CAA On Air UK Civil Aviation Authority

In this episode we talk with Brenden Hedblom from the Eve Consortium on its new concept of operations (CONOPS) into how future types of flying, such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, could be safety incorporated into London’s airspace.
You can find more information on this work at:
UK Concept of Operations (CONOPS)
Key Considerations for Airspace Integration within an Urban Air Mobility Landscape (CAP 2272)
Additional work from Eve:
Urban air traffic management concept of operations
Flight Plan 2030 - An air traffic management concept for urban air mobility
Other podcasts from the UK CAA include:
CAA Drone safety - https://podfollow.com/caa-drone-safety
CAA on General Aviation - https://podfollow.com/caa-on-general-aviation

In the third and final part of this series we look at how medical deliveries by drone could help support the health service in remote communities across the UK.

We speak with Alex Brown, Head of Operations at Skyports about a recent trial that saw drones making medical deliveries between four NHS hospitals in the Scottish Highlands.

This project, which reduced the average transport time from 20 hours to 1 hour, involved drones carrying cargo including COVID-19 tests, pathology samples and medicine while flying up to 60kms beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).

You can find more information about this work at:

https://skyports.net/nhs-trials/

and

https://www.caa.co.uk/innovation

In part two of our three part series we hear about a recent trial that explored using drones for medical deliveries, including essential PPE items, from Cornwall to remote communities on the Isles of Scilly.

This project involved Royal Mail and a consortium funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) who we featured in the first part of this series.

We speak with Chris Paxton from the Royal Mail, Gareth Whatmore, CEO of Droneprep which led the consortium and Alex Brown from Skyports about the trial, its achievements and what is coming next.

You can find out more by visiting
https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/press-centre/press-releases/royal-mail-group/scillies-drones-trial/

https://vimeo.com/547372795

https://droneprep.uk/news/droneprep-and-royal-mail-drone-delivery-to-the-scilly-isles/

The CAA Innovation Hub
http://www.caa.co.uk/innovation

In this episode we begin a three part series that looks at how drones have been used to help the NHS response to COVID-19.

We're joined by Simon Masters and Dawn MacGregor from UKRI (UK Research and Innovation), the UK's largest public funder of research and innovation.

UKRI's work includes the 'Future flight challenge' which aims to bring together technologies in electrification, aviation systems and autonomy to create new modes of air travel and capability.

Some of the projects funded by the 'Future flight challenge' so far have included using drones to support the NHS and emergency services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

You'll hear about how these projects were selected, the benefits they can deliver and how the CAA's Innovation team helped support this work.

You can find our more about UKRI and the 'Future flight challenge' below
https://www.ukri.org/our-work/our-main-funds/industrial-strategy-challenge-fund/future-of-mobility/future-flight-challenge/

UKRI Future flight vision roadmap
https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/UKRI-130821-FutureFlightVisionRoadmap.pdf

For information about projects focussing on the demonstration aspects of novel classes of electric or autonomous air vehicles and systems see:

Future flight challenge phase three: strand one
https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/future-flight-challenge-phase-three-strand-one/

For information about projects focussing on developing enabling technologies and cross-cutting systems that support the deployment of these novel air vehicles in UK airspace see:

Future flight challenge phase three: strand two
https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/980/overview

Electric air taxis, also called electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOLs), will soon be operational. These ‘green’ aircraft will deliver on-demand urban flights and make trips across cities quick, easy and more affordable.

In this episode speak with Brenden Hedblom and David Rottblatt from Eve Air Mobility about the work that is taking place to support the growth of urban air mobility (UAM) in the UK.

Eve Air Mobility is leading a consortium of world leading aviation organisations that is working with the UK CAA to define the airspace design, procedures and infrastructure required for safely integrating new types of electric air taxi operations into the UK’s low level airspace.
More about this work

EmbraerX – Urban Air Traffic Management concept video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSkyvOV5Mcw&t=5s

UK Air Mobility Website - https://ukairmobility.com/
Flight Plan 2030
https://daflwcl3bnxyt.cloudfront.net/m/72d6ed98a71cb43f/original/200702_AF_EMBX_White_Paper_DM.pdf
UATM Concept of Operations, co-written with Airservices Australia
https://daflwcl3bnxyt.cloudfront.net/m/3dc1907d3388ff52/original/PPJ016561-UATM-Concept-of-Operations-Design_D11-FINAL.pdf
The UK CAA’s Innovation Hub at https://www.caa.co.uk/innovation

Angela and Sonia from our Innovation team discuss how we're working with innovators to look at the different concepts people are working on for future air mobility.

That includes everything from the aircraft being developed to the systems that will support them. This builds up to our exciting Future Air Mobility sandbox announcements that are coming soon.

You'll find more information about our work on future air mobility on our website https://www.caa.co.uk/innovation