Drone for scheduled medicine airlift
A drone is being operated by Deutsche Post DHL in a pilotless pilot project to perform scheduled medical supply runs.
The ground crew make their final checks, before the aircraft lifts off to make another routine run to deliver essential medical supplies to Juist, an island off the coast of Germany. In the aircraft’s cockpit sits – well, nobody, because this is not a crewed plane or helicopter but an autonomous, unmanned quadcopter. The drone is being operated by Deutsche Post DHL in a pilotless pilot project to see how its ‘parcelcopter’ performs. The firm asserts that this research project represents the first and only time in Europe that a flight by an unmanned aircraft will be operated outside of the pilot's field of vision in a real-life mission. The German Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure has established a restricted flight area exclusively for this research project.
The parcelcopter, which performed its maiden flight in December 2003, has been specially modified to perform this type of mission. The research team has optimised such aspects as flight duration, flight range and speed to address the challenges posed by the wind and marine-weather conditions of the North Sea during the 12-km flight.
The machine will operate completely automously for the first time, with no input required from a human pilot during any phase of the flight. For safety reasons, however, it will be monitored by a mobile ground station in Norddeich, where staff will maintain contact with an air traffic controller and will intervene if a malfunction or emergency occurs.
At an altitude of 50 m, the parcelcopter can travel up to 18 m per second, depending on wind speed. It will primarily transport medications from the mainland to the island of Juist at times when alternatives such as ferries and manned flights are not available. It will take off from the harbour in Norddeich, landing at a dedicated site on the island. A DHL courier will then collect the goods and deliver them to the recipient.