The Civil Aviation Ministry and the Directorate General of
Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday permitted the Government of Telangana to use
drones for conducting
experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights for
delivery of vaccines.
This
exemption shall be subject to complete adherence to the conditions and the
directions/ exemptions issued (or to be issued in future) by the Ministry of Civil
Aviation.
This
exemption shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of approval of
the SOP or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Last
month, the Government of Telangana was granted conditional exemption for
conducting experimental delivery of Covid-19 vaccines within Visual Line of
Sight (VLOS) Range using drones.
“To
accelerate the drone deployment process to formulate application-based models,
the grant has been extended to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS). The trials
may commence by end of May 2021,”the Ministry said.
Earlier,
the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was granted conditional exemption
last month for conducting feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using
drones in collaboration with IIT Kanpur.
“The
grant of these permissions is intended to achieve the dual objectives of faster
vaccine delivery and improved healthcare access by ensuring primary
healthcare delivery at the citizen’s doorstep, limiting human exposure to Covid
congested or Covid prone areas through aerial delivery, ensuring access to
health care to the last mile, especially in remote areas, possible integration
into the middle mile of medical logistics for long range drones and
improving medical supply chain, with millions of doses to be transported across
India,” the Ministry added.
One of
the conditions for conducting experimental BVLOS drone flights for delivery of
vaccines by Telangana is that the maximum permitted height for drone operations
is 400 feet Above Ground Level (AGL).
It
further says that Energy reserve of 15 per cent of flight time should be
provisioned for.
Another
condition states that the Government of Telangana shall post a Single Point
Coordinator (SPC) at Shamshabad ATC for the entire duration of the trial
flights to ensure smooth coordination with ATC.
The conditions
further mention that drone operations shall be limited between local sunrise
and local sunset. It is stated that Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC)
should prevail at take-off and landing sites. Further, the condition is that
weather limitations stipulated by the drone manufacturer shall be complied
with.
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