Kiwi aerospace entrepreneurs are pushing ahead with air taxis for the Brisbane Olympics, reusable rockets and tree-spotting drones, despite frustrations with red tape.

The rising volume of innovative aircraft in the fledgling industry is testing the limits of the country’s regulatory system.

Simon Conroy, a director of Aerolab in Auckland, has just returned from marketing spray drones at the Fieldays in Waikato.

“We probably spoke to two dozen farmers or sprayer operators out there who were keen to purchase there and then,” he said.

“But the fact that they would buy the machine and then have about 12 months of it sitting in the garage collecting dust before they could operate it, was a massive hurdle for them.”

He has been bringing in the drones for about a year, but is still waiting on the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to approve them, because they weigh over 25kg.

Each operator also needs what is called a Part 102 certification.

“There was an incredible amount of demand and interest out there,” Conroy said, “but the common theme with all the people we spoke to was the fact that a year to 18 months to get certified is going to be a real handbrake on people’s ability to adopt and get these things out there in the field.”

The delays were at the heart of addressing their monthly cash burn as a start-up, he said.

They had a buffer from sales of…