Ireland is leading the way when it comes to the drone industry, Julie Garland, founder and CEO of Avtrain, said.

Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow as the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Spright to collaborate on EASA pilot and operator training and certification, she said: “We’re very privileged and we’re very proud and it brings yet again Ireland to the forefront in the certification, but also driving the whole industry forward.”

Avtrain is a leading drone pilot and operator training and certification organisation.

Healthcare-specific delivery network

Spright, a division of US-based Air Methods, is an unmanned aeromedical solutions provider created to “save and improve lives”, by improving healthcare access and minimising supply challenges.

Spright is creating a drone-based, healthcare-specific delivery network for those who are impacted by a lack of immediate or timely access to healthcare resources.

The collaboration between Avtrain and Spright will take place at the Future Mobility Campus, located in Shannon, Ireland.

The collaboration will include certification of pilots, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), use-case proof of market, business development, and airspace utilisation.

IAA and EASA

Regulatory oversight of the project will be under the remit of the Irish Aviation Authority for the grant of their EASA operator certification.

The planned project will commence with first flights planned for later in 2022 at FMCI at Shannon Airport, County Clare.

Garland said: “They have existing pilots, they are an existing operator, they’re operating the Wingcopter at the moment, and we’ll be doing their certification with them in order to start looking towards critical medical delivery supplies.

“We’ve been talking to providers in Ireland, the whole ecosystem and Ireland is super excited about it.”
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