Volatus Aerospace has announced that it is the first company in Canada to receive a Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) from Transport Canada to operate an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) without a visual observer, using a ground-based optical Detect and Avoid (DAA) system.
This is a key milestone in the commercialization of the AERIEPORT nesting station and a necessary and important step toward commercializing drone technologies at scale in Canada.
Volatus currently holds authorization to conduct BVLOS training at several locations across Canada. This new SFOC will enable the company to remotely pilot a Volatus M300 drone integrated with FlightOps’ remote operations software and a CASIA G Optical DAA system from IRIS Automation at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport.
“An SFOC is an authorization, usually on a one-time, single location, or risk level basis given by Transport Canada to operate above and beyond current regulations,” said Richard Podolski, VP of Flight Operations for Volatus Aerospace. “It’s a very well regulated and safety-oriented method for developing new functionality in an industry or accomplishing what nobody thought to write rules for.”
“For drone technology to be successful long-term, it needs to improve upon current methods and applications, be affordable, and scalable,” said Glen Lynch, CEO of Volatus Aerospace. “Today’s achievement has broken through a major barrier and opened the door to commercial opportunities that have only been dreamed about but until today have been just out of reach. Remote operations beyond visual line of sight are now a reality for Volatus. Commercialization begins now.”
