What at its launch was hailed as the UK’s first permanent UAV postal delivery operation has been temporarily suspended after a Skyports Drone Services craft encountered a technical glitch, and aborted a routine mission linking Orkney Islands destinations for the Royal Mail.
The aerial postal service replacing habitual ferry runs between Orkney’s islands was launched in August. Skyports Drone Services operated what began as a three-month trial using DLV-2 Speedbird Aero craft, which are capable of hauling six kilos of payload over a maximum 16-kilometer distance. One of those UAVs wound up in the waters during a mission last week, after a technical mishap led a remote monitor to deploy an onboard parachute as part of a controlled descent.
Though neither Skyports nor Royal Mail posted website information on the incident, UK press outlets that caught wind of it said the UAV had been returning from Graemsay to its base on the nearby island of Hoy when the problem arose. Though the craft was carrying no payload when it was ordered down – and was successfully aborted according to protocols – the partners paused the service pending inquiries.
Given the proliferation of both trials and fully operational drone activities for commercial delivery, surveying, inspection, public service, and medical response organizations around the globe, cases of craft coming down prior to completing their mission remain remarkably rare.
Yet the very novelty of UAV tech at work overhead understandably attracts considerable media and public attention to those exceptional failures – scrutiny both Skyports and the Royal Post might have been wiser to meet pro-actively, especially in light of the safe, successful response to the incident.
Though DroneDJ will update this post with any comment either company may provide in response to its queries, thus far the only details on the event came from an unnamed Skyports spokesperson in a Daily Mail story no longer accessible on the publication’s site, but which is online here.
The representative noted the rarity of any onboard glitches, and said the controlled descent “following the occurrence is a purpose-built safety mechanism that mitigates potential risk, along with a large number of other technical and operational mitigations.
“We’ve completed hundreds of flights with this aircraft in Orkney, delivering parcels, packages, and fish and chips to island residents, and have seen really positive results,” the Skyports official added in an observation that arguably would have been better broadly and vigorously communicated to members of the public inclined to fear such rare breakdowns.
Skyports has been working with Brazilian drone supplier Speedbird Aero to clarify the original source of problem to resume suspended service as quickly as possible. Prior to the pause, Skyports drone flights had cut delivery time of Royal Mail post between the islands from 24-hour ferry rotations to flights prepared and dispatch in as little as one-hour – a gain in time and convenience Orkney residents doubtless miss just now.