To manage very high-risk drone operations, there will be stringent requirements for both the aircraft, the pilots and the organisation. Safety, however, is not something you design from behind your laptop in Word documents and Powerpoint presentations. That requires practical experience, lots of practical experience. 

At Technology Base, Twente Airport and Space53 work closely together to realise the Netherlands' unmanned ambitions. Meiltje de Groot, director of Twente Airport confirms the possibilities for the larger unmanned aircraft, for which the eastern Netherlands seems to be particularly well equipped: ‘As a former military airport, Twente Airport has a lot of testing and experimentation space, including the 3 km long runway for gaining practical experience, which is especially necessary for this complex category. 

As an innovative airport, we already offer literally and figuratively all the space we need to test the developments, technologies and operational procedures of unmanned cargo aircraft. We can do this indoors in one of the hangars, but also outdoors in a protected environment. This is important not only for the developers of the aircraft themselves, but also for the parties involved in operating them.’

More on the future possibilities of parcel-delivery drones and air taxis on Dronewatch.nl.