The UK Civil Aviation Authority has announced six projects that have been selected for trials under the regulator’s new scheme that will test drone use in deliveries, inspection of infrastructure, emergency services and flights to remote parts of the UK.
The selected projects, each with their own focus on beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, are:
- Amazon Prime Air – a delivery system from Amazon designed to quickly and safely get small packages to customers through the use of drones.
- Airspection – Scalable Offshore Wind Project – the project, supported by a leading offshore wind developer, aims to develop scalable BVLOS operations for offshore wind farms designed to enhance the safety, reliability and reduce the impact to the environment.
- National Police Air Service – The Future & Innovation Team, part of the National Police Air Service, will spend six months exploring BVLOS capabilities and their potential adoption as part of a blended fleet, testing payload capabilities and validating the onboard Detect And Avoid (DAA) capabilities.
- NATS – NATS Services will focus on BVLOS inspections over the North Sea, with the ultimate objective of introducing and evaluating early BVLOS approvals, designed to support and encourage the development of wider BVLOS operations across the UK.
- Project SATE – The Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) intends to develop a trial airspace test environment, the Trial Orkney Test Zone, and will test integrated manned and unmanned aircraft operations from Kirkwall Airport. The test zone will be specifically designed to enable a wide range of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) platforms to conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) trials and operations in unsegregated Class G airspace.
- Project Lifeline – The Lifeline project is key to using drones for emergency medical services, delivering critical medical equipment—such as defibrillators (AEDs), EPI pens, and anti-bleeding kits—faster than ever before. The project also enhances first responders’ effectiveness by providing live camera feeds, which significantly improve situational awareness and decision-making during emergencies.
The announcement comes as the regulator makes progress on their plans to further modernise UK airspace, using the trials to gather data to inform future regulation which in turn will enable the broader use of advanced air mobility technologies.
Sophie O’Sullivan, Director of Future of Flight at the Civil Aviation Authority, said: “These innovative trials mark a significant step forward in integrating drones safely into UK airspace. 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, contributing to the modernisation of UK airspace and the incorporation of new technology into our skies.”
Andrew Heath, Director of Coverdrone, said: “It’s really welcomed news to see the Civil Aviation Authority giving these trials the green light, supporting the positive shift towards broader use of advanced air mobility technologies in the UK, with the potential for increased and wider adoption of BVLOS operations in the future.
“As key players in the drone insurance market, we have always been relied on and trusted by drone operators to offer an effective solution that fully meets both their current and long-term insurance needs. Coverdrone has significantly invested in our system capabilities over the years, and this has allowed us to offer quick and efficient quotations and insurance coverage for BVLOS operations for quite some time now. This platform ensures we are well positioned to support drone operators with their insurance requirements as drone utilisation evolves.
“We cannot wait to see the results of these trials, and how they help to shape the future of drone use going forward.”
For more details, you can read the full article here: New trials set to help unlock drone deliveries and inspections in the UK | Civil Aviation Authority (caa.co.uk)
Source: Civil Aviation Authority website