Australian Aviation - July 2018

JULY 2018 39

T

he imagery was outstanding and
the endorsement priceless when
Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan
bin Mohammed hopped into the
cabin of an autonomous passenger
drone – flying taxi to you and me –
for a five minute flight 600ft above
the ground of his beloved Dubai in
September last year.
The successful, very public test of
the prototype Volocopter, an 18-rotor,
German-engineered machine capable
of both autonomous and piloted flight,
marked another step forward by
Dubai in the international race to fully
embrace a technology that less than a
decade ago was more widely perceived
as the realm of the military, the
hobbyist, niche commercial camera
operator or blue-sky dreamer.
Just seven months later, the

imagery was far less impressive and

the implications sobering when a

Russian parcel-delivery drone dashed

itself to pieces against a wall shortly

after takeoff on its inaugural flight in

the city of Ulan-Ude. The idea was

sound enough: a drone mail service

to connect isolated Siberian villages.

The reality was a little less so, with the

evidence flashed in photo and video

around the world.

To be fair to the parcel drone

developers there has been plenty of

upside, too, with various companies

making successful, small-scale

deliveries in parts of China, Japan,

Germany, the UK and United States.

Australian start-up Flirtey, now based

in Nevada, Amazon, Google, DHL and

the French La Poste are among leaders

in further pushing the boundaries.

But if nothing else, the crash

underlined that for some there is still a

way to go in perfecting navigation and

training in the operation of even the

smallest commercial drones, and that

maybe, despite the superb reputation

of German engineering, Sheikh

Hamdan should be congratulated for

his chutzpah: short flight, big leap of

faith.

It is clear, however, that the

future for both smaller-drone

commercial operators and their

much larger autonomous passenger

vehicle cousins, hinges on greater

co-ordination of regulation and

development of more sophisticated

and co-operative air traffic

management systems. Key issues,

depending on the size of the

drone involved, include beyond

Volocopter’s vision of the future

of personal transportation.

VOLOCOPTER