Swiss Alpine Drone Consortium wants fixed test drone flight zones in the Alps
The Swiss Alpine Drone Consortium wants to simplify drone test flights in the Swiss Alps. This way, Switzerland is to remain the "Drone Valley".
(Image: DJI)
The Swiss association Alpine Drone Consortium is campaigning to create drone flight zones in the Alps, specifically in the Swiss canton of Uri. The drone flight zones are intended to serve as test flight areas for drones in real alpine terrain under particularly difficult conditions, writes SRF.
To conduct drone tests in alpine regions, the requirements of the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (BAZL) must be met. Obtaining flight permits for the alpine region often proves to be time-consuming and fraught with obstacles, criticizes the Alpine Drone Consortium. This hinders the further development of flying drones, which are used in the mountains, for example, to monitor infrastructure located there such as hydropower plants, or for risk assessment of mudflows and avalanches. Furthermore, manufacturers of conventional drones like to test their multicopters in the Swiss Alps to prove the stability of their drones even in adverse environmental conditions, as they prevail there. However, the problem of obtaining a flight permit arises particularly when different manufacturers want to test with different drones in the same area. This is hardly possible for safety reasons.
Special flight zones in the canton of Uri
The Alpine Drone Consortium therefore proposes to establish special flight zones in the canton of Uri for drone testing purposes, which are more easily accessible and usable as a test field by drone manufacturers. The area is ideal for this: Uri is sparsely populated, yet well-developed and accessible, and also has challenging terrain formations for extreme tests.
The initiative of the Alpine Drone Consortium is supported by the cantons of Uri, Graubünden, and Ticino. Universities, businesses, and drone manufacturers are also involved. While the BAZL does not completely reject the consortium's proposals, it considers them difficult to implement. The current legal framework is not designed to open up entire areas as test zones for many users. Rather, the regulations provide for issuing individual permits for specific applications. So it may take time until these can be adapted – if that is even desired.
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A great deal depends on the further development of test flight approvals in alpine regions for Switzerland to remain a "Drone Valley" where drones can be tested under the harshest conditions outside of laboratories. Other countries have long recognized this gap. In the USA, for example, such test areas for unmanned aerial systems are being established and operated in Alaska and other states.
(olb)
