News, Press, and Informationen
News from German Copters pertaining to the areas of corporate development, technology development, customer relations, and press releases.
02-27-2021 Contacts are vital in business. But in times of Corona, these contacts can also cost lives. Our company is now organized 95% digitally. Nevertheless, there are emotional components such as trust and respect that are difficult to implement on the screen. In many cultures, “showing your face” is just as important as the product and the service itself.
We think that trade fairs and exhibitions are not really suitable at the moment, even when implementing the best hygiene concepts. We have decided to cancel our trade fair appearances and concentrate more on our direct contacts. But the effort is enormous. For the quarantine when entering the destination country and when returning to Germany, two weeks alone must be planned. The risk in the travel destination is not always clearly identifiable because either the calculation is different or the risk is communicated differently. But if a project has been digitally worked on for almost a year and the goal is in sight, we accept the challenge. And there is also a positive side effect: Seven days of quarantine are seven days of undisturbed working hours. The effectiveness is high and the output is enormous.
We think that trade fairs and exhibitions are not really suitable at the moment, even when implementing the best hygiene concepts. We have decided to cancel our trade fair appearances and concentrate more on our direct contacts. But the effort is enormous. For the quarantine when entering the destination country and when returning to Germany, two weeks alone must be planned. The risk in the travel destination is not always clearly identifiable because either the calculation is different or the risk is communicated differently. But if a project has been digitally worked on for almost a year and the goal is in sight, we accept the challenge. And there is also a positive side effect: Seven days of quarantine are seven days of undisturbed working hours. The effectiveness is high and the output is enormous.
02-02-2021 We welcome Dana Heinrich to the German Copters team. She will take over the organization of logistics in the company with immediate effect and report directly to the managing director. With Dana, we were able to hire a decisive and communicative employee. We look forward to her female power and a successful cooperation.
The previous Head of Logistics Eike Oehm is leaving German Copters at his own request. We are very sorry to lose him and thank you for his cooperation. We wish him continued success and all the best personally for the future.
The previous Head of Logistics Eike Oehm is leaving German Copters at his own request. We are very sorry to lose him and thank you for his cooperation. We wish him continued success and all the best personally for the future.
01-15-2021 Some jobs are really rare, but they are really fun. For a customer we produced some film sequences from the air. The sequences above Wackerbarth Castle were recorded with permission and after the visitors had already left the area.
01-09-2021 We have been inspecting buildings, towers and radio masts with drones for over 14 years. In the beginning, we started with home-built drones. During this time, flying was a real challenge due to the “multiplex” control, which made it difficult and less safe to fly than today’s systems. Also, the flight times only lasted approximately 10 minutes during these early times. Now we are seeing drones weighing 250g that have tenfold performance when comparing it to a 26,000€ drone back in the day, all while being more technologically advanced. Currently, we fly the Microdrones model md 4-200, which has come a long way from our home-built drones. We are excited to see what the future holds for drone technology. And will be looking forward to using the new DJI Mavic 3 and the GT20 from AR on future inspections as well as expanding our fleet.
12-31-2020 As of today, the new certificates of knowledge for drone pilots can be filed on the website of the Federal Aviation Office. For the “small” A1 and A3 certificates, the exam can be taken online after completing the online course. All German Copters pilots that previously held the “old” German proof of knowledge have already successfully passed the test for the new “EU drone driving license” on the first day. When the courses and exams become available for the A2 pilot certification, the German Copters pilots plan to successfully complete these as well.
12.23.2020 It was a difficult year, but a highly successful one for us. Despite the restrictions caused by Coronavirus, we have not only tripled sales in the medical logistics sector, we have also changed the structures in the company, so that German Copters can be managed 100% digitally. With Uplink GmbH and RKH Clinics, we were not only able to win new customers, but we were able to further strengthen our existing customer relationships and achieve relevant increases in sales with our existing customers.
The year 2021 will be a milestone for German Copters. In the last two years, we have worked intensively on the conception and technical solutions for setting up a regular drone flight operation for the transportation of medical materials. We are confident that we will operate the first long-haul flights before summer 2021.
We wish all employees, customers, partners and their families a peaceful and relaxing Christmas and also a Happy New Year 2021.
The year 2021 will be a milestone for German Copters. In the last two years, we have worked intensively on the conception and technical solutions for setting up a regular drone flight operation for the transportation of medical materials. We are confident that we will operate the first long-haul flights before summer 2021.
We wish all employees, customers, partners and their families a peaceful and relaxing Christmas and also a Happy New Year 2021.
12-10-2020UPLINK Network GmbH, founded in 2013, has established itself as the market leader in recent years as part of the deregulation of the market for FM transmitter network operations. With the operation of 750 VHF frequencies today, most of which are held with their own frequency allocation, the company is helping to shape an exciting industry and taking care of the who-is-who of private and public radio broadcasters. German Copters will survey radio masts for Uplink and provide 3D data for analysing the antenna systems and maintenance preparation.
11-11-2020 We are looking forward to the project that we will be implementing together with the RKH clinics. In terms of complexity, innovative technology, and route lengths, it will be the first project of its kind in Europe.
11-20-2020 When will medical drones fly? - asks the Ludwigsburg newspaper. We are currently working intensively on the practical implementation. Over 30 authorities, institutions, and associations are currently involved in the preparations. In addition to the technical coordination with the various air traffic participants, we also have to take into consideration the environmental protection, safety concepts, and the establishment of communication chains.
11-14.2020 The Pfortzheimer Zeitung reports on the German Copters project and particularly emphasizes the importance it has on combating the coronavirus.
11-12-2020 For a few months, German Copters has been working with the RKH clinics in Baden-Württemberg on a project to optimize the transport of laboratory samples and urgently needed medical supplies. The first calculations have shown that transport times can be reduced by up to 75% when transporting laboratory samples. The Ludwigsburger Zeitung reported on the project.
11-12-2020 The SWR reported when the RKH clinics presented the joint project with German Copters GmbH for the drone transport of laboratory samples in Markgrönningen.
08-13-2020 Currently, we are noticing that innovative start-ups cannot work according to standardized business plans. It is not just the imponderables in the technical development process that are difficult to calculate. The greatest risks arise from unclear or non-existent legal regulations, blanket bans, unclear responsibilities in the authorities or an exhausting legislative process. Our hard-earned technological lead simply cannot be capitalized as a result. Other countries, such as Canada, China, New Zealand and the USA, are increasingly leaving us Germans behind when it comes to launching innovative products and services. According to our research, innovations that are comparable to ours can be brought to market in China within 2 to 3 months. In Germany, the comparable process unfortunately takes an average of 1.5 to 2 years. The quality seal “Made in Germany” is increasingly fading, as we in Germany find it increasingly difficult to be “made”. For these reasons, we welcome the statements by Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, who calls for more freedom for innovative companies. According to his statements in dub-magazin.de, innovations must not fail due to legal regulations. But that is only one component for a faster market launch of innovative products. We also demand more courage and willingness to communicate from the authorities - at least in Saxony. This could lead to greater mutual understanding and accelerate the difficult administrative processes.
Prime Minister of Saxony Michael Kretschmer in Entrepreneur-Magazine
11-12-2020 Flights with a drone out of sight (BVLOS) only make sense if the drone is equipped with FLARM and ADS-B and is visible to other aircraft. That is why German Copters relies on a HoD (HookOnDevice) from Droniq, which not only makes the drone visible to other air traffic participants using FLARM and ADSB, but also enables software-supported active collision avoidance. This basic requirement allows for safer drone flights out of sight (BVLOS)
10-30-2020 German Copters have been working on the development of new methods for inspecting radio masts for over a year. The main focus here is to increase efficiency from data acquisition to analysis. With the use of semi-professional drones it has made it possible to significantly reduce these costs. In cooperation with one of the world's largest system providers for complex radio transmitter infrastructure, an analysis system based on 360-degree video was developed, which is easy to implement in daily practice. The Europe-wide introduction of the analysis system is currently in preparation.
11-12-2020 The coronavirus pandemic calls for new innovative ideas and concepts. The RKH clinics are working together with German Copters to optimize ground-based and drone-based logistics for faster medical processes and a greater safety for patients and employees.
11-10-2020 A SORA (Specific Operations Risk Assessment) is a risk analysis used for unmanned flight systems (civil drones). SORA is a development of the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems, or JARUS. SORA is used as a multi-stage process for the risk assessment and is intended to improve safety while using drones. Risk management is used to identify and contain dangers to people on the ground, air traffic, and critical infrastructure. German Copters has been developing SORAs for various projects in collaboration with Droniq for over a year. A SORA created by German Copters includes, not only the risk analysis, but also a detailed ConOps (Concept of Operations) as the basis of the guidelines that were drawn up for an official approval process.
09-09-2020 German Copters was invited to the meeting of the Saxon Harbor and Transport Association (www.shv-oberelbe.de). CEO René Micknaß and CMO Holger Schulze presented and discussed solutions based on drones in logistics. German Copters says thank you very much for the invitation, and it was an exciting event with many interesting discussions.
09-04-2020 High-resolution photography,so-called "gigapixel photography", is not only used in marketing campaigns. This technology is also used in the construction planning and analysis of properties. CMO Holger Schulze is one of the pioneers of this technology. In 2013, he produced the largest image in the world, which contained over 320 gigapixels (confirmed Guinness World Record) in London. High-resolution photos are also created for customers in Germany. The city of Dresden has almost a 1 gigapixel photo of its surroundings.
08-11-2020 For almost a year we have been preparing technically and organizationally for the transportation of urgently needed medical materials, tissue samples, and blood samples. We also have been discussing the approval of these drone flights with the local authorities since mid-March. The documents for this application process are more than 150 pages long. During the approval process the authorities wanted to witness a drop test. This test is intended to show that the transport box, we use, is also suitable for the transportation of hazardous biological materials. The drop test should be carried out according to the existing specifications from a height of 5 to 10 meters. This is not practical since the drone can have a flight altitude of over 100 meters at any given time. Since the box cannot detach itself from the drone due to the multiple safeguards installed, we removed those safeguards to perform the tests. We decided to drop the box from a height of 60 meters and 100 meters. The results from both tests concluded that there was no damage to the packaging or the goods inside the box.
07-01-2020 We still see the future of transportation as a hybrid of ground and air transport, but until then we will have to rely on ground. We shall confidently show this with our vehicles.
08-13-2020 Together with our technology partner G-UAV, we presented the drones we use and our new ground station to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. The occasion was the presentation of the federal government's new action plan: "Unmanned Aviation Systems and Innovative Aviation Concepts" by Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer. Something is moving in Germany and we are at the forefront.
06-06-2020 Happy Birthday German Copters! We worked a lot last year, but also had a lot of fun. We have generated a profit in the first month and the company continues to grow. That is a reason to celebrate with the team and families.