LFV Annual Report 2019 1
L F V 2019 DIRE C T OR S ’ REPOR T DRONES IN PUBL
IC SERVICE Today, there are more than a half of a million Swedes who own a drone, a non-negligible share of which also use drones in their profession. There is a great economic, socially beneficial and environmental potential in professional use of drones/unmanned aircraft. Examples of areas of application: • agriculture and forestry • logistics and transport • police and rescue service • inspection of infrastructure (e.g. power lines, telecommunications towers, etc.) • surveillance (coast guard, military) In many cases, this can entail that tasks that were previously carried out using fossil-powered vehicles on the ground or in the air can now be carried out by electric drones. Dangerous manual work, such as tower inspections, can be done much more safely with drones. In order for operations to continue to develop and blossom, the services and infrastructure that make the use of drones possible with maintained safety for other airspace users, as well as people and property on the ground, are prerequisite. Another important issue that must be addressed within that context is acceptance from the general public, e.g. with respect to personal integrity and noise. LFV, together with the Swedish Transport Agency, has worked during the second half of 2019 on a preliminary study to identify what is needed to enable socially beneficial and commercially unmanned aviation on a larger scale than today. The preliminary study addresses which services and which infrastructure must be established, how responsibility for them should be assigned and proposals for forms of financing. The results of the preliminary study will be presented for the infrastructure department at the beginning of 2020, with the hope that its recommendations become reality within the very near future – for a more sustainable Sweden, economically and environmentally. 38