Unmanned Aerial Vehicle The latest drone news
The move paves the way for these consortia, which include ones floated by budget airline SpiceJet, Nandan Nilekani-backed ShopX, Google-backed Dunzo and drone maker Throttle Aerospace, to pilot the use of drones to transport goods, once approved. The pilots will be part of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) experimental drone operations, for which it had floated an expression of interest in May 2019.
Eleven out of the 13 consortia are awaiting final approvals from the DGCA, while ET had reported on March 19 that the consortia floated by Dunzo and Throttle Aerospace had received the authority’s nod for the BVLOS experiments.
The approval process is on for the rest, people directly in the know of the matter told ET.
“It is considered necessary in the public interest to conduct the BVLOS experimental flights, even though the drones to be deployed for such flights may not meet the requirements of UIN and Operator Permit stipulated under Rule 15A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937,” according to the MoCA’s April 18 order, which ET has seen.
The experimental flights will be conducted only with rotary wing drones and will have to be conducted by trained operators under the supervision of a monitoring team.
It will also be conducted in airspace approved by the Airports Authority of India and will have to be geo-fenced to ensure that they do not stray beyond the approved airspace boundary, the order said.
Other consortia that have been exempted include Aerospace Industry Development Association of Tamil Nadu, Asteria Aerospace, Clearsky Flight Consortium, Daksha Unmanned Systems, Sagar Defence Engineering, Saubika Consortium and Value Thought IT Solutions.
Two consortia floated by Washington-based ANRA Technologies, which builds fleet management software and air traffic management solutions for drones, have also made it into the list.
According to people privy to the development, online food ordering platform Swiggy is a partner of ANRA in one of its two consortia.
Dunzo and Throttle Aerospace were looking to start experimental BVLOS flights by April end, but the Covid-19 virus outbreak pushed back their plans.
