MOD operations must take priority of use over any commercial activity. The new permanent Danger Area at Llanbedr Airfield has been developed to serve the needs of commercial operators who remain frustrated by the lack of suitable and viable testing facilities in the UK and is designed to encourage the commercial exploitation and growth of the future of aviation.
As part of the approval the CAA also created a first and new descriptive activity of operations permitted within the Danger Area. The new permanent Restricted Airspace at Llanbedr will not only allow the testing and operation in segregated airspace of unmanned air systems (drones) and balloons (including airships) but will also now allow the new activity of Test & Evaluation (T & E) operations to take place. T & E has been defined as single or multiple aircraft conducting manoeuvres that may not be able to comply with the Rules of the Air and has been developed to cater for the development and testing of amongst others, electric air vehicles.
Lee Paul, Partner and CEO of SAC stated “ We are delighted after over 2 years work and significant further investment that we have secured a UK first. The development of the new permanent Airspace will significantly enhance the UK RD & TE capability in environmentally friendly aircraft and electric technologies and will enable UK businesses to retain future flight test programmes in the UK rather than the operating abroad thereby retaining economic activity and jobs in the UK economy.
Lee Paul further added “The award of the new Danger Area will now enable us to continue with the ongoing planned further investment at the Airfield and reinforce the Airfield as the UK’s Centre of Excellence for novel aerospace research and development. We are shortly to be announcing new employment and training opportunities for Operations Assistants and Flight Information Officers which we are aiming to recruit from the local area.
We are receiving an increasing number of enquiries from companies looking to take advantage of the new “testing environment” and our first customer is planned for later this month. This is also a significant step in the development of Spaceport Snowdonia and we believe we are the first proposed Spaceport in the UK which has now secured its required Airspace need to support future spaceport operations.”
John Whalley CEO of Aerospace Wales and co-chair of the Space Wales Leadership Group said “This is a huge step forward for Snowdonia Aerospace Centre/Spaceport Snowdonia, underpinning its role as a key UK asset for the development of disruptive flight technology, spaceflight and new applications to support the community and key sectors of the economy. Congratulations to the whole team.”
Further details and booking of the new Airspace can be made by contacting [email protected]
28 September 2021
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DRACHMA Meeting: Curating Medical Drone Delivery Data
Presentations & Speakers: UK UAV for Health – Post Pandemic Possibilities
Deirdre Wallace, Health & Care Innovation Lead, Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford,
UK Apian – delivering faster, smarter and cleaner healthcare Hammad Jeilani, co-founder Apian, UK
May 2021:
Two fantastic presentations from two leaders in the field of healthcare delivery using drones. Experiences and lessons learnt from bi-directional drone transport proof of concept projects in Africa.
Astrid Knoblauch, Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute; Department of Epidemiology & Public Health. Drone delivered defibrillators for out of hospital cardiac arrest.
Sheldon Cheskes, Medical Director, Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Medicine, Toronto, Canada.
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Building Trust in Drones
PwC have launched their updated reported on the impact drones will have on the UK’s economy, productivity, jobs and quality of life. The original report was published in 2018.
Drones offer public and private organisations an opportunity to carry out tasks faster, safer, cheaper and with less impact on the environment than traditional methods. This report focuses on these types of drone operations, which PwC refers to as “Commercial Drones”, excluding drones used by hobbyists, drones used to transport passengers and counter-drone solutions.
Drones could contribute up to £45bn to the UK economy
More than 900,000 drones could operate in the UK’s skies
£22bn in net cost savings may be realised
Carbon emissions could be reduced by 2.4M tons
650,000 jobs could be associated with an economy that fully adopts drones
Drone training for Cranfield Airport staff in anticipation of future integrated airspace
Staff and students at Cranfield University and its Airport have completed a remote pilot course for flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as part of long-term planning for integrated airspace use by manned and unmanned aircraft.
The commercial UAV remote pilot course incorporated a ground school element for flight planning – covering principles of flight, rules and regulations of the air, using aviation charts, risk assessment and meteorology – and a flight assessment to check demonstration of basic pilot competence, including how to respond in an emergency and being able to operate safety features.
Rob Abbot, Director of Aviation Operations at Cranfield Airport, who completed the training with some of his team, said: “Integrating UAV operations with airport activities and manned aircraft operations is going to be key in the future as we look to unleash the potential of a modernised UK airspace. This training has given myself and my team a solid understanding of UAV operations and the issues around using unmanned aircraft.
“UAVs could potentially benefit manned aircraft operations in a number of ways, ranging from monitoring, maintenance and repair tasks to de-icing the wings of aircraft in cold weather conditions. At Cranfield, we are already looking at how we may be able to use them for runway and airfield perimeter inspections.”
The course was provided by Consortiq, who have permission from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to provide approved UAV training, and was scheduled to help prepare students for the BAE UAV Swarm Challenge running again at Cranfield in March this year.
Students who complete the course will receive CAA-approved certificates for the ground school and flight assessment elements.
Alex Williamson, Experimental Research Fellow in UAV Operations in the Centre for Autonomous and Cyber-Physical Systems, Cranfield University, said: “Providing this kind of hands-on training is invaluable in giving staff and students an insight into the operational considerations of flying unmanned aircraft, together with a working appreciation of regulations affecting their use. This experience has further grown Cranfield’s competency in this area. It also ensures staff and students can maximise their research potential with respect to UAVs.”
Regulations currently require UAVs to be operated within visual line of sight of the remote pilot at all times. Through the ongoing creation of the National Beyond visual line of sight Experimentation Corridor (NBEC), Cranfield University is also working with partners Blue Bear Systems Research, Thales and Vodafone to provide a safe, managed environment for UAV experimentation, ultimately working towards their unsegregated operation with manned aircraft in both controlled and uncontrolled airspace.
Both Consortiq and Cranfield University are Members of ARPAS-UK. It’s great to see Members supporting each other like this.
These tree-planting drones are firing ‘seed missiles’ into the ground. Less than a year later, they’re already 20 inches tall.
10 drones can plant 400,000 trees in a day — enough to combat climate change in real
Technology is the single greatest contributor to climate change but it may also soon be used to offset the damage we’ve done to our planet since the Industrial Age began.
In September 2018, a project in Myanmar used drones to fire “seed missiles” into remote areas of the country where trees were not growing. Less than a year later, thousands of those seed missiles have sprouted into 20-inch mangrove saplings that could literally be a case study in how technology can be used to innovate our way out of the climate change crisis.
“We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions,” Irina Fedorenko, co-founder of Biocarbon Engineering, told Fast Company. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.”
According to Fedoranko, just two operators could send out a mini-fleet of seed missile planting drones that could plant 400,000 trees a day — a number that quite possibly could make massive headway in combating the effects of manmade climate change.
The drones were designed by an ex-NASA engineer. And with a pressing need to reseed an area in Myanmar equal to the size of Rhode Island, the challenge is massive but suddenly within reach. Bremley Lyngdoh, founder and CEO of World Impact, says reseeding that area could theoretically house as many as 1 billion new trees.
“Obviously, planting a billion trees will take a long time without the help of drones,” Lyngdoh told Fast Company.
But they’ve now got a powerful new ally in their corner. For context, it took the Worldview Foundation 7 years to plant 6 million trees in Myanmar. Now, with the help of the drones, they hope to plant another 4 million before the end of 2019.
Myanmar is a great case study for the project. In addition to the available land for the drone project, the nation has been particularly hit by the early effects of climate change in recent years. Rising sea levels are having a measurable impact on the population. In addition to their ability to clear CO2 from the atmosphere, healthy trees can also help solidify the soil, which can reduce the kind of soil erosion that has been affecting local populations in Myanmar.
Going forward, technologies like seed-planting drones could help stem the tide of catastrophic climate change while our governments and societies work to change the habits of consumers and corporations that are driving the problem. Our endless hunger for new technology may be the driving force behind climate change and deforestation but it could also end up being the solution to a problem.
New report points way to shared airspace between drones and traditional aircraft
Our new report lays the groundwork for an Unmanned Aircraft Traffic Management (UTM) System to allow commercial drone usage in the UK alongside traditional manned aircraft.
The report is a result of a year-long Department for Transport sponsored project, working alongside NATS, Altitude Angel, ANRA Technologies, Cranfield University, the Satellite Applications Catapult and Thales UK. It includes the architecture for an open access UTM system and scenarios for important areas such as managing permissions to fly drones in restricted airspace and multiple drone operations in in uncontrolled airspace.
There is a huge global opportunity for countries who can successfully accommodate commercial drone operations which can fly “beyond line of sight” of the user alongside other aircraft. As drone technology develops in areas such as automation, and operators become more numerous and sophisticated, new opportunities are emerging in areas such as infrastructure inspection, drone deliveries, agriculture and even personal transport. It is thought the sector could be worth £127bn globally.
Preparation has already begun on the next phase of the project. The CPC, along with Altitude Angel ANRA Technologies, GE Aviation and AiRXOS, NATS, Snowflake Software Systems, and Thales will run a series of technical workshops in order to mature the development of the Open-Access UTM framework to enable demonstrations of the future operational use of UTM.
The CPC has called for industry-wide collaboration to pull the necessary elements together to enable drones to operate commercially in the UK alongside all other aircraft – especially given Europe and the US have already made progress in this area. Mark Westwood, Chief Technology Officer, Connected Places Catapult explained:
“As the technology matures, twin pressures of increasingly widespread drone usage independent of a nationally agreed framework, and a strong desire within the industry to investigate the art of the possible, are driving an urgent need for a coordinated approach across stakeholders in government, businesses and regulators.
We need to make sure the UK is ready to accommodate this quickly emerging industry and UTM is recognised as a vital component to facilitate the safe and efficient integration of unmanned vehicles into the airspace. We’re hoping actors from across multiple sectors will engage with our research and future aspects of the project to get the job done so the UK drone industry can flourish.”
You can download the full report here. If you would like to take part in the UTM project workshops or find out more about the project please contact [email protected].
