The innovation laboratory AIRlabs Austria, which specializes in drone tests and is funded by the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK), carried out indoor weather tests with drones for the first time.

For one week, AIRlabs Austria carried out the first icing, climate and weather tests with civil drones in the climatic wind tunnel in Vienna, including the world's first test of a civil 25 kilogram drone under standardized icing conditions in manned aviation. “The whole team and the partners of AIRlabs Austria are happy and proud that our first large test measurements made it possible to carry out test campaigns in the founding year of our innovation laboratory, and that with such exciting wind, temperature and icing tests that are our reality for civil drone operations in Austria very well in winter ”, says Holger Friehmelt, Head of Aviation Institute at the FH Joanneum and at the same time Technical and Scientific Director (TWD) of AIRlabs Austria.

In November 2020, Rail Tec Arsenal (RTA) - a consortium partner of AIRlabs Austria - tested fully operational medium-weight, civilian octocopter drones up to 25 kilograms and with a maximum payload of 10 kilograms in various operating situations in the Vienna Climatic Wind Tunnel , also in real operation with running engines, with a wide range of different temperature, wind and weather conditions including standardized icing according to internationally defined specifications. Tests were carried out, for example, at sub-zero temperatures, wind speeds of just under 80 kilometers per hour and typical icing situations that are already familiar from manned aviation.