According to SUAS News journalist, Gary Mortimer, now is the time for delivery drones to come to the fore and prove their worth.
Mortimer points out that many airliners remain in their hangars, small aerodromes are closing, and while commercial flights are running empty to ensure that they don’t lose their slots at airports, Mortimer poses the question. “Why are they being afforded protected airspace that others could use?” He writes, “Much is wrong with how the airspace above us, a common right to be shared, is being dished out. Especially now that money is on the table below 1000′ and above FL660.”
These are valid and important points.
Mortimer goes on to say, “A modern sky ought to be able to reshape itself at the push of a button where airways disappear and air traffic zones shrink, all to accommodate whatever situation has changed. Emergency and rescue flights manned or unmanned should take priority.”
He continues, “Medical delivery drones should be an important part of the coronavirus emergency supply chain. Drones are digital devices able to comply with onerous regulations, under protest, easily. But regulation and false expectations have held them back.”
Mortimer concludes, “The problem is that legacy manned aircraft are not adaptive enough as regulators have little interest in a modern sky. Digital renderings could be on every passenger and pilots smartphone, tablet or laptop updated in flight. A proactive sky would be simple to promulgate and adapt to need rather than greed.”
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