Land and Minerals Consulting (DroneSurv) recently took part in Phase 2 of the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) trial “Project Dragon’s Eye” at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre’s Llanbedr Airfield.
The trial used Canadian UAVs’ Sparrowhawk RaDAR utilising Quantum Systems Trinity VTOL drone installed with uAvionix Corporation Ping20si ADS-B out and PingUSB ADS-B in EC (electronic conspicuity) devices under an Operating Safety Case written by Nigel Breyley FRAeS.
Posting on LinkedIn, DroneSurv said this second phase went well and “exemplifies the need for EC for all airspace users”. The post noted that DroneSurv has not seen the RaDAR results, but understands that during later phases of Project Dragon’s Eye, the RaDAR operator should be able to provide deconfliction advice between incoming General Aviation and the RPAS operator.
As shown in a video on the company’s LinkedIn page, two DroneSurv RPAS operators had to study (and pass) their FRTOL to enable them to use an air-band radio to talk to the control tower and receive a licence from OfCom to use the Ping20si transponder and an International Civil Aviation Organisation number from the CAA.
The next phase of the trial requires a new Operating Safety Case to fly Trinity out to sea (well beyond visual line of sight but still within C2 link distance) and perform similar deconfliction trials.
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