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With the support of Itochu Corporation, Wingcopter has applied for type certification for its Wingcopter 198 delivery drone in Japan and was recently approved for the procedure.
This is the first time that a foreign company's drone and the first time that a fixed-wing drone has been approved for the Type Certification Process for Class 1 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
The type certificate refers to the official approval of an aircraft type/type for air traffic. It is carried out by the aviation authority of the state in which the aircraft will later be registered. As part of the approval, it is checked whether the underlying regulations have been met by the Wingcopter 198 model series.
If approved, Wingcopter will receive permission to conduct Level 4 flights in Japan. Level 4 refers to flights beyond the line of sight of a pilot (BVLOS) in populated areas, significantly expanding the scope of application for delivery drones. This would make Wingcopter and its partner Itochu among the first companies to begin commercial BVLOS operations in Japan. With its aging population and remote landscapes, including many inhabited islands, the country is considered one of the world's largest markets for drone deliveries in the future.
Itochu and Wingcopter aim to use the Wingcopter 198 to build drone delivery networks and services that can serve as an air bridge to address various social challenges by transporting vital and urgently needed goods quickly and in an environmentally friendly manner over many kilometers and over challenging terrain.
