While you hear the words “black swan,” you almost certainly consider the award-winning Natalie Portman movie. However the phrase originated centuries ago as a metaphor for events regarded as not possible, or “black swan events.”
Because it seems, nevertheless, black swans actually exist, which provides the symbol recent meaning: the pursuit of feats which are rare but not not possible.
That’s precisely the mindset of brothers Konstantin and Svilen Rangelov, the co-founders of Bulgaria-based drone cargo airline Dronamics. Last week, the firm accomplished the successful first flight of its flagship Black Swan aircraft, flown remotely by two business airline pilots, near Bulgaria’s Balchik Airport.
Now the bearded brothers, who vowed to stop shaving until Black Swan’s first flight, have finally shed the most important concerns that they had about their technology — and their beards.
“For the reason that day we first imagined what the Black Swan aircraft could seem like, we’ve worked towards this flight,” said Konstantin Rangelov, Dronamics CEO. “Today we’ve made history and are proud to have demonstrated the validity of our drone technology.”
The flight, spanning 16 miles and lasting just a little greater than 10 minutes, won’t be enough to enable a full launch for Dronamics, which is targeting business flights in Europe later this 12 months. But with the firm moving steadily through European Union certification of Black Swan, the test served as a partial validation of its technology, which could swing the pendulum in its favor.
“It’s taken an unlimited amount of exertions, belief, and drive to prove that what we envisioned works,” said Svilen Rangelov, the firm’s CTO. “We are able to now deal with the subsequent step, the rollout of our business operations, and we couldn’t be more excited.”
While existing cargo airlines usually carry several tons of payload, that’s not what Dronamics is about. Neither is it attempting to enter the crowded last-mile delivery space, which has been the main focus for many drone startups. Quite, Black Swan is designed to face in for delivery vans.
The aircraft’s maximum payload of 770 kilos places it according to middle-mile ground transportation. And with a spread of greater than 1,500 miles, it’ll have the ability to cover the space between Chicago and Los Angeles or any two points in mainland Europe. The drone also has a capability of 125 cubic feet, just like that of a minivan.
With Black Swan, Dronamics is promising to halve overall costs, reduce delivery times by as much as 80% and take away as much as 60% of emissions in comparison with other modes of transport, including airfreight. Flying inside the firm’s network of Droneports, it is going to initially complete time-sensitive deliveries in industries akin to e-commerce, health care, perishables, engineering and mining.
The corporate is capable of bring down the price of those trips partly by removing pilots from the aircraft, allowing it to supply deliveries for lower than $2.50 per pound — as much as 50% lower than existing same-day air cargo services. Nevertheless, Black Swan might be flown fully or semi-autonomously.
With last week’s maiden voyage within the books, Dronamics appears to be well positioned for its planned business launch later this 12 months: Finally 12 months’s European Business Aviation Convention and Expo trade show in Switzerland, the firm announced it had received an EU light UAS operator certificate, the primary for a drone cargo airline.
Awarded by Transport Malta Civil Aviation Directorate, the license allows Dronamics to self-authorize flights across EU member states — including beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, that are a number of the most regulated in unmanned aviation. Malta is slated because the firm’s base for European operations and, together with Italy, the positioning of its first business flights.
Now, Dronamics is preparing to scale up Black Swan. When that point comes, the firm will leverage the mass production partnerships it signed last 12 months with Cotesa Holdings in Europe and Quickstep in Australia, in addition to the $40 million it raised in pre-Series A funding this past February. Laying the groundwork for a possible Series A round later this 12 months, the raise included participation by investors and enterprise capital funds from 12 countries.
The corporate also has a couple of more partnerships with a watch toward the longer term. Its agreements with Zero Petroleum and Cranfield Aerospace will support fossil-free alternatives to power Black Swan’s engine, which doesn’t depend on electric or hybrid-electric power just like the aircraft of rivals Elroy Air, Drone Delivery Canada or Destinus.
And thru its participation within the Care & Equity – Healthcare Logistics UAS Scotland (CAELUS) program, a consortium led by AGS Airports to develop the U.K.’s first nationwide medical drone distribution network, Dronamics will complete more Black Swan flight trials by 2024. Eventually, CAELUS hopes to enable deliveries of blood, organs, essential medicines and more, which could make it a precious partner moving forward.
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