A lack of regulation has been blamed for a drone hitting a British Airways passenger jet, as it emerged that police have failed to investigate 40 near-misses in the past year. Calls for action to mitigate the threat to passenger aircraft from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) came from Europe’s main regional airline trade group and others following an April 17 incident at London Heathrow Airport.
Category Archives: News
UK Navy uses Drones to Find Safe Route Through Antarctic Ice
HMS Protector has been trialling small drones to help her negotiate the Antarctic ice for the first time. The survey ship, which has just completed her third stint around the frozen continent this austral summer, has launched both a tiny quadcopter and a 3D-printed aircraft equipped with cameras.
Turkish Procurement Office Seeks UAS Domestic Sub-Systems
Turkey’s procurement agency has launched a competition promoting domestic development of key sub-systems used in drones. Continue reading
Camcopter in Canadian Ice-Breaking Operations
At the end of March 2016 at Fogo Island in Canada, Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) successfully demonstrated its capabilities to a host of dignitaries from the Canadian Coast Guard, the Royal Canadian Navy, Transport Canada, the Canadian National Research Council and the University of Alaska in partnership with the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
BA Airbus Hit by Drone at Heathrow Airport
A police investigation is under way after a passenger plane approaching Heathrow Airport was hit by what is believed to have been a drone. The British Airways flight from Geneva, with 132 passengers and five crew on board, was hit as it approached the London airport at 12:50 BST on Sunday. Continue reading
Thales Delivers Fulmar to Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency
Thales has won a contract to deliver Fulmar Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
Research into Attack-Resilient Micro Aerial Vehicles
Guoquan Huang (right) works on a micro aerial vehicle with graduate students Kevin Eckenhoff (left) and Yulin Yang.
Guoquan Huang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Delaware was recently awarded a two-year grant from the National Science Foundation to design resource-aware, attack-resilient, consistent MAV navigation. Continue reading
Australia Post to Trial Drone Delivery
Government-owned Australia Post has announced its plans to trial the use of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) — or drones — to deliver small parcels around the country. Continue reading