Pioneering work by a group of drone experts could soon overcome the regulatory hurdles that have hampered drone use.

The work involves allowing beyond-visual-line-of-sight flight, the aerial application of key crop protection products and seed sowing for reforestation projects.

SEAD Artists, a consortium of drone experts, believe the solution is building the evidence to demonstrate safe use.

Andy Sproson, chief operating officer of Autospray Systems, highlights they are only people who have started to find solutions that satisfy the regulator.

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“It’s the same with agricultural drone spraying. Yes, you can’t apply a product unless the application method is on the label, but there are processes in place,” he explains.

Aleks Kowalski, chief executive officer of Skypointe, believes there are three main areas beyond visual line of sight that drone operations need to address.

Put simply, these revolve around where the operator is, where everybody else is, and what the risk of people on the ground is.

“The only way people have been able to fly drones so far has been using visual line of sight. Usually, this means you are restricted to flying the drone no more than a range of 500m from where you take off.

He points out this is very limiting if operators want to fly over thousands of hectares.

Now, beyond visual line of sight has become a reality. It involves categorising low altitude, below 15m in their case, as an atypical air environment with an improbable likelihood of a collision with a crewed aircraft.

The Civil Aviation Authority announced a policy concept for this late last year, says Aleks.

“We’ve taken this policy concept and made a safety argument to the regulator that the type of spraying Andy does fits within that airspace at low altitude,” says Aleks.

This means that, presently, Autospray Systems is the only operator that can fly beyond visual line of sight without any trials or restrictions on the type of activity.

Aleks believes they have unlocked this hurdle and are the first to do so in the UK.

Pesticide approval

To go with their new beyond-visual-line-of-sight capability, Andy has been working towards regulatory approval for drone spraying of key plant protection products.

“We’ve had to create drift data to quantify how far it goes if you spray it with a drone. Our drift is down to 15m, which is equivalent to a horizontal boom sprayer.”

They already have trial permits for some products. Slug pellets were announced last year, which could be a gamechanger for farmers struggling through a wet autumn.

“We also have a biological insecticide called Dipel, which we’ve used to treat box caterpillars and oak processionary moths in oak trees.

“Other products are coming down the line. We have 13-15 at the end of the application process with the Health and Safety Executive.”

Andy adds this includes an application for glyphosate products, which would put drone spraying on many farmers’ radar.

“We are hopeful that we will have our glyphosate-active substance-based product approval very shortly.

“This season, our operators will be in the field applying these products on a trial basis, but with the benefit that we will be controlling the pest or weed while they gather data to support further commercial approvals.”

The current participants of SEAD Artists are Autospray Systems, Skypointe, the University of Liverpool and DronePrep.

SEAD Artists has collaborated on several projects utilising drones in specific settings, including paludiculture and forestry.