Drone operators Skyfarer and partner Medical Logistics UK announced a collaborative medical drone delivery Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) trial commencing this week, in a secured CAA approved airspace called “The Medical Logistics UK Corridor”. Connecting 32km of airspace between the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire Trust’s hospitals in Coventry and Rugby, The Medical Logistics UK corridor will be in place for a three-month period from October until December 2022, to conduct a record-breaking number of routine and ad hoc medical drone deliveries.
This trial starts the first leg of the two-year Future Flight Phase 3 project’s corridor called Skyway, led by partners and UTM industry leaders Altitude Angel. Skyway is a drone superhighway connecting 265km of the UK by the sky, for operators like Skyfarer to fly BVLOS safely and routinely.
Flights will be conducted in all weather conditions throughout the remainder of the year as well as at varying times of day so that the Flight Operations team can work with the Trust to determine how this technology can be permanently integrated going forward. The consortia want to ensure that it is accessible to each department whenever it is required.
A series of routine and ad-hoc emergency flights will also be conducted to determine the reliability of the Skyfarer service and futureproof the NHS integration.
Project Manager for Skyfarer, Georgia Hanrahan said “There are no potholes in the sky, nor is there as much congestion, and without the need for heavy infrastructure to land, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can add to the fleet of logistical transfers and provide a faster, more sustainably friendly and cheaper solution.”
The trial is sponsored by London based Medical Couriers, Medical Logistics UK, a provider of time-sensitive medical deliveries and personalised on-demand medical tests. Other consortium partners include Phoenix Wings, Altitude Angel, UHCW NHS Trust, Everyware, BT and Airbox Systems.
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