The British National Health Service wants to fast-track deliveries of emergency medical supplies to hospitals in Northumbria using drones.  It’s a great idea that promises to bring speedy relief to tens of thousands of patients in this remote difficult-to-access region.  But the plan has run into a snag: Local pilots groups and airports oppose the initiative on the grounds that it could infringe upon their access to the same airspace.

The NHS and Zipline, the world-renown drone company with whom the service has partnered on its planned deliveries, have already made compromises to satisfy pilot and airport objections.  During the test phase, supplies will only be flown at certain restricted times to minimize the possibility of scheduling conflicts or worse, mid-air collisions between manned and unmanned aircraft.

But the pilots are fearful that the NHS plan, once implemented, will require them to defer to the drones and ground their own aircraft.  They’ve also questioned whether Zipline drones are actually necessary to replace existing road vehicles.  And they want the company’s aircraft outfitted with “sense and avoid” technology to minimize the possibility of collisions.

So far, Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates the country’s airspace, has yet to rule on the matter.  The flight tests aren’t scheduled to begin until next autumn, so there’s plenty of time for the two sides to keep haggling over the issue, with a potential resolution in mind.

The NHS drone initiative is part of a big push in Britain for the use of drones for expedited medical and mail deliveries, especially to more remote and sometimes inaccessible areas of England like Northumbria, which borders Scotland.

The NHS plan calls for drone supply missions to be conducted to about 35 hospitals serving 500,000 inhabitants in the region.  The drones would carry blood supplies and other emergency medical items that require rapid delivery to patients to be effective.

Silicon Valley-based Zipline is the perfect partner for the job.  It’s already  pioneered medical supply deliveries across Africa (since 2016) and more recently in the United States.  The company uses fixed-wing drones that drop supplies to designated landing zones with the help of a parachute.  The drones fly overhead at a high altitude and time-releases their packages without having to stop and hover to lower their cargo on a tether cable as many other cargo delivery services do.

Ziplines says its drones, which have a range of 130 miles, would be significantly faster, cheaper and more environmentally sustainable than the gas-powered road vehicles or helicopters currently utilized in Northumbria.

It says its package delivery system is precise and effective, eliminates loiter time, and minimizes the chance of interference with other aircraft or humans.

Despite efforts at compromise, local pilots remain skeptical.  They are appealing to the CAA to stop or at least suspend the initiative until additional modifications to the plan are made.

The simmering dispute heads up the need for improved communication between government agencies, drone suppliers and affected constituencies – in this case manned aircraft operators long accustomed to relatively uncontested control of local airspaces.

In addition, in the absence of an integrated air traffic management system for manned and unmanned aircraft, the potential for scheduling and route conflicts is inevitable and can delay progress toward expanded use of drones for vital national purposes.

The UK-based healthcare logistics firm Apian has already inked a deal with Zipline to use its drones to deliver NHS goods in Northumbria and elsewhere.  Given the humanitarian and business stakes involved, approval of the NHS plan in some form is likely guaranteed.

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