Volansi receives Airmanship Special Award from African Drone Forum

May 20, 2020 | AUVSI News

The African Drone Forum awarded Volansi the Airmanship Special Award for its outstanding participation and operational excellence during the Lake Kivu Challenge unmanned aerial vehicle flying competitions.

The Lake Kivu Challenge was part of the 2020 African Drone Forum, which was held in February in Rwanda. The Forum and Challenge were a collaboration between the Government of Rwanda, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID/UKAID), and the World Bank Group. The goal of the Forum and Challenge was to demonstrate real-world use cases for autonomous drone delivery across Africa.

More than 70 applications from drone companies headquartered in 35 countries were submitted for the Challenge. The top 10 finalists were invited to test their drones and operators through real-life scenarios at Lake Kivu in Western Rwanda.

“We see Airmanship as a multi-dimensional concept and a mindset that every member of our team strives to embody every day,” says Volansi CEO and Co-Founder, Hannan Parvizian.

“We are honored to receive the Airmanship Award from the African Drone Forum organizers and see it as another validation of our ability to continue to transform the way critical goods are transported to the places they are needed most.”

During the flying competition, participants underwent thorough scrutineering for their safety practices, training standards, maintenance procedures, risk mitigation, and concepts of operation.

“Our team was able to leverage the experience we have from our on-going, operational projects already occurring in Africa and elsewhere,” says Mike Jackson, director of Flight Operations at Volansi and recently retired US Air Force Special Operations Colonel.

“That ability to scale over and over is our differentiator. We have operational standards and procedures already in place, which is important for disciplined and professional aviation operations- especially ones that rely on automated flight.”

Thanks to the hybrid flight system employed in their design that combines electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) with a fixed-wing, “pusher”-driven forward flight mode, Volansi’s UAS are built to handle the complicated terrain of Africa, which allows them to complete complex, two-way missions with minimal to zero infrastructure needs.

The UAS fully land at the delivery point, which means they can deliver and return cargo such as samples for analysis and diagnosis, or parts for repair.

Volansi would like to continue commercial and humanitarian projects in Africa. The company’s long-term vision is to work with local governments and communities to build the first interconnected delivery drone network within the continent.