Australian unmanned air vehicle manufacturer Aerosonde plans to perform the world’s first transatlantic UAV parcel delivery demonstration with a flight from the USA to the UK.
Aerosonde is negotiating with an undisclosed commercial package delivery service on a possible sponsorship deal for the flight, which will be launched from NASA’s Wallops Field in Virginia and land at the Parc Aberporth UAV range in Wales in the western UK on 7 September.
Peter Bales, business development manager for Aerosonde North America, says a flight plan has been filed with the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The Aerosonde Mk 4.1 UAV crossing is expected to take 35-38h at altitudes of 5,000-7,000ft (1,520-2,140m).
Bales says the flight will represent an “historic moment with the first package delivery in the commercial sense by a UAV into controlled European airspace”.
Aerosonde performed the first-ever transatlantic crossing by a UAV in August 1998 with a flight from Newfoundland to Ireland.
The 7 September landing will coincide with the Parc Aberporth UAV 2005 air show being organised by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Association and the Welsh Development Agency.
Source: Flight International
