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Working closely with the World Bank Project Team, Pacific Air Services Organisation,  Civil Aviation Department Tonga, & Civil Aviation Authority Fiji, V-TOL Aerospace has successfully completed the Five (5) comprehensive RPAS Flight Operation Activities & Data Processing jobs for UAV4Resiliance. Additional work was also conducted for the Government of Tonga, at the request of the Nation’s PM. The enclosed map of the main Island of Nuku’alofa shows where many of V-TOL aircraft operations occurred during the Tongan program.  Each aircraft ‘icon’ indicates where a V-TOL Aircraft  became active and or launched into the Tongan National Airspace. 1000s of km were flown during the BVLOS > 1000ft AGL operations including inter Island activities.

 

V-TOL & the World Bank Project Team will now spend the next several months developing activity reports  preparing for workshops that will result from the findings and recommendations of the in-field work.    

 

“The aim was to test how safely, rapidly and effectively a fly-in emergency RPAS response team can conduct large area hi-res surveys of Islands hit by a natural disaster,” says Mark Xavier CEO of V-TOL. “I believe the aims of the activities were achieved. We look forward to investigating how similar advanced RPAS operations can occur routinely in the Australian National Airspace where significant productivity gains can be made in our ‘core’ economic industries,” he continued.    

 

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The Australian Unmanned Systems Academy (AUSA), the Education & Training Arm of V-TOL Aerospace, has achieved its Australian Registered Training Organisation (RTO) number 45260. AUSA designated as RTO 45260, will now commence delivering & developing Certificate level courses in addition to its CASA Approved Remote Pilot License (RePL) courses to advance and enhance the career pathways for those wishing to enter the rapidly emerging global robotics & automation industry.

 

“AUSA was the first Australian company to deliver the CASA Approved RPAS Pilot Certificate Course & is now qualified to add RTO level Certificate Courses to its offerings,” says Frank Martin, CEO of AUSA.  “Our secret is the significant benefit of having open access to parent company V-TOL Aerospace’s design, manufacturing & operational experience which enables us to test & develop effective training outcomes”, says Frank.  “I’m extremely positive that the original vision we had for the Academy is now coming to fruition”, says Mark Xavier, CEO & a Founding Director of V-TOL. He continued, “Our aim is to synergistically link professional teaching to applied learning for commercial real-world outcomes.”

 

For further information please contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

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Working with the World Bank & operating in accordance with its Part 102 CAD Tonga issued Unmanned Aircraft (AU) Operator’s Certificate CAD/UAOC/01/17, Chief Pilot & CEO Mark Xavier, monitors live operations from the V-TOL Australian Head Office, in Brisbane.

 

A V-TOL manufactured GosHawk II Fixed Wing Surveyor aircraft is seen in real-time operating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) at 1000ft AGL over the western end of Nuku’alofa Island, in the Kingdom of Tonga.

 

V-TOL Part 102 appointed Deputy Chief Pilot & project mission commander Andrew Rieker, is currently leading multi-aircraft BVLOS operations across the main Island of Nuku’alofa. In addition to standard risk mitigation, separation of V-TOL UA from manned civilian operations includes the utilisation of RelmaTech SIAM Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) technology providing live data feeds directly into Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Nuku’alofa International Airport.

 

“The benefit of conducting advanced operations is to test & demonstrate how safe, rapid & effective “fly-in” UA emergency response teams can be in conducting large scale wide area hi-resolution surveys of communities hit by natural disaster,” says Mark. “We look forward to conducting further long-range operations in the next few weeks demonstrating that UA operations can soon be an everyday routine occurrence in the SW Pacific region, ” he continued.

 

For further information please contact: [email protected]

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To deliver the additional field activities of the World Bank’s UAV4Resiliance program, V-TOL has received its second International RPAS Operator’s Certificate covering the National Airspace of the Kingdom of Tonga. Issued by CAD Tonga as CAD/UAOC/01/17 under Part 102 (NZ) Regulations, this authorisation includes advanced permissions enabling multi-aircraft beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. These permissions will enable V-TOL to fly its RPAS types over & between the Tongan Islands. “V-TOL looks forward to operating with key members of CAD Tonga and the World Bank in demonstrating advanced RPAS survey & support in this SW Pacific region”, says V-TOL CEO Mark Xavier. “To conduct advanced BVLOS missions, V-TOL has integrated RelmaTech’s SIAM UTM technology into each of its aircraft enabling Tongan ATC at Nuku’alofa real-time visibility of our operations”, he continued.