Drone flies from Tingwall to Norway in ‘landmark’ operation
AN ENGLISH aviation company has completed a landmark drone operation across international airspace from Shetland into Norwegian waters and back again.
Flylogix deployed one of its state-of-the-art uncrewed aircraft from Tingwall Airport to carry out a methane emissions survey of Equinor’s Statfjord B platform on 11 July.
The operation, which took almost five hours and involved the aircraft travelling a total of 290 nautical miles, is the first time a civilian cross-border drone flight has been made from the UK and is among the first of its kind in Europe.
The flight forms part of Flylogix’s ongoing work with Equinor to monitor and measure methane emissions from its North Sea infrastructure.
Flylogix said delivering the operation safely required close coordination with UK and Norwegian aviation authorities, alongside Equinor’s own teams.
The company’s chief executive Charles Tavner called it a “hugely significant moment for Flylogix and for the wider industry”.
“Flying a drone from the UK to survey an asset in Norwegian waters shows that our long running ambition to deliver remote, cross-border drone operations safely has been realised,” he said.
“Norway has always been a key part of our growth strategy – this flight is the clearest possible demonstration of what that expansion looks like and we will now look to take our pioneering solution further afield.
“The North Sea has become a genuine proving ground for our technology and our approach to regulation.
“Having established what safe, remote drone operations look like in practice, we’re now in a position to take that model to other basins that need to tackle their methane emissions.”
Flylogix said its low-emission, remotely piloted drones offer a safer and lower-cost alternative to conventional aerial survey methods, while significantly reducing the carbon footprint of that work.
Another drone company, Windracers, intends to fly an uncrewed aircraft from Tingwall to Norway – but in this instance the drone would land on the ground.
Tingwall to Norway drone flight given green light in UK first
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