Private drones will soon start flying in the Indian skies as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has put its seal of approval to two firms, to operate the Beyond Visual Line of Sight or BVLOS drones, as per a report in the Economic Times.
The two firms are Throttle Aerospace Systems and Dunzo, which can soon begin testing their delivery operations. While Throttle is a manufacturer of drones, Dunzo is a startup that handles micro local deliveries and is backed by Google.
There is one last formality of the Ministry of Civil Aviation clearing the licence to operate drones which may take a few more days to arrive. Once that happens, these two firms can start their drone operations. They will have to follow the rules and procedures already notified by the DGCA.
The drones will be small, weighing around 2 kgs. There are specific ‘green zones’ identified by DGCA within which only these drones can be operated. This is keeping the security considerations in view. Now, that may limit the scope of these drone operators, if they wish to offer it as a business service. However, this has to be seen as an experimental project only.
Throttle says it may look at using its drones for medical emergencies like delivering blood or organs to inaccessible areas. Organ deliveries for example are now attempted through ambulances with the local police clearing the roads in cities for the vehicles to reach the hospitals concerned. Drones will be able to do this even quicker and easier.
Dunzo does not seem to have a specific plan for its drone operation though being a delivery startup, it can boast of a unique tool in its hands for speedy deliveries to its customers, obviously at a cost.
The green zones identified by the DGCA so far has a five km radius and these are in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
More such applications are pending for approval. There are elaborate tests conducted before DGCA gives its approval.