Skyports, a drone services provider has partnered with the\nMassachusetts Department of Transportation\u2019s (MassDOT) Aeronautics Division to\ndemonstrate how its drone services could link communities across the Cape Cod\nregion in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MassDOT is investigating the uses of drones as a solution to\nconnecting its remote communities to everyday services such as healthcare and\nlogistics, and in particular is looking to develop a capability to provide\nemergency medical delivery after storms or other natural disasters. The Cape Cod\nregion contains numerous hard to reach communities including islands,\npeninsulas, and offshore energy projects where drones can provide an effective\nmethod of keeping these areas connected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Jeffrey DeCarlo, MassDOT Aeronautics Administrator said:\n\u201cMassDOT is excited to be working with Skyports for this first delivery\ndemonstration, helping us establish a foundation for new, innovative drone use\ncases to support communities across the Commonwealth. The Aeronautics Division\nestablished the Drone Program after recognizing the potential of drones to\nsupport MassDOT\u2019s traditional inspection and asset management missions. We are\nnow exploring new drone use cases such as emergency delivery and are fortunate\nto be able to partner with companies like Skyports that are pushing innovative\ntechnologies and operations. Massachusetts has a diverse geography and a\ncomplex airspace to navigate, and Skyports has brought its tremendous flight\nexperience to bear in order to make this first demonstration a success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skyports\u2019 drones are capable of flying safely in harsh\nweather conditions and are able to carry varied cargo payloads up to 100 lbs.\nand has been granted approval by the Federal Aviation Administration to operate\nbeyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights during a week-long feasibility\nproject. The project will guide MassDOT as it explores broader BVLOS drone\noperations in Massachusetts, to perform services such as rail network and road\ninspections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
MassDOT already uses drones as part of its program to\nsupport the transportation infrastructure across the Commonwealth of\nMassachusetts. MassDOT\u2019s Drone Program performs daily flights to support the\nMassDOT Highway, Rail and Transit, and Aeronautics Divisions, along with the\nMassachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) that operates the subway and\ncommuter rail lines. These flights\ninspect rail track, document the health of wetlands near construction sites,\nand map highway and airport projects. As part of these efforts, MassDOT is also\nlooking to expand its ability to perform complex drone operations such as BVLOS\nflight over rail and emergency delivery to remote communities. MassDOT turned\nto Skyports to help define the approach to delivery operations, and to\ndemonstrate delivery flights across Vineyard Sound, between Woods Hole on Cape\nCod and the island of Martha\u2019s Vineyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alex Brown, Head of Drone Deliveries at Skyports said:\n\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to be partnering with the Massachusetts Department of\nTransportation to demonstrate how our drone services can bring life-enhancing\nbenefits to its rural communities. Our belief at Skyports is that services such\nas healthcare should be accessible in a timely way for everyone regardless of\nwhere they live, which up-until-now has been a huge challenge for road\ntransport in hard-to-reach areas. Drones really are transforming the logistics\nsector by bringing fast, frequent, reliable and affordable solutions. This is\njust the first step in bringing BVLOS drone operations, including drone\ndelivery services, to Massachusetts in the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the project, Skyports will complete a series of test\nflights and demonstrations to prove its operational reliability and\ntechnological capability. Following the completion of the project, Skyports\nplans to move into full scale permanent commercial operations in Massachusetts\nbefore expanding its operations across other states in the US.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Skyports, a drone services provider has partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation\u2019s (MassDOT) Aeronautics Division to demonstrate how its drone services could link communities across the Cape Cod region in Massachusetts. MassDOT is investigating the uses of drones as a solution to connecting its remote communities to everyday services such as healthcare and logistics, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,44,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-slider","category-massachusetts","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Skyports-News-Release-Image-edi.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20215,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20213\/revisions\/20215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}