AMSL Aero and the future of flight.
When you take a right off the Goolma Road and turn down a dirt track, following the signs to the Bodangora Airstrip, the future of flight isn’t what you would expect to find being trialled in a grassy patch of land near the airstrip.
Yet that is exactly what you will find when AMSL Aero are on site, using the region as its outdoor laboratory to test its world-leading long-range zero emission electric Vertical Take Off and Landing Aircraft.
While it looks a little like a helicopter when it takes off, the vehicle flies fast and efficiently like a plane and carries several passengers.
It’s the future of flight, and it all started following a childhood spent surrounded by aviation but combined with many long trips on dirt roads.
“I grew up west of Uralla on a farm. Dad was a pilot. What took us half an hour by plane, took us three to four hours in the car. There were planes for everything from farming to mail planes, shopping and supplies, and pathology and medical assistance. It was so much nicer to fly than drive on the gravel road,” AMSL Aero Co-Founder Andrew Moore explained.
“That was the seed, a long way back. Since then, a large part of my career has been around making air transport affordable and available. Being in the regions was the start of it, because the need there is the greatest.”
Mr Moore said while growing up many people did fly, many also couldn’t because they didn’t have an airstrip.
“We have worked out how to build a low-cost, zero-emissions Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft. This removes the need for a strip.”
The team at AMSL Aero ended up in Wellington after they had built the aircraft and were looking for somewhere to run their tests.
“We started doing a scan across the country of decent airfields with all the right attributes. It couldn’t be too far from Sydney or a regional centre, it had to be a good airfield but not a lot of traffic, and somewhere that meets all the regulations that are in place through CASA. Wellington was placed on the shortlist and we reached out to Council.
“A partnership was born, and it’s quite ideal that a zero-emission aircraft is being tested in an airfield that’s surrounded by solar panels and wind farms – really it’s a dream come true when you think about it,” Mr Moore said.
The technology AMSL Aero is developing will mean Dubbo can be connected to every other part of NSW with just a flight at a cost that makes it available to many.
Based in Bankstown, the team from AMSL Aero regularly visit the area to undertake testing and said that without Bodangora Airport being available, other options would have had to have been sourced, including potentially overseas.
“We were on the cusp of looking overseas, but this came along at the right time. Anywhere further west would have cost more and slowed us down, but Bodangora met all the right criteria.”
Mr Moore said it had also been easy to work with the team at Council, knowing there was a lot of support from councillors and the Wellington Community for the work they were doing.
“Dubbo is a thriving region with a leading position on decarbonisation. The Orana REZ is a hot spot for zero-emission companies, and it would have been challenging to be in a region where this wasn’t supported.
“Being in the centre of a region that is leading the community into the future with solar panels and wind turbines and low-cost ways to develop energy means we know we are in the right place, and we are supported every step of the way.”
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