RENO, Nev. — Drone company Flirtey has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct drone delivery flights within the city of Reno.
The approval, announced at a joint press conference between the city and Flirtey on March 8, enables the company to conduct drone delivery operations with a pilot controlling the flights from a remote location — a process referred to as Beyond The Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).
A Flirtey drone flies over a Reno neighborhood to deliver an automated external defibrillator (AED) during an October 2017 demonstration of the process.
“Flirtey's industry-leading technology is now approved for drone delivery beyond visual line of sight, a major milestone that brings life-saving and commercial drone delivery another step closer to your doorstep,” Flirtey Founder and CEO Matthew Sweeny said in a news release.
The approval has been months in the making; Reno is one of 10 participants nationwide in the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program (IPP), a fast-track regulatory program that accelerates the integration of life-saving and commercial drone operations within the National Airspace System (NAS).
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The city chose Flirtey as its partner to deliver AEDs for the immediate treatment of a person experiencing cardiac arrest, and to pioneer a scalable model for commercial drone delivery.
“Public safety is our top priority, and the use of drones to provide life-saving AED technology to cardiac patients will save lives across our community," Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve said in a statement.
For more information, visit the reno.gov program website.
