Currie & Brown Aero receives new flight approval

22 九月 2020

Currie & Brown Aero, the UAV surveying arm of Currie & Brown, has received approval from the Civil Aviation Authority for its operational safety case (OSC) to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) up to ten metres from people, property, vessels or vehicles outside of the company’s operators’ control. The OSC also permits flight operations of a height up to 600ft.

These enhanced OSC permissions allow Currie & Brown Aero to operate in congested areas, such as city centres, allowing for take-off and landing operations to be conducted with greater flexibility.

This is a significant enhancement on the standard permission for commercial operation flights, which requires a minimum operating distance of 50 metres, granted to most UAV operators. Currie & Brown Aero is now in the top 1% of UAV operators in the United Kingdom in terms of operating permissions.

Alan Manuel, managing director of Currie & Brown Aero and chief operating officer of Currie & Brown’s UK and Europe business, commented: “This approval is a significant achievement for Currie & Brown Aero and allows our team to expand its areas of operation to include city centres and other congested or built-up areas. Since its inception, Aero’s focus has been on quality and this award underlines our commitment to continuous service improvement.”

In the last 12 months, Currie & Brown Aero has been appointed on The Coal Authority’s framework for UAV surveys, has carried out topographical surveys for Birmingham City Council, and conducted multiple surveys of university estates and local authority buildings around the UK. Currie & Brown Aero continues to provide progress reporting for the University of Cambridge’s landmark Cavendish III laboratory build. The below image shows progress on 150 Holborn, Dar Group's new London headquarters.