UK CAA sets out plan to enable routine BVLOS drone flights

The UK Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty has pub­lished a roadmap for a future in which drones trans­port spe­cialised chemother­a­py drugs to hos­pi­tals, mail to remote loca­tions and even car­ry­ing defib­ril­la­tors to emer­gen­cies.

The plan focus­es on two crit­i­cal mile­stones: demon­strat­ing beyond visu­al line of sight (BVLOS) activ­i­ties by the end of this year and estab­lish­ing rou­tine BVLOS oper­a­tions by 2027.

How­ev­er, inte­grat­ing these oper­a­tions into the UK’s air­space presents many com­plex chal­lenges.

The Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty is work­ing with indus­try to ful­ly under­stand these chal­lenges, and this new doc­u­ment will evolve with indus­try ensur­ing that the sec­tor is a con­stant part of the jour­ney to enable UK BVLOS oper­a­tions.

The full plan can be found at: www.caa.co.uk/CAP3038

Sophie O’Sullivan, Pro­gramme Direc­tor for Future of Flight at the Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty, said: “Drones have the poten­tial to trans­form our lives but to make that future pos­si­ble we need to lay strong foun­da­tions for the future. 

“Our deliv­ery mod­el shows how we will pro­tect the pub­lic while enabling this excit­ing new tech­nol­o­gy. It is vital that we cre­ate the right rules and reg­u­la­tions that cur­rent and new air­space users are all hap­py with while main­tain­ing the high­est safe­ty stan­dards.”

The UK CAA’s deliv­ery mod­el can help guar­an­tee BVLOS oper­a­tions in the coun­try are run safe­ly. This includes check­ing safe­ty fea­tures in drone tech­nol­o­gy, com­pre­hen­sive pilot training,and enabling the shar­ing of the air­space safe­ly.

BVLOS oper­a­tions are cru­cial for expand­ing the capa­bil­i­ties of drones and unlock­ing inno­va­tion.

The launch of this deliv­ery mod­el marks a major step for­ward. The reg­u­la­tor and indus­try are work­ing ever more close­ly to max­imise the eco­nom­ic and social ben­e­fits of the use of drones in the UK to bring inno­va­tion and growth in the sec­tor.

Last month, The UK CAA issued a call for peo­ple to join its new Ver­ti­port Stake­hold­er Work­ing Group (VSWG), which will help facil­i­tate engage­ment, dis­cus­sion and col­lab­o­ra­tion with indus­try stake­hold­ers.