By Matt Nemeth

Foremost marks Canadian first for drones

Feb 24, 2017 | 5:17 PM

Foremost, Alberta — For the first time ever in our country a drone was tested and evaluated in a sanctioned Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flight Friday morning. And the milestone will enable commercial drone usage here to reach new heights.

From liftoff — to touchdown — Canada’s first approved BVLOS test of a drone took under 10 minutes. But getting to that point has been quite a journey.

“It’s been close to eight and a half years since we started,” said Foremost Mayor Ken Kultgen following the inaugural flight. “This is a step for the industry that needed to be taken.”

Conducted at the Foremost UAS Range — which is the only one of its kind in Canada — the inaugural flight saw geomatics company Ventus Geospatial take to the sky in a world-class Canadian made drone.

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“I’m originally from Foremost so it’s great to get an opportunity to come back and do something like this that’s very groundbreaking in the industry,” said Ventus Geospatial Co-owner/Operator Owen Brown.

Before Friday companies in Canada were greatly limited in what they could use their drones for despite current capabilities. They could only operate the aircraft within their line of sight, roughly 500 metres or so. Now the stage is set for drones to be used over distances that could reach up to 25 km.

“This is the first range that’s been approved where Transport Canada will let companies come and fly beyond visual line of sight,” says Foremost UAS Range Manager Doug Hanna. “That’s going to open up all kind of market opportunities for companies.”

And Foremost now finds itself at the forefront of the commercial drone industry.

“Now our range is sought after by lots of companies in Canada, the US, and abroad,” says the mayor.

But Brown notes there’s still a lot more that needs to be done before drones become an everyday part of doing business in our country.

“This is the first step of many that we’re going to have to take to push this further to actually go into commercial operations outside of this Foremost test range, but these are the things we need to do.”

Hanna says the flight may seem like one small step, but the day was a giant leap forward when it comes to using drones here.

“This is a little aircraft and it flew two point some kilometres down range and back. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, but this is a milestone for aviation.”