We were delighted to welcome a variety of operators and End Users to talk on a number of topics.
Rowley Cory-Wright, Director at HexCam, dialed in to give his presentation on 18th April 2024
Presentation:
Jenny Ward, Deputy Director of the Future of Aviation Team at the Department for Transport, presented the Future of Flight Action Plan update to ARPAS-UK Members at BT’s Headquarters on 18th April 2024.
ARPAS-UK thanks Jenny for her time and willingness to be involved with the Annual Conference.
The presentation was followed by a Q&A section. Those questions not answered during the session will be forwarded to Jenny. Answers will be given to ARPAS-UK members.
YouTube
Presentation:
18 April 2024
Kevin Woolsey and Callum Holland joined the ARPAS-UK Team and Members at their Annual Conference to provide an update on CAA activities. The presentation was followed by Q&A. Any questions not answered in the session have been forwarded to Kevin and Callum for response.
The Presentation:
Graham Brown, Chair, Anne-Lise Scaillierez, CEO and Elena Major, Operations & Membership, provided an update to the Annual Conference on activities and priorities.
Presentation:
18 April 2024
ARPAS-UK were delighted to be able to hold the 2024 AGM and Annual Conference at BT’s headquarters in London on 18 April. We welcomed BT’s Drone Team and their talk on Mobile Networks as a BVLOS Enabler.
Presentation:
18 April 2024
Airspace is a critical piece of infrastructure requiring modernisation to accommodate a new generation of crewed and uncrewed aerial vehicles. As part of a pioneering project, Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL), supported by Egis, have proposed an airspace design and operational concept that would allow drones to be integrated in an operational trial alongside crewed aircraft in uncontrolled airspace in the Orkney Islands. If successful, the trial will provide a blueprint that could be rolled out more widely across Scotland and the UK. Egis’ Richard Derrett-Smith and HIAL’s Pat Nolan explain more.
Outside of major conurbations and airports, as much as 70% of the UK’s airspace is uncontrolled, meaning that anybody can fly there, subject to some basic rules. This contrasts with controlled airspace, which is managed by air traffic controllers, with rules and communication protocols to keep airspace users safely separated. The problem is that the existing airspace structures and associated Air Traffic Service regulation for both controlled and uncontrolled aviation cannot currently accommodate the needs of all types of aircraft, including one of the fastest growing user groups: drones.
In Scotland’s Orkney Islands, uncrewed medium and heavy lift drones (100 – 300 kg) are already being used for fast collection and delivery of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and perishable goods, like shellfish – which are transported from outlying islands back to a hub airport at Kirkwall and then flown onward to places like London in a fraction of the time it would take for them to travel by ferry. However, to date, these trials have all taken place using Temporary Danger Areas (TDAs) which restrict other airspace user activity and are not sustainable for commercial operations. The objective of this project is therefore to develop a trial airspace test zone based on a more permanent, less restrictive form of airspace, where future sustainable aviation technology and use cases can be demonstrated.
HIAL’s Pat Nolan has been working with Egis’ Richard Derrett-Smith and Stewart Wallace on developing the Trial Orkney Test Zone or TOTZ. This pioneering project is part of the Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) and is part funded by the UK government through the UK Future Flight Challenge programme. HIAL is both an airport operator (with 11 regional airports) and an Air Navigation Service Provider, and so it plays a vital role in supporting essential lifeline services, connectivity and socio-economic development within the rural and island communities. Pat says: “Our aim is to establish the UK’s first low carbon sustainable aviation test centre, including a dedicated airspace test zone, to be located at a commercial airport.” Using Kirkwall Airport as its base, the test zone has been designed to minimise the impact on Kirkwall airport’s operations. Kirkwall is a licensed commercial airport that provides services for approximately 12,000 aircraft movements carrying 130,000 passengers per year, the majority of which by Loganair the airport’s principal operator. Kirkwall airport, which provides an aerodrome and procedural approach service, is located in Class G airspace and has a suite of both conventional and RNP instrument approach procedures.
Using Kirkwall Airport as its base, the test zone has been designed to minimise the impact on Kirkwall airport’s operations. Kirkwall is a licensed commercial airport that provides services for approximately 12,000 aircraft movements carrying 130,000 passengers per year, the majority of which by Loganair the airport’s principal operator. Kirkwall airport, which provides an aerodrome and procedural approach service, is located in Class G airspace and has a suite of both conventional and RNP instrument approach procedures.
Richard says: “From the outset our approach has been to align our solution with the UK CAA’s vision for modernising airspace and with the recently released Future of Flight Action Plan.”
The TOTZ extends northwards over the Orkney archipelago and is subdivided into 5 subzones, such that only those zones required to support a particular trial or operational activity need be activated, thereby leaving the other TOTZ subzones available to other aircraft. This is consistent with the CAA’s Flexible Use of Airspace policy to ensure equitable access to airspace for all airspace users. The TOTZ airspace design ensures separation from Kirkwall’s instrument approach procedures which will minimise disruption to Kirkwall’s scheduled commercial flights.
Richard continues: “We have included an emergency buffer zone around the TOTZ to ensure that the drone’s Detect and Avoid (DAA) system, air traffic control and/or the drone pilot can take appropriate action to neutralise any potential conflict if a non-participating aircraft unexpectedly enters the emergency buffer zone.”
Designed to minimise impact on Kirkwall Airport operations
Of course, airspace is not the only driver in terms of managing risk. The HIAL and Egis team also considered the critical role of air traffic services in providing effective oversight to the TOTZ operations. Communications, navigation and surveillance technology proportional to the scale and complexity of airspace users is also part of the solution, and, coupled with the technology on the drone, will need to integrate effectively with the airspace design and air traffic service delivery to minimise operational risk and support sustainable commercial operations at scale.
Concludes Pat: “The SATE project and HIAL are confident that the TOTZ trial will be accepted by the UK CAA into its Regulatory Sandbox (Temporary Reserved Area) programme, enabling us to deliver the TOTZ airspace trial in the Orkneys based on integrated operations in unsegregated airspace from Kirkwall airport. The outputs from the TOTZ trial will provide HIAL with the data and experience to establish a more permanent trial airspace known as the Orkney Trial Zone (OTZ). The OTZ will provide the blueprint for HIAL to implement a similar hub and spoke airspace model across the HIAL airport estate.”
Adds Richard: “We see the TOTZ trial as vital first steps towards achieving integrated RPAS operations in unsegregated airspace, which is a European, if not global aim these days. It will also generate some key learning points for uncrewed aerial system operators, who need to understand how they can work from a licensed commercial airport.”
Read more about about our work on drone integration in the UK. For more information about the Trial Orkney Test Zone (TOTZ), contact Richard Derrett-Smith, Director Egis.
Richard Derret-Smith
Associate Director, Aviation
Feature image credit: Windracers
Egis is a member of ARPAS-UK.
Acquisition & spiral development to realise the UK Defence UAS & RPAS strategy
Join Simon Holford, Head of UAS & Remotely Piloted Air Systems Portfolio at Defence & Equipment Support (DE&S), as he explains how UK SMEs in the drone industry can engage with and be part of the MoD’s UAS Programme.
The MoD recently released the UK’s Defence Drone Strategy.
The webinar will be held on Teams, hosted by the MoD for security reasons, and is available ONLY to ARPAS-UK Members. This will not be recorded.
About the Speaker:
Simon Holford
A Senior Civil Servant leading the procurement, spiral development and in-service support of Remotely Piloted Air Systems to the UK’s Armed Forces. Previous experience as a director within defence industry and a Brigadier in the British Army.
What a day!
The ARPAS-UK AGM & Annual Conference was held on a glorious spring day. We had a strong turnout and great speakers. BT’s Headquarters provided an excellent venue, and we thank them for allowing us to be there.
Networking is an important part of such events and the ARPAS-UK Team had factored this in to ensure that Members and speakers had sufficient time to (re)connect before the AGM, during lunch, the afternoon break and after the Annual Conference.
In the AGM, two new directors were elected: Sarah Lay and David Thurston. We are delighted to welcome them on board. In addition, Graham Brown and Anne-Lise Scaillierez both stepped down as Directors per rotation and were re-elected. In all cases, the voting was unanimously positive. A record of these resolutions has been made.
The Annual Conference:
The presentations are best viewed as videos and can be found below (click on the Presentation title). We thank the speakers for their time and expertise. We much appreciate their participation in our event.
The ARPAS-UK Kick Off Presentation
The Future of Flight Action Plan Update
Mobile Network as BVLOS Enabler
OSC Success Stories: Quantification of ground risk for Overflight; flying 30 km BVLOS
Members’ Panel: sharing their stories and operational experiences
Photos of the day
Expect the Unexpected!
Welcome to Drone FEEDBACK Edition 10.
I hope you have had some good winter flying for pleasure, gathering data of one sort or another or perhaps doing trials for medical deliveries. Seasonal icing, fog and of course rain have been the main challenges the sector has had to overcome over the last few months. This has led to cold fingers trying to manipulate controllers and their myriad of buttons as well as small screens, batteries not lasting as long as they do at warmer times of the year, and other “gotchas” lying in wait for the unwary drone pilot.
In this issue we have a number of reports that were sent directly to CHIRP and we have kept our eyes open for some additional Human Factor related happenings that we feel would be useful to bring to the attention of the drone flying community. We have included a report from NASA and the UK AAIB, both of which exemplify situations that might happen to any of us and that involve Human Factors.
Whilst the days are now starting to get longer, we have been hampered by fog recently and although some of the latest drones alert you to “low visibility” these days don’t let that warning alone be the deciding factor for the decision to take-off or not. As we have noted in previous editions, propeller icing forms in a number of different scenarios so stay wary of that too when the temperature drops and you are flying in the early hours!
Human Factor related errors will however continue to creep into day-to-day operations and make life difficult. Let’s see if we can learn something from the occurrences described below.
Rupert Dent, Drone/UAS Programme Manager
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