The Pasang Lhamu Khumbu Rural Municipality has been facilitating Chinese drone company DJI to pilot test its latest cargo carrier drone on Everest, which it said could be useful in bringing down garbage from higher camps of Mount Everest.
Mingma Chhiri Sherpa, chairman of the municipality, said that a drone is currently being tested to explore the possibility of bringing back waste from higher camps to the base camp. “The test has not been successful so far, but if it proves effective, we will use it,” Sherpa told Everest Chronicle.
The DJI claims the FlyCart 30 drone can fly up to 6,000m altitude without payload and carry up to 40kg cargo in a single battery condition for 9 minutes and up to a distance of 8 km. In its ideal dual battery mode, the drone’s maximum carrying capacity is 30kg for 18 minutes. It can fly safely in dual battery mode without payload up to an elevation of 6,000m. With a full 30kg load, its maximum safe altitude is 3,000 m.
This indicates that when used for flying above base camp situated at 5300m, the drone will have a severely reduced payload compared to its maximum 30 or 40kg capacity. When we take altitude of higher camps, and wind speed into consideration, it is likely that the drone will be able to carry only a fraction of its maximum load bearing capacity in Everest.
The drone flight is on test on the mountain this week. On Monday, it could not make a landing in Camp I despite several attempts. On Tuesday morning, it flew to Camp I with two oxygen cylinders and back. A team of DJI operators and technicians are handling the test flights.
Nepal Army and Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) are two entities that look after waste collection and cleaning of the mountain. The use of transport drones as a possibility of waste collection, though, is being put forward by the local municipality.
As the test drone is carrying goods up the mountain during this trial, a question arises about how it will be used. Whether it can be used as a means of transporting supplies, for waste retrieval or reserved for emergency purposes only remains to be seen. Nepal government made RECCO tracking devices mandatory for all climbers for this season which the climbers or expedition companies must purchase. With a hefty price tag of USD 42,000 per unit for the DJI Flycart 30, it is unclear how the drone use for transporting goods in Everest will work if this trial is deemed a success.
Drone use in Nepal is highly controlled and regulated. Nepal monitors and regulates the use of drones through Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Popularly known as ‘DRONE’ Flight Act 2019. Any drone above the weight of 25 kg is categorized into “D” category and considered high risk and is highly regulated. It states that flight should be conducted within visibility of the operator, 15 minutes of endurance, and within the horizontal distance of 300m. The Maximum flight above ground level is 200ft. It is also prohibited to fly in “No Fly Zones” of 5 KM horizontal distance within international borders. Additionally for national parks and other sensitive zones, they also need to procure park and other specific authority permission.
The test flight of DJI Flycart 30 ticks several of the boxes in the Act that needs regulation or special permit. The municipality has acquired permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs to do these test flights. The Department of Tourism, when reached for comments, mentioned that regulating drones is not under their purview.
The trial use of drones comes just days after a government-led mechanism overseeing the expedition decided to recommend the use of helicopters between Camp 2 and base camp, and vice versa.
Earlier, the local municipality had issued a Base Camp Management Procedure 2024 to ban the flights of goods carrying helicopters beyond Syangboche. However, it had to retract its stance within a month as the municipality itself is part of the decision to allow choppers to fly with supplies up to Camp II. And now, the municipality is working with DJI to test its transport drone flying above base camp.
With a rise in luxury expedition, local workers are now getting less opportunity to benefit from Everest season. Housekeepers to chefs and cleaners are mostly flown to the base camp from cities, as expedition owners compete to provide the most luxurious service even at the base of the highest mountain.
The chairperson has a different view on this matter. “Drones will not replace human workers. It will facilitate them. Its use will be limited so as not to take away employment,” he said.
