This proposal is for a Temporary change to the notified airspace design, for which a scaled airspace change process applies and a change level is not applicable.
The UK Government is currently highly pre-occupied with the arrangements for Brexit and there is a great concern that normal transport links to the continent will be over-loaded when the transition ends on the 1st of January and Britain officially leaves the EU.
Due to this, Windracers, partnered by Delft University and Woensdrecht Airport have kickstarted a project to trial a medical cargo delivery service using the ULTRA Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) between an airfield on the Essex coast and Woensdrecht in the Netherlands, effectively linking London directly with Antwerp and Rotterdam.
Due to the current regulatory and technical conditions, this trial would require the use of a segregated volume of airspace between the selected airfield in Essex and the Flight Information Region (FIR) boundary between the UK and the Netherlands. Upon entering Dutch airspace, the UAS operators would utilise the North Sea Area Amsterdam Transponder Mandatory Zone (TMZ) to safely navigate the remainder of the journey.
The project is self-funded by Windracers, a not-for profit organisation focused on developing the technology to make autonomous air cargo delivery systems a reality. The project aims to demonstrate the regulatory, economic, and operational viability of a realistic UAS medical cargo delivery service between the UK and continental Europe by creating an ‘airbridge’ service carrying critical medical supplies regularly over a sustained period.
Ultimately, the provision of freight transport services between the UK and continental Europe using UAS would have the following benefits:
• Deliver more affordable, wider options of air freight services for medical supply between the UK and the EU, benefiting organisations and individuals on both sides,
• Generate real data to deepen our understanding of the regulatory, economic and operational challenges of cargo operations using UAS, and
• Provide the opportunity to ease the extra strain on the transport network caused by the end of the Brexit transition by carrying critical medical supplies between the two countries.
