Work is continuing on expanding airspace access arrangements for UAVs operating from the ParcAberporth airfield, with the co-ordinating West Wales UAV Centre seeking to establish permanent temporary segregated zones to provide fast-track flying capability.
The existing temporary UAV flight operations zone has a maximum 11km (6nm) radius and a 5000ft (1,525m) ceiling, but has to be established on a case-by-case basis.
West Wales UAV Centre spokesman Andy Tailby says that user consultations have commenced with the objective of establishing "the permanent option for temporary segregated airspace - that is not a contradiction in terms - in order that we might routinely operate UAVs out of here to an even greater extent, flexibly, in the future. That will take time. We have started that process. There will be due public consultation as things go along."
In parallel WWUAVC is seeking to expand access arrangements to nearby UK Ministry of Defence's Cardigan Bay test range, which is managed by QinetiQ. "We will be developing the procedures in the D201 military danger area over Cardigan Bay to improve the flexibility of access to all UAVs, and therefore make more efficacious use of that precious asset," says Tailby.
Negotiations launched last year to establish overland corridors linking ParcAberporth with UK MoD land ranges in Wales and western England are also continuing.
WWUAVC was established in mid-2006 as a partnership between West Wales Airport corporation and QinetiQ.
The UK CAA recently gave West Wales Airport its first ever approvals for a UAV operations manual.
Welsh government planning authorisations have also just been given for extension of the airport runway from 915m to 1199m to permit the handling of larger aircraft types.
Experience gained from operations at ParcAberporth is emerging as a marketable commodity for WWUAVC, says Tailby.
"We intend to develop a bespoke air traffic service that can help UAV systems in the near term to operate on a routine basis. Our intent is to work closely with the Civil Aviation Authority in order to develop this environment - and we are at the leading edge of this sort of development - so that we can operate UAVs locally, flexibly, to meet customers needs," he says.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
