Drone news
What is changing for drone operators and the people who hire them: CAA rules, industry news and a daily round-up from the UK Drone Directory news desk.
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Daily update15 September 20264 min read
Daily update, 15 September: CAP 1616 rewritten, a drone seized near Luton, Warminster goes live
The CAA's revised CAP 1616 takes effect on 1 October with a streamlined route for short-term airspace changes. Police seized a drone flown inside Luton Airport's restriction zone. And the Army's first passive drone detection is live.
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Story15 September 20265 min read
Warminster garrison gets the first passive drone detection system at a British Army base
A GOV.UK case study says two UK suppliers, Dedrone and Quell, fitted a layered detection system at the Wiltshire garrison in under six months. It logged 29 drone alerts in its first 17 days and can pick out the pilot as well as the drone.
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Story14 September 20265 min read
Amazon asks the CAA to extend Darlington drone deliveries to the whole town
After more than 500 flights from its County Durham site, Amazon has applied to the Civil Aviation Authority to fly Prime Air drones across all of Darlington. Permission is expected "very soon", and the whole UK is the stated aim.
deliveryamazonprime-aircaadarlington
Story9 September 20263 min read
Hampshire puts trained volunteer drone pilots on call to its police control room
Five volunteers have passed a bespoke drone operators' course and can now be sent to live rural incidents by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, in a pilot the force believes is the first of its kind in the country.
policingruralvolunteershampshireoperations
Story8 September 20265 min read
Think tank asks ministers to fast-track a drone airspace pilot at Lydd Airport, with Doncaster and Cotswold next in line
The Good Growth Foundation says Lydd is the UK airport most ready to prove a "Special Use Airspace" model for drones, autonomous aircraft and conventional flying, and that the slow airspace change process is what stands in the way.
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Story7 September 20263 min read
Synnovis and Apian to fly urgent samples to a Blackfriars lab hub this autumn on Matternet drones
The pathology provider behind the UK's first medical drone delivery service says its next routes will carry bone marrow samples from Guy's and St Thomas' to its Blackfriars laboratory, after a pilot that moved more than 6,000 samples.
medicaldeliverylondonoperations
Story4 September 20264 min read
Drone restrictions reported over East Yorkshire for the Tour of Britain stage on 4 September
A NOTAM warning is reported over the county up to 2,700 ft between 08:45 and 15:45 BST as the race runs Hull to Beverley, and Humberside Police are reported to require permission to fly there. We could not confirm it outside one BBC report.
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Story3 September 20263 min read
Tekever buys Edinburgh's Flowcopter and keeps the engineering team in Scotland
The Portuguese drone maker has bought the Edinburgh firm behind a hydraulic drive for heavy-lift aircraft, and says the site stays open under its own brand.
industryscotlandheavy-lift