Last month, the UK
Civil Aviation AuthorityCivil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved ‘Operational Authority’ for
Drone Major — a leading independent drone advisor — to conduct the UK’s first ‘beyond visual line of sight’ (BVLOS) drone flights over UK national infrastructure, thereby marking a breakthrough in the drone industry. This is the first time long-distance approved BVLOS drones in non-segregated airspace have been given the green light to undertake such flights and will initially enable long-range drones to patrol over the UK’s rail networks.
This approval marks an important step towards enabling more complex BVLOS operations across other areas of critical national infrastructure. Moreover, there are potential applications in sectors such as energy, utilities, defence, border management, and ‘sensitive national infrastructure surveillance’.
It was possible as a result of Network Rail enabling and funding this work and now paves the way for possible imminent trials of the technology on a 12km route between Wolverhampton and Sandwell & Dudley Station in partnership with Network Rail, which says the trials have the potential to vastly improve the safety, speed, and efficiency of the UK railway service — and provide ‘many millions a year in savings’.
Flying over railways, these drones will operate in a carefully defined ‘safety corridor’, much like aeroplanes, using Drone Major’s ‘Digital Tethering’ concept to assure the safety of the aircraft’s flight behaviour and minimise risks to those on the ground. The drones can monitor the UK’s railways, transmitting visual data in real time to operators and provide vital detection and monitoring of trespassers.
Robert Garbett, Drone Major Group’s founder and CEO, said: “The CAA’s approval of operational authority for trials of BVLOS flights marks a landmark moment for the drone industry, one that opens new opportunities to transform the UK’s critical national infrastructure, especially in densely built environments where traditional methods often fall short.”