West of England Correspondent
For the first time an unmanned police helicopter has been tested in the UK.
The distant piloted aircraft is larger than the existing drones used by the police forces and have more range and cut emissions.
The National Police Air Service (NPAS) said that existing helicopters are not expected to be replaced, but intended to join the fleet to search for suspects and missing people.
David Walters, NPAS Head of Futures and Innovation, said it would help them stay aerial for a long time, saying: “In future, this capacity will be able to work anywhere between eight and 12 hours.”
Schiebel Camcopter S-100 Standard Police Helicopters carry the same high-power infrared camera, but can fly up to 12 hours.
It is expected to calm down and there are low noise complaints.
Night-time test flights are being conducted on the Bristol channel, in a program funded by the Home Office and by the Civil Aviation Authority and National Air Traffic Services.
‘Missing people search’
Mr. Walters said: “We see the ability of a mixed fleet [in the future] Where we have a mixture of crew and without aircraft. ,
They added the current aircraft available to the authorities – a mixture of helicopters and fixed -wing – this means they can stay in the air between two to six hours.
He said that 30% of the NPAS call was to search for missing people, for which unmanned aircraft is particularly useful.
“We make daily calls with many different cases, missing people, chasing, electric bikes and such things around such things and deploying our helicopters based on an hour is very expensive,” said Mr. Walters.
“it [new helicopter] The opportunity to deploy the same type of capacity to provide us more affordable air support, while still designed for those aircraft, to maintain our crude aircraft for high speed discovery. ,
He said that the drone offered a 90% decrease in emissions per hour as compared to the aircraft of the crew.
The new aircraft, or unmanned aerial system (UAS), is flown by a pilot by a pilot by a pilot, operating his camera by a police officer.
NPAS Tactical Flight Officer, PC Matt Leading told BBC News that he had access to the same tool as an officer in the air.
“My work does not change, whatever we are doing, that is the new technology, embracing the same service, using the same tool on a slightly different platform,” he said.
“There are still events when I will sit in an aircraft at 1,500 feet (457 m) for some specialist operations and tasks, which require a crew on the scene.”
The unmanned aircraft has a forward -facing camera that can monitor the pilot and use radar to detect and avoid other aircraft.
Testing flights are part of the program of experimental drone tests, including Amazon delivery and infrastructure inspection.
Sophie O’Shullyan of the Civil Aviation Authority told BBC News that research would give rise to a more unmanned aircraft in our sky.
“We are also working with healthcare providers what we can do.
He said, “We are working with companies like Network Rail to see the opportunities around the infrastructure monitoring.”
Remotely piloted drones are already in use with HM Coastguard and Royal Navy, performing search and reconnaissance roles, but unmanned police helicopters will be the first flight in residential areas.
Test flights are to be held by October, but it is expected that unmanned aircraft will require years of test years before joining the NPAS fleet.
