Lawmaker offers three destinations for usage of drones in developing ‘low-altitude economy’

Using drones to deliver food and provide tourist trips on islands and transport were three ideas offered by lawmaker Elizabeth Quat Pei-fan for Hong Kong’s development of “low-altitude economy”, while Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said relevant legal and safety regulations must be sorted out first. 

Her suggestions came in an interactive exchange session with the Hong Kong leader at the Legislative Council on Thursday. 

Quat said Hong Kong should also fast-track the development of “low-altitude economy” now that many mainland cities are putting tremendous efforts into this area. She also recommended the government establishes a dedicated inter-departmental task force for the matter. 

She suggested setting the co-location check-point at the airport to provide cross-border helicopter flights to international business people. She also suggested using the drones to deliver food and provide air journeys on islands or attractions like the UNESCO Global Geopark. 

While Lee agreed with the initiative to develop “low-altitude economy”, he raised certain safety concerns and difficulties. 

“Our city is very dense with a lot of skyscrapers. This development requires us to fly to different zones, and the more populated an area is the lower the altitude. How should we handle these type of emergencies?” Lee asked. 

Quat then recalled her previous exchange trip to the mainland where she learned that enterprises would arrange the unmanned drones or helicopters to fly at different altitudes to avoid crashes. 

Unlike vehicles traveling on a two dimensional plane, flights are three dimensional and it is easier to prevent collisions, she added. 

“Even if half of the drone’s blades break, it won’t crash. The drones will also be equipped with a parachute, making them less likely to come down and hit someone,” Quat jokingly said. 

Lee further said the drones’ emergency crashing is not the sole concern as the flight path could be blocked during its course of descent. Signal emission is another matter that mustn’t go south, he added. 

He noted that the development involves numerous legal and safety issues and relevant departments, such as the Marine Department and the Civil Aviation Department, have been coordinating research on feasibility.

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