Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions of New Brunswick, which makes safety parachutes for drones, has completed key testing that means the company now adheres to new rules on drone safety.

Based in the Saint John suburb of Rothesay, AVSS issued a statement on Tuesday saying its parachute has completed the world’s first ASTM F3322-18 parachute recovery system testing. This testing is now needed for commercial operations of a DJI M300 RTK drone in the USA, Europe, and India.

AVSS makes parachutes that can deploy when drone engines fail or drone operators lose control, with the goal of preventing injuries to anyone standing underneath. Now that it’s completed these tests, operators of these drones can safely fly over people or beyond the visual line of sight.

“AVSS is now the first parachute recovery system company in the world to pass this testing standard on the DJI M300 RTK,” said the statement. “The successful completion of this industry-leading standard also comes at a perfect time for global operators of the DJI M300 RTK. AVSS has also commenced shipping the PRS-M300 to their more than 40 authorized dealers across the world this week too.”

In an email, AVSS Chief Executive Josh Ogden said the company, which last year raised capital from Japanese specialty venture capital firm Drone Fund, continues to grow. Sales in 2020 were 10 times those of the previous year, and he expects growth of 7 to 10 times in 2021. He added that the AVSS team should reach 20 to 25 full-time employees by the end of the year.

The company teamed up with the third-party testing agency NUAIR to conduct the tests. They had to complete rigorous safety and failure scenarios over three days at the New York UAS Test Site in Rome, NY. The 45 successful tests on the DJI M300 RTK demonstrate the reliability and performance of AVSS’s parachute system, said the statement.

“Working with the NUAIR team ensures that our customers know we’ve partnered with the premier FAA-designated test site and our parachute recovery system is properly validated,” said Ogden in the statement. “As we continue integrating our various parachute recovery system models into commercial drones and drone delivery platforms, we look forward to continuing this partnership.”