UK

Nearly 48 hours after news began circulating that the prototype air taxi by UK advanced air mobility firm Vertical Aerospace suffered an accident, the company is still managing public response in the worst possible way – by acting like a slow-moving, tight-lipped, stodgy, “Mad Men” corporation rather than the creative, quick, and innovative startup it is.

In another indication that medical transport services may well be the largest initial activity for emerging drone delivery operators, UK company Skyports says it has successfully wrapped up a month-long trial of aerial shuttles with the nation’s EMED Group.

The world’s leading drone company is set to launch its first dedicated DJI-Hasselblad Concept Store outside of Asia later this month, with tomorrow’s opening of a two-story retail showcase in the UK.

The UK’s Royal Mail and Skyports Drone Services have launched what is being hailed as the nation’s first permanent UAV delivery operation conducted “under existing regulatory frameworks,” with the initiation of postal distribution flights between Scotland’s Orkney Islands. 

The UK-based unified traffic management (UTM) specialist Altitude Angel is having a busy week – first with the rollout of a low-altitude drone and aircraft detection network, and then with the unveiling of UAV and future advanced air mobility (AAM) flight approval tech designed to thrust its domestic market to the top readiness leaders in emerging aerial activities.

The UK developer of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), Vertical Aerospace, says it has completed the first untethered test flight of its future battery-powered air taxi, propelling it into an elite of sector startups that have managed to both produce prototypes and get them aloft.

The UK Army is preparing to supply combat soldiers with a specially made counter-drone sight known as SMASH, which is designed to considerably increase a fighter’s ability to take out enemy mini- and micro-UAVs while in flight.

A UK court has handed a total of 31 years in jail time to a seven people who operated drone deliveries of banned items to a Manchester area prison, including drugs that a testifying expert estimated were worth as much as £1.7 million ($2.16 million). 

Researchers at the UK’s Imperial College London have created a prototype drone specially designed to withstand intense heat, and which through continued development may be produced as a vital data gathering tool for firefighters to minimize risk factors in various blaze-battling scenarios.

A UK drone pilot has been fined nearly $4,500 for an illegal flight that, among many other consequences, forced a money-time professional soccer match to be halted after the craft hovered low over players.

The state organization tasked with managing and maintaining England’s network of major roadways, National Highway, has introduced a new drone flight management system to facilitate access and operation of pilots wanting to fly UAVs near principal ground transport arteries.

Specialized drone services company sees.ai has obtained what it describes as unprecedented authorization to conduct routine beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) inspections of live overhead electricity infrastructure in the UK.

Telecom company BT Group has released new research indicating the UK needs to take steps to catch up with other nations currently leaving it behind in terms of drone operation and service readiness – a somewhat counterintuitive finding given the nation’s innovative aerial efforts over the past couple of years.

Israel-based hydrogen-powered UAV developer HevenDrones is keeping a very close eye on work in the UK toward creating a 165-mile “drone superhighway,” which is intended to enable a broadening range and rate of aerial activity and services across a huge swath of the nation. Although it is not yet involved in what are the still preliminary stages of that British project, HevenDrones CEO Bentzion Levinson says he believes the program’s potential for rapidly, radically transforming UAV systems, regulations, operation, and tech – including power sources like hydrogen permitting far longer flights – is enormous, and something he’d be keen to join when the time is right.

Officials in the UK are again demonstrating their willingness – indeed eagerness – to lead the way in adopting a widening array of drone applications with the deployment of UAVs by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) to improve traffic management.

As expected, this weekend’s coronation of King Charles II provided all the pomp and star-studded entertainment organizers had promised, and wrapped up with the crescendo Sunday evening of drone shows over Windsor Castle and in cities across the UK.

Fans of UAV tourism and event videography will find their aerial ambitions confounded in London this weekend with flight restrictions related to the coronation of King Charles III grounding all drone and small plane flights below 2,500 feet in the British capital.

A trial program overseen by the UK’s Skyports Drone Services in Scotland is in the running for a national award for its efforts in pioneering UAV transport of meals to remote Highland schools.

The drone unit of the Devon and Cornwall Police department has begun using DJI craft to combat dangerous driving in what they call the first use of UAVs for road safety enforcement in England or Wales.

In a development that will please pilots sick of being harassed by drone-hating antagonists, a man in the UK now awaits sentencing for having brandished a gun while accosting a real estate agent doing aerial work near his home.

UK aerial surveying specialist Plowman Craven has produced a drone data collection solution specifically designed for owners and operators of rail networks across the nation and globe – including lines where physical access to infrastructure isn’t feasible.