With drones making news in all spheres from war to monitoring of forests, its use in delivery of vital medicines and vaccines, is a significant development. Today the Telangana Government is starting the trials of delivering medicines and vaccines under its “Medicine From The Sky” project, making it the first State to start Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights trials for delivery of Covid-19 vaccines.
Drone flights that go beyond 500-700 metres from the eye's vision or beyond the visual line of sight are known as BVLOS.
According to a statement released by the State Government these trial flights will be carried out from September 9 to October 10 at Hyderabad’s Vikarabad. A majority of these trails will be done by Skye Air Mobility, a tech start-up.
On the first two days of trials the drone will be flying in the visual line of sight, which involves flying between 500 and 700 meters from the base and these can be seen with the naked eye.
The BVLOS drone flights will be tried from nine to ten kilometre distances from September 11 onwards. The flights will be handling consignments of vaccines, medical samples and other healthcare items, the statement said.
Swapnik Jakkampundi co-founder of Skye Air Mobility said: "We are extremely delighted to be part of this project with the Telangana government and (with) our tie-up with leading firms to give the first live demonstration trials, which are being conducted in real-time with real vaccines and medicines being carried." He added that delivery by drone will be a game-changer.
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Skye Air will have two certified remote pilots who have been specifically trained for the BVLOS trials during the project, said the statement.
As part of a consortium, Skye Air has joined hands with BlueDart Express to provide drone based-delivery and drone flights to conduct these trials. The former will focus on an end-to-end ecosystem for drone-based logistics transportation.
Sharing his views, Blue Dart Managing Director Balfour Manuel said: “This move is in sync with our endeavours at a transformational change in rural and remote areas by helping make instant access to vital medical supplies.”
He added that with the Government firm in achieving 100 per cent vaccination for Coronavirus, “delivery of vaccination through drones would be a stepping stone to achieve this goal”.
