Prague, March 26 (CTK) – The number of registered drones that are used commercially has been rising in the Czech Republic and there are more than 400 at present, according to statistics of the Civil Aviation Authority (UCL), its spokesman Vitezslav Hezky has told CTK.
At the end of 2015, the UCL registered only some 150.
The number of firms and offices that hold a licence to use drones for various commercial activities has also increased to 192 now, Hezky said.
The highest number of drones are those from a mass production that need not be registered if used for private recreational purposes.
However, they must be registered if their owners want to use them for commercial activities or for equipment weighing more than 20 kilos. However, such heavy drones are exceptional.
The highest number of drones registered in the UCL database are those weighing from one to seven kilos.
The most frequently sold drones in the Czech Republic are products of the Chinese DJI company, Alexandra Cermakova, manager of the Heureka.cz shopping portal, said.
The most popular model in this e-shop is a seven-kilo DJI Mavic Pro which costs from 30,000 crowns in the Czech Republic.
Some drones for the Czech market are also produced in the Czech Republic, but they are considerably more expensive than the Chinese models since they are tailor-made directly for customers.
The Robodrone Industries company seated in Brno produces about 12 drones annually, said Miroslava Paskova, from its marketing section. The firm does not focus on mass production, but it makes individual equipment to meet its customers’ needs. These drones must be equipped, for instance, with infrared cameras, sensors to measure radiation and similar devices that communicate with the drones’ control mechanisms and secure the data transfer to the earth.
Robodrone’s significant customers are the Skoda car maker in Mlada Boleslav, central Bohemia, and the Mountain Rescue Service that has ordered a special drone capable of searching for people buried under avalanche.
($1=25.008 crowns)
