By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

First-ever drone delivery company passes critical flight test in Foremost

Jun 14, 2017 | 12:36 PM

FOREMOST – Canada’s first-ever drone delivery company recently passed a critical flight test in our own backyard.

The Toronto-based Drone Delivery Canada Corp. (DDC) began it’s logistics model in 2014, and has been working with federal regulators ever since to create a market for the emerging industry.
 
Just last week (June 6), it became the only company in the country to successfully achieve Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights at the Foremost Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) range.

(Video credit: Drone Delivery Canada Corp.)
 
The small southern Alberta town, located about 114-kilometers southeast of Lethbridge, is one of just two ranges operating in Canada. It has roughly 600 nautical miles of airspace for training and field testing UAS devices.
 
CEO, Tony Di Benedetto, told Lethbridge News Now that passing the BVLOS test is a huge milestone.
 
“We’re working with the regulators to define pre-determined flight paths — point A to point B, just like a GPS in a car — and the drone actually flies its flight path out of visual line of sight of an operator.
 
“Our ground control station — for this flight [in Foremost] — was monitoring it 2,500-kilometers away in Toronto,” Di Benedetto explained. “That’s really the key to this is how you can scale the business to commercialize.”
 
He noted that DDC has been working with stakeholders and universities to develop an auto-pilot system to carry out BVLOS drone deliveries, essentially calling them “flying robots”.
 
But for safety purposes, communication must be maintained with the aircrafts. Certified pilots are stationed on the ground to watch the flights take place, and can intervene remotely if something goes awry, according to Di Benedetto.
 
“We’re moving towards commercialization. We look to commence operations in Canada’s northern communities where there is a lack of infrastructure, lack of roads… That’s where we’re looking to launch,” he continued.
 
Drones up to four-feet in diameter will be used to deliver things like mail, food and medical supplies in areas where those items are very costly, Di Benedetto said. After the service has been firmly established, he also foresees applications for aircrafts with 20, 30 or even 40-foot wing spans.
 
He went on to note that DDC has already established partnerships with retail giants like Staples and United Auto Parts. However, pricing for the delivery service has not yet been announced.
 
Much like driver-less cars have made an appearance in recent years, Di Benedetto believes that drone delivery technology will evolve quickly and be take off in urban centres sooner than you might think.