The flying ships that roamed Los Angeles in
Blade Runner,
the mythical science fiction film, are now a reality.
The National Police has announced that it is conducting tests on
an aircraft that is piloted remotely
and that it could start the tests at the beginning of next year.
It is a passenger drone developed by the Chinese company Ehang, which
already transports travelers in the Asian country
.
The air taxi arrived in Madrid disassembled in the middle of the pandemic and
was donated by the Government of Beijing to the National Police
, which now wants to start using it for special missions.
“We are negotiating with the State Aviation Safety Agency in
order to obtain the flight permit
and use it as soon as possible.
We are training a number of police officers so that they learn to pilot the drone remotely and we have technical support from the Polytechnic University of Valencia ”, assured the chief inspector of air resources service, Juan Dueñas, at the Cuatro Vientos aerodrome , during the presentation of the Expodrónica fair within the World ATM Congress.
The event, which will
be held on October 26, 27 and 28 in Ifema
, will be the most important in the world of air traffic since it brings together, for the first time, airplanes and drones, which until now enjoyed a certain enmity.
“We want to build bridges of understanding
between manned and unmanned aviation
.
We have to address the new mobility challenges of cities ”, stated Isabel Buatas, director of Expodrónica.
Passenger drones
The challenges are here.
The pandemic has severely punished this sector, which now wants to take off with force.
"Aviation is entering
a second golden age,"
said World ATM Congress Director Ken Carlisle.
Not only police officers will get on these aircraft.
The consortium of unmanned aviation companies, Umiles, is already developing a passenger drone that intends to
start flying next year
, although still without people inside.
“We have to integrate
the aircraft into the air traffic of the cities
in a safe way.
Our drone will begin to fly with passengers in the Middle East and in Latin America in 2023. In this sector we are going very fast, but we want to accelerate it further, ”said Carlos Poveda, CEO of Umiles.
For the moment, the Police are already testing the Chinese aircraft
in the Avila police center
and, later, they will test in Valencia and Malaga, but without travelers inside.
At present, drones have already been seamlessly integrated as a complement in
police investigation tasks
and there are 100 specialized agents in unmanned aviation.
In fact, they are already used frequently to search for missing persons,
marijuana plantations
or in drug-tracking operations in the Strait.
For example, in the explosion that occurred on Toledo Street last January, a drone was in charge of looking floor by floor that no injured person had been caught.
These drones used so far cannot carry passengers.
The great qualitative leap with the Chinese aircraft
is that it will transport two policemen
and it will be piloted from the ground.
“We can use it in emergency operations such as
landing in confined areas
or accessing scenarios contaminated by a nuclear explosion or a chemical or biological attack.
It would also be very useful in a situation like the eruption of the La Palma volcano, ”argues Baños.
The great handicap that these types of aircraft still find is that they are electric and
have a range of half an hour.
All these challenges will be addressed at the Expodrónica fair, which will be attended by representatives of NATO, NASA and a hundred companies from the sector.
The contest, which is held in Ifema, will be accompanied by
a drone demonstration
on Thursday, October 28 at the Cuatro Vientos airfield, in Carabanchel, which can be seen for free
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