Meteomatics’ Meteodrone SUI-9999 displayed at the Swiss Museum of Transport

In October 2022, Meteomatics handed over the SUI-9999 Meteodrone to the Swiss Museum of Transport at the Air & Space Days event. The Meteodrone is now part of the museum’s permanent Aviation exhibition.

It was a very mild autumn Saturday when Christian Schluchter, Christopher Hartmann, and Daniel Schmitz from Meteomatics set off for Lucerne. Their destination was the Swiss Museum of Transport, where they participated in the object handover ceremony at the Air & Space Days event. Our team was honored to present the SUI-9999 Meteodrone – the first drone certified for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations in Switzerland. BVLOS operations are flights where the drone isn’t in the pilot’s field of view and is controlled remotely.

"Since my earliest childhood, the Museum of Transport has been a place of dreams. It showcases all the impressive aircraft and vehicle innovations invented by Swiss pioneers. To see our drone in these premises today is a huge honor," says Christian Schluchter.

Meteomatics has been developing drone systems for BVLOS operations for over 10 years. Meteomatics' Meteodrones are designed to collect and measure weather data and can autonomously and automatically ascend to altitudes of up to 6 km. The Meteodrones fly vertical profiles and measure the atmosphere in terms of temperature, wind speed, humidity, dew point, and air pressure. The measured values are then transmitted directly to Meteomatics and are incorporated into the high-resolution weather models developed in-house. The data collected by Meteodrones can significantly improve local weather forecasts (in the vicinity of the drone), especially forecasts of fog, storms, thunderstorms, and precipitation types (heavy rain or hail).

Christian Schluchter goes into further detail: "It makes us extremely proud to have contributed to this fascinating place. It's a very special feeling to explore the history of Swiss aviation with our children and to show them that there’s a piece of our work there”.

Our team is very proud that one the first drones we developed is now part of the Aviation exhibition at the most famous and largest technology museum in Switzerland.