Emergency Services drones among six new CAA trials

More drone trials have been announced by the CAA as the authority presses on with plans to integrate drone flights with other airspace users.

Six projects have been selected for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone use in deliveries, inspections of infrastructure, emergency services and flights to remote locations.

The six projects are:

1. Amazon Prime Air, consumer deliveries
2. Airspection, inspecting offshore windfarms
3. National Police Air Service, flying uncrewed aircraft where NPAS crewed aircraft would operate
4. NATS, BVLOS inspections over the North Sea
5. Project SATE Sustainable Aviation Test Environment), flights to Orkney
6. Project Lifeline, medical deliveries including defibrillators for resuscitation after heart attack

The CAA says the trials will gather key safety data, such as how drones detect and avoid other aircraft, the electronic signals they can send to be able to be visible to other airspace users and air traffic control.

Sophie O’Sullivan, CAA Director of Future of Flight, said, “By supporting projects ranging from consumer deliveries to critical infrastructure inspections, we are gathering essential data to shape future policies and regulations.

“Our goal is to make drone operations beyond visual line of sight a safe and everyday reality.”

Further permissions will be needed before trials are able to begin. The start date is expected to be Spring 2025.

CAA