For only the second time, the feds have licensed a commercial drone operator in the country, says Blacklock’s Reporter..The licence, which is conditional for one year, was handed to a drone courier at the Edmonton International Airport..“To the best of our knowledge we believe we are the first publicly traded Canadian drone delivery solutions company with a Canadian Transportation Agency licence,” said Nelson Hudes, spokesman for Drone Delivery Canada Corp. of Vaughan, Ont..A private BC firm, Indro Robotics Inc. of Salt Spring Island, received the first licence last October 26. Both companies are limited to short-haul cargo flights..Hudes said the company fleet includes drones capable of 200-km flights with 400-lbs. of cargo. The one-year licence permits the company to fly between courier warehouses at Nisku, Alta. and the nearby Edmonton airport, an eight-km distance..“This is the first drone delivery project at a large scale international airport in Canada,” the company said in a statement..The licensing follows a Department of Transport report last May 25 that drone traffic control systems were needed to manage flights..“The small size of drones, the lower levels at which they fly and the urban environments in which they would like to operate combined with their ability to take off and land anywhere are all factors requiring a re-think of how our airspace is managed,” said the report..A Drone Act may be necessary to regulate traffic, said the report..“Drones are profoundly transforming the transportation sector,” wrote Nicholas Robinson, the department’s director general of civil aviation..“Drones are here to stay,” said the report, predicting remote controlled devices are part of a “futuristic society” where “drones can be used to collect data in areas such as monitoring wildlife, surveying pipelines, search and rescue missions, and delivering goods to remote areas.”.The transport department counted 53,000 registered drones nationwide..“The implications of drone use are potentially far-reaching,” the Library of Parliament wrote in a 2018 report. The drone industry “is expanding rapidly in both scale and scope and presents new opportunities to individuals, businesses and governments alike,” wrote analysts..Federal agencies to date have used drones to monitor for oil spills, examine ice conditions during the Atlantic seal hunt, watch for illegal immigrants along the Canada-U.S. border, and monitor illegal drug drops in prison yards..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
