After allowing VLOS flights for transporting vaccines , the Indian civil aviation ministry on Tuesday permitted experimental drone flight operations, which would be beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS), of SpiceJet, Dunzo Air Consortium, Skylark Drones and Swiggy, and 17 other entities.
The 17 other entities include Virginia Tech India, ShopX Omnipresent Consortium, Asteria Aerospace Private Limited, Centillion Networks Private Limited, Marut Dronetech Private Limited and Sagar Defence Engineering Private Limited, the ministry said.
The ministry has granted a conditional exemption to these 20 entities from the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021, for "conducting the BVLOS experimental flights", it said on Twitter.
The exemption will be valid for a year or until further orders, the 4th May order noted.
On May 13, 2019, a committee formed by the ministry had invited expressions of interest (EOIs) for BVLOS experimental flights.
The BEAM Committee evaluated the 34 EOIs received and selected 20 consortia for the experimental flights, granting them conditional exemption from UAS Rules, 2021 in exercise of the powers conferred under Rule 70 of the Rules for conducting the BVLOS experimental flights.
The committee evaluated the 34 EOIs received and selected the aforementioned 20 entities.
The exemptions are subject to complete adherence to the requirements stated in the said EOI notice and the directions/ exemptions issued (or to be issued in future) by the BEAM Committee & shall be valid for a period of one year, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
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Picture : Aeryon Sky Ranger
