A British company is the first in history to fly a drone across the English Channel -- a feat which was also the longest ever single flight of a quadcopter.
The team from Ocuair, a commercial drone company, flew the drone across the 32 kilometre stretch of water earlier this month on an "unusually sunny and calm morning". The flight, starting in France and finishing in Dover, took just 72 minutes and, the team says "demonstrates the future potential of commercial drone technology".
The journey wasn't easy -- because the English Channel is so busy, the drone had to dodge between two large boats. And 23 kilometres into the journey, the drone's GPS guidance stopped working, meaning the team had to manually guide it for the last 20 minutes of the flight, something they describe as "extremely challenging".
To adhere to current drone regulations, the pilot had to follow in a boat within at least 500m of the drone.
"Given that the team were operating on the very edge of what is practically possible for a quadcopter, the weather conditions were critical," the team wrote in a celebratory blog post. "Any type of adverse wind would have had a severe impact on the drone, meaning it might not make the distance. Given he was flying over water, there are no second chances or emergency landings".
The success of Ocuair's flight is likely to be music to the ears of companies such as Amazon and Google, who are both experimenting with drone delivery services.
It's a rare piece of good news for drones, which have been beset by bad press. Researchers have warned that the flying machines could be used by terrorists and the Zano drone Kickstarter was recently investigated by trading standards after failing to deliver. And the Metropolitan Police have even considered training a team of 'drone hunting eagles' in order to rid the skies of pesky drones.
Ocuair staff believe the flight will help to develop drone technology further; team leader Richard Gill described the flight as an attempt to "push the technology in a meaningful way". "The UK leads the world in terms of legislation, so I thought it would be good to see us lead the world in commercial UAV applications too," he wrote. "I wanted to do something meaningful to stand out and show what this technology is capable of. Companies like Amazon, with their Prime Air service, have seen the commercial potential of drones. This attempt pushes the boundaries of what is technically possible." "This record is important in the context of future drone activity because in proves that drones can be reliably used over a distance."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
