Drone Commercialization, History repeating itself?
Abstract:
Canadian drone and UAV commercial operators are at a crossroad looking for ways to move from recreational use to commercial and business opportunities. Package delivery, people transporters, search and rescue, and pipeline patrols are but a few of the increasing uses of drones. They want to fly farther, carry more and provide better services to customers. While drone prices descend and their capabilities climb, regulations are playing catch-up – as with most disruptive and new technologies. Rising into the air and airspace regulated predominantly for manned aircraft flight, drone usage in Canada is increasing several-fold over the manned aircraft. This talk will uncover drone applications and regulatory challenges as they take their place in the IoT-enabled connected transportation space.
J.A. McCurdy flew the “Silver Dart” at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, 23 February 1909, the first flight of an aircraft in Canada. The first commercial cargo flight in Canada took place in October 1913, when Montréal newspapers were carried to Ottawa. After World War One, the Canadian Air Board was founded in 1919 and it had regulatory control over all civil and military aviation.
After 100 years of manned flight, we are at that similar crossroad in the aviation regulatory and commercial lifecycle. This time it is unmanned aerial vehicles (unmanned aircraft) – drones that are going airborne.
Bio:
Kelly Hewitt is passionate about Aviation. After 20 years in the Canadian Air Force as an Air Traffic Controller, Kelly worked at Canadian Commercial Corporation as the Director of Aerospace and Defence contracting. His interest in the future of aviation sees Kelly at ING Robotic Aviation as ING prepares for commercial aviation operations and business application in Beyond Visual Line of Site (BVLOS) with drones and Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV). He has worked at five airports in Canada and Europe, been in involved in aviation operations in Africa and contracted aviation services with Middle Eastern buyers. Kelly completed his MBA at University of Ottawa. Kelly is a Project Management Professional (PMP), a Certified Management Consultant (CMC), a Certified Risk Manager (CRM) and was one of Canada’s first Accredited Airport Professional (AAP).
