Drone News Update

Advertise on podcast: Drone News Update

Rating
5
from
9 reviews
Categories
This podcast has
110 episodes
Language
Publisher
Explicit
No
Date created
2020/07/06
Average duration
7 min.
Release period
8 days

Description

Weekly episodes discussing the latest drone news in the United States. Whether you're a hobbyist or a Part 107 Remote Pilot, staying up to date is important, especially in such a fast-changing industry.

Podcast episodes

Check latest episodes from Drone News Update podcast


Drone News: DJI Ban for EVERYONE, Philly Pilot Back in Court, WingtraOne LiDAR, and Air Aware FRIA
2024/02/16
Welcome to your weekly UAS news update, we have 4 stories for you this week: New bill to ban DJI for all users, Philly Drone Life goes back to court, WingtraOne gets LiDAR, and Air Aware gets FRIA locations! Please help fight the drone ban here: https://droneadvocacyalliance.com/?vvsrc=%2Fcampaigns%2F111611%2Frespond First up this week is a new bill from the US House Of Representatives called the “Countering CCP Drones Act” or H.R. 2864. The bill would revoke all FCC authorizations for existing and future DJI drones. For those who don’t know, the FCC issues approvals for anything that transmits radio frequencies. The revocation of DJI’s approvals would mean no drones could transmit radio frequencies. This would affect ALL users of DJI drones, including those who fly for recreation or fly for non-critical infrastructure. Please reach out to your representative and let them know this is unacceptable and will destroy the UAS industry. We’ll keep you updated if we see any developments on this. https://droneadvocacyalliance.com/?vvsrc=%2Fcampaigns%2F111611%2Frespond Second up this week is trouble for Philly Drone Life, a YouTuber known for being fined by the FAA for flying dangerously. A complaint filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania states the YouTuber, Michael DiCiurcio, has been “warned, counseled, and educated” 3 times by the FAA. The complaint goes on to state that DiCiurcio continues to knowingly violate regulations and lists 26 incident flights between December 29th, 2019 and August 4th, 2020 and the violations for each flight. The complaint assigns a value of $1,501 per violation of each Federal Aviation Regulation, totaling $182,004 in fines. Violations included acting as an airman without an airman certificate, careless and reckless operations, operating without a strobe light at night, operating beyond visual line of sight, operating over a human beings, and operating within controlled airspace without airspace approval. The court seeks the total fine amount along with a permanent injunction on operating drones not in full compliance with Part 107 or 44809. This would mean that if DiCiurcio were to violate Part 107 or 44809, a warrant could be issued for his arrest. We’ll keep you updated if we see any more about this case. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/united-states-files-lawsuit-against-philadelphia-resident-alleging-violations-faa Third this week is Wingtra, who has released a LiDAR unit for the WingtraOne Gen II. This unit has a vertical accuracy of 3cm from 200’ and the capability to map up to 890 acres in a single flight, this is a game changer for those mapping and LiDAR firms who do large areas. The LiDAR payload comes in at about $6000 according to the head of sales at Wingtra. Pretty cool new payload, I wonder if Jared will be getting one… https://dronexl.co/2024/02/12/aerial-mapping-wingtra-lidar-drone/ Last up this week is Air Aware! You guys asked, and we heard your requests! We were able to get FRIA Maps added into the app so you can see where to fly with your older drones or your foamy without RID! We’re excited to continue to add features to Air Aware, so be sure to leave a comment if you have some suggestions! https://www.aloft.ai/blog/new-in-air-aware-b4ufly-fria-data-layers/
more
Drone News: Remote ID, Police Drone Shot Down, Felony Charges Flying Over NFL, and the Super Bowl
2024/02/09
Welcome to your weekly UAS news update, we have 4 stories for you this week: Remote ID for the DJI minis, an armed suspect escaped police after shooting down a drone, a man faces felony charges after flying over NFL game, and the Super Bowl is a No-Drone-Zone. First up this week is an update on Remote ID for the Mini 3, Mini 3 Pro, and Mini 4 Pro. Last week we covered that DJI’s latest firmware update that removed remote ID when using the small batteries. This firmware update applies to ONLY the Mini 3 and the Mini 4 Pro at this time, if you have the Mini 3 Pro, the drone will transmit RID with both batteries. For the other two drones (The Mini 3 and the Mini 4 Pro) we reached out to DJI. After meeting with DJI we found out that each drone is considered two models, one with each battery. The large battery will transmit remote ID, while the other battery does not. Only the drone and larger battery is approved by the FAA. We’ll be publishing a full video on this topic soon and we’ll place a card here when it’s time! https://dronexl.co/2024/02/02/dji-clarifies-mini-drones-rid-compliance/ Next up this week is kind of a scary one out of California. Police with a warrant were conducting surveillance with a drone in Shasta County on a man wanted for multiple felonies including assault with a deadly weapon. During the operation, the wanted man shot the drone down. A SWAT team was deployed along with California highway patrol, but the man escaped and remains at large. The incident is a great example of how drones put cameras in harms way instead of people. https://dronexl.co/2024/02/02/suspect-shooting-law-enforcement-drone/ Third up this week is likely one you’ve seen, a man is facing felony charges after illegally operating a drone at a NFL game in Maryland. Matthew Hebert allegedly flew his drone over the M&T Bank stadium during a TFR on January 28th, 2024. The NFL suspended the game due to the drone while Maryland State Police and the FBI located the drone pilot. The pilot advised police he relied exclusively on DJI’s built in geofencing to tell him where he could and couldn’t fly and that because no DJI restrictions were in place, he assumed he could fly. The drone was unregistered and Hebert does not possess a remote pilot certificate. If convicted, the maximum sentence is three years in federal prison for operating as an airman without an airman certificate and operating an unregistered drone. Another charge of willfully violating US National Defense Airspace would add another possible year to the charge. We’ll keep you updated if we see anything else about this. https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/pennsylvania-man-facing-federal-felony-charges-illegally-operating-drone-during-national?fbclid=IwAR240Cf8I9ZA5rX4dOaBMUisUFlfgFqEVd93Y9ONw5uwUm7wMMChuyn4Uac On the same topic, the Super Bowl is this weekend… if you’re in Las Vegas, there is a 30 NM TFR around the game… The FBI WILL be visiting pilots who bust this TFR… Don’t bust it! Las Vegas has a number of drone detection stations around the city, don’t think that you won’t get caught… Don’t be that guy, check the TFRs before you fly! https://dronexl.co/2024/02/05/las-vegas-no-drone-zone-super-bowl-faa/ Alright, that’s it, have a great weekend and we’ll see you next week!
more
Drone News: A Secret Announcement, AUVSI Drone Ban, NASA's Ingenuity, New Alpha Drone, & RID Update
2024/02/02
Welcome to your weekly UAS news update, we have 4 stories for you this week: A Secret Announcement, AUVSI jumps on anti-Chinese drone bandwagon, NASA’s Ingenuity ends mission with 72 flights, Autel releases the Alpha, and Mini 3 and 4 RID update. AUVSI appears to be alienating a large number of the folks they claim to represent. AUVSI released a video this week calling for US Lawmakers to “take measured actions to strengthen the U.S. drone industry”. If you’ve followed us before, you know we’d love to use US made drones, but there are none available for the same cost with the same capabilities as DJI or Autel. AUVSI’s stance particularly affects Public Safety, who has recently seen restrictions on country of origin in a number of states including Florida, Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, California, Nevada, Texas, and the 2024 NDAA. We’ve also seen a recent bill from Oklahoma to ban the use of Chinese drones for public safety. So far, the industry’s response hasn’t been in favor of what AUVSI and other American drone manufacturers are pushing, with many companies including us pulling out of AUVSI’s conference. There hasn’t been a better time than now to re-evaluate who is advocating for you and your hobby/profession and where you may be donating. If we can make a recommendation, the Drone Service Providers Alliance is a great group to join. We commonly talk with Vic, Kenji, and Dave Messina about advocacy including fighting local bills that restrict us from flying and those that restrict our Public Safety agencies from using the best tools available to save lives. Next up this week is an update to NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter. Ingenuity suffered a “Hard landing” on January 18th, which damaged one or more of the rotor blades, making it no longer capable of flight. NASA’s goal for Ingenuity was 5 total flights on Mars, instead 72 flights for a total flight time of over 2 hours were completed, with over 10 miles covered It seems Ingenuity’s mission was a success and hopefully we’ll see another version of the helicopter headed to the red planet soon! Last up this week is the Autel Alpha release! The Alpha appears to be a medium sized industry/public safety drone with a wide camera, zoom camera, laser range finder, and two thermal cameras with up to 56X hybrid thermal zoom. The alpha is much bigger than the Max series and boasts a ton of features, including hot-swappable batteries, mesh networking, 4K 35X optical zoom, IP55 weather rating, and obstacle avoidance. Looks like a pretty cool new aircraft, hopefully we’ll be able to get our hands on one to test! Alright, that’s it, have a great weekend and we’ll see you next week! https://www.linkedin.com/posts/auvsi_auvsi-is-calling-on-us-lawmakers-to-take-activity-7156338684651327488-TGQC/# https://dspalliance.org/ https://dronexl.co/2024/01/25/autel-introduces-alpha-drone/ https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-copter-ends-a-remarkable-run
more
Drone News Government Gone Wild Edition: Three New Bills Restricting Drones, and The ACSL Soten
2024/01/26
The first bill we’re going to cover is the Oklahoma, which would restrict state entries from purchasing or operating drones built or assembled by a covered foreign entity. Waivers of HB3068 are available through the state’s Office of Management and Enterprise Services. Waivers can be granted for criminal investigations, counter UAS, and “difficult circumstances”. Under this bill, state entities would be restricted starting May 1st, 2027. Next up is Missouri, where we saw the drone surveillance scheme last week. The state’s response is House Bill 1204, which would ban surveillance by drone. This one doesn’t seem to be nearly as bad as the St. Louis bill we saw last week but we have some questions… What does surveillance mean? What constitutes observation - nearly viewing through the camera of a drone? The answers to the observation question could completely restrict commercial UAS operations if observing through a camera as a by-product of a shot is not allowed. We’ll keep you updated with what we see out of this one. Third up is Utah, which seems to be trying to control airspace. The bill is sponsored by Ryan D. Wilcox, references recreational flying and “14 CFR section 101”… Go home Ryan, you’re drunk… Recreational operations are now 49 USC 44809, and have been since 2018… The bill would restrict operations over electric lines for public transport, over critical infrastructure, and would limit Part 107 waivers issued by the Waiver officer, specifically waivers for operations over 400’ AGL. If you’re in Utah, please reach out to Mr Wilcox and let him know this is unacceptable. Fourth this week is the CISA and FBI’s Guidance on Cyber security for Chinese manufacturers UAS. The document does not take a side, and instead provides facts regarding possible cyber threats, going as far as to state “Identify and select the UAS platforms that best meet the operational and security requirements of the organization.” The fact sheet provides federal guidance and recommendations on how to mitigate possible cybersecurity threats, specifically from Chinese manufactured UAS. The document also includes references and other resources for those of you who may want to look into this further, and we’ll leave a link below so you can read it for yourself. In all reality, many of the rules and guidance in this document can be applied to most things you do online. Alright! We’re through the government craziness for now! Last up this week is the ACSL Soten, A Japanese NDAA compliant drone that has now been released to the US! The Soten has a number of payloads including visible camera, IR+visual, and a multispectral camera. The drone uses 94Wh Li-Ion battery pack for a maximum flight time of 29 minutes. Soten also has a vision system and an infra red sensing system for obstacle avoidance, maximum range of 4km, and a number of available accessories including a smart controller! We’ve reached out to ACSL to see if we can get one to test out! Alright, that’s it, have a great weekend and we’ll see you next week! https://product.acsl.co.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ACSL_SOTEN_pamphlet_EN.pdf https://www.okhouse.gov/posts/news-20230117_1 https://le.utah.gov/~2024/bills/static/HB0142.html https://house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills141/biltxt/intro/HB1204I.htm https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-01/Cybersecurity%20Guidance%20Chinese-Manufactured%20UAS.pdf
more
Drone News: UAS Bill BB199, Drone Surveillance Update, New Wing Drone, New DJI MIC, and Mesh Editor
2024/01/19
First up this week is St Louis Bill BB199, which has some concerning text for recreational UAS operators… Line 19, 20, and 21 state “Any person who operates a drone or any UA in the City of St. Louis shall have a valid Remote Pilot Certificate from the FAA and shall be in compliance with all standards set forth under the FAA’s Small UAs Rule (Part 107).” There is no exemption for recreational or 44809 operations… The bill has other concerning text for any UAS operators, with restrictions on operating drones within 1500’ of other aircraft (Including City of St. Louis Drones), No fly zones to be established by the city, required stand back distances from public safety vehicles, and publicly owned buildings.The rule is of course not applicable to any city department or city agency. We’ll leave a link in the description to the bill’s text. And speaking of St Louis, here is an update on the plan to use drones for surveillance. After push back from the city, the company isn’t backing down and instead sent the city a letter threatening a lawsuit if permits for operators were required. Instead they will offer a free trial at a different time and location. They are also asking for operators to join him and fly. All you have to do is pay $99 and they'll let you fly with them! Currently, a gofundme for the plan sits at just $20 out of a goal of $10,000. And if you think there's a link between the two St Louis stories, there certainly could be. When we say: don't ruin it for the rest of us, this certainly applies here. Next up this week is Wing, who has unveiled a new drone with double the payload capacity of their current flagship drone! The new drone has a 5lb payload capacity, while maintaining the 12 mile round trip range. Wing says the new drone will be deployed within the next 12 months to all sites where Wing operates.The company also said that about 70% of deliveries are completed using one drone, while 30% use multiple drones to deliver, this would reduce the required number of trips to deliver the same goods. Fourth up this week is the DJI Mics 2! DJI has released the new Mics 2 with an 8GB internal storage, 14 hours of internal recording, 820’ range, Ai Noise Canceling, 32 bit float recording, All in one stage case, and compatibility with USB-C, Lightning, and 3.5mm TRS analog output.The cost of the new mics comes in at 349 for two mics and a transmitter, a mic and transmitter for 219, or 99 per mic. Check out our video on the new mics! And the final story this week is another DJI release, this time from DJI Enterprise. DJI released “Modify”, which appears to be a mesh-editing tool that pairs with DJI Terra to provide modification to 3D models. On release, Modify is only compatible with DJI Terra models. Models can then be exported as .ply and .obj for third party or online sharing. The yearly cost of Modify is $1580 plus taxes and you can a 6 month free trial. And here’s a quick pilot institute update, our new course app is now ready! We’re released our new app for offline viewing of the courses available on both android and apple devices! Head over and download it to start watching! https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/17/24040030/wing-delivery-larger-drone-payload-capacity-alphabet https://dronexl.co/2024/01/17/dji-mic-2-new-era-pro-audio-recording/ https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/city-laws/upload/legislative/boardbills/introduced/BB199%20Combined1.pdf https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/aldermen/representation/profile.cfm?id=1561
more
Drone News: Autel Alpha, FlyCart 30, KY Bill on Drones, Walmart Adds Wing, and Drone Surveillance.
2024/01/12
Welcome to your weekly news update, we have 5 stories for you this week; Autel Alpha hits FCC database, DIJ FlyCart 30 released outside of China, KY bill could limit drone operations, Walmart partners with Wing, and a filmmaker’s plan to curb crime using drones. First up this week is the Autel Alpha, which hit FCC databases!  It’s been a long time since we discussed the Alpha rumors and many folks have likely forgotten about the drone. Alpha specs supposedly include IP55, 45-minute flight times, 50MP cameras, 25X Zoom camera, 640x512 Thermal, laser range finder, multiple payload options, autonomous missions, multi-aircraft operations, and 360 degree obstacle avoidance. We’ll keep you updated if we see anything else! Second up this week is the FlyCart 30, DJI's delivery drone! The FlyCart 30 has been released outside of China! If you aren't familiar with the FlyCart 30, the heavy lift drone has a capacity of 30kg with the dual battery setup and 40kg with the single battery set up. Safety features include IP55, active radar, binocular vision, obstacle avoidance, dual batteries, a parachute, weight/center of gravity detection, and swing stability. The FlyCart uses the DJI Pilot 2 App, the RC Plus, and O3 for a 9.9-mile range. The drone uses a 38,000 mAh battery which is rated to 1500 charge cycles. We'll see if anyone currently doing drone delivery picks this up for testing! Next up this week is a Kentucky bill that could limit the use of drones.  Kentucky house Bill 45 would prohibit use of an unmanned aircraft system for surveillance, which the bill goes on to define as  “1. With respect to an owner, tenant, occupant, invitee, or licensee of privately owned real property, the observation of such persons with sufficient visual clarity to be able to obtain information about their identity, habits, conduct, movements, or location; or  2. With respect to privately owned real property, the observation of such property’s physical improvements with sufficient visual clarity to be able to determine unique identifying features or its occupancy by one or more persons” The bill goes on to say; "For purposes of this section, a person is presumed to have a reasonable expectation of privacy on his or her privately owned real property if he or she is not observable by persons located at ground level in a place where they have a legal right to be, regardless of whether he or she is observable from the air with the use of an unmanned aircraft system.” Fourth this week is Walmart who is expanding deliveries in the Dallas area. Walmart has partnered with Wing and Zipline to expand their deliveries in Dallas beyond the current 60,000 people coverage. By the end of 2024, they hope to cover 1.8 million people using both Wing and Zipline’s Part 135 certificates with BVLOS waivers.  So far, Walmart has completed over 20,000 successful deliveries from two stores. Last up this week is a bit of a weird one; a business owner from Washington DC, hopes to curb crime by live-streaming a drone’s camera over a neighborhood. The idea is that drones equipped with loudspeakers, cameras, and spotlights would fly over this neighborhood and live stream the camera to residents. The program would have a two-week test period, after which the neighborhood would be able to book the service for $60 - $125 per hour.  What do you think about this use of drones - Let us know in the comments! https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/neighbors-local-leaders-react-to-proposed-south-city-drone-patrols/ https://dronexl.co/2024/01/02/walmart-drone-delivery-lewisville/ https://dronexl.co/2023/04/30/autel-alpha-drone/ https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/24rs/hb45.html
more
Drone News: Drone Hits a Robinson Helicopter, 2024 American Security Drone Act, and a Drone Rescue
2024/01/05
Welcome to your weekly news update, we have 3 stories for you this week, drone hits Robinson R44, 2024 NDAA signed with American Security Drone Act, and a Drone Rescue, lets get to it! https://droneadvocacyalliance.com First up this week is one you’ve probably seen… A Robinson R44 Helicopter, operated by Leading Edge Helicopter Tours hit a drone at approximately 180 feet near KDAB. It’s unclear what phase of flight the helicopter was in, but it was able to land without any injuries. The incident occurred above the Daytona Beach Flea Market, in Daytona Beach, Florida while the UAS operator was flying a mission for a construction company. All current information points to the UAS operator having the valid permissions to operate at that altitude in that area. The replacement of the R44’s rotor blade is estimated to cost approximately $60,000. Both the NTSB and FAA were notified and we’re going to hold off on assumptions at this time, we’ll wait for the NTSB report to be released. Next up this week is the 2024 NDAA, which had the American Security Drone Act added as an amendment. If you’re unfamiliar with the ASDA, it aims to address cybersecurity concerns for drones used by federal agencies. The law defines aircraft as “Covered” and means they were made/produced in China. The ASDA does NOT ban DJI or Autel drones for recreational or commercial use. The ASDA does limit the use of drones that are made by a “Covered Foreign Entity”, but an exemption is in place if “as procured or as modified after procurement but before operational use, can no longer transfer to, or download data from, a covered foreign entity and otherwise poses no national security cybersecurity risks as determined by the exempting official.” This means drones with secure data modes, such as Enterprise DJIs, may be allowed to be operated by federal agencies and purchased using federal grants…. But… Later in the law is a two year buffer, meaning for the next two years no federal agency may fly a covered aircraft, procure a covered unmanned aircraft, or spend federal grant money on the operation of a covered aircraft. There is NO limitation in the ASDA limiting public safety from spending non-federal money on these covered aircraft. If you want to get involved in opposing the ASDA as it currently stands, head over to the DAA and let your representative know. Last up this week is a drone for good story out of Weber County, Utah. A foreign exchange student, Kai Zhuang, was reported missing by his parents in China, after they supposedly received a picture of him indicating he had been abducted and ransom was demanded. Despite initial fears, there was no concrete evidence suggesting a forceful removal of Kai from his home. Using an M30T, the Weber County SAR team located Kai hiding in the mountains of Utah in a tent while fearing for his family’s safety. It’s unclear what actually caused the incident, but we’ll keep you updated if we see more. Alright, that’s it! Happy new year and we’ll see you Monday for the Live event! https://dronexl.co/2024/01/01/rescue-missing-student-dji-drone/ https://dspalliance.org/what-the-2023-national-defense-authorization-act-means-to-the-uas-industry/
more
Drone News: 2023 Year in Review, New Drones, Drones for Good, Don't be That Guy, and Regulations
2023/12/29
Welcome to your weekly news update, New Year's edition! Let's take a look at everything that's happened this year including drones for good, the don't be that guy compilation, drone regulation, Pilot Institute updates and of course new drones, starting with the Autel EVO Max.... We also reported on some Drones For Good stories this year, starting with a teen who saved people in their car. And of course, the FAA was front and center on many of our updates this year, but also some states, like Tennessee banning non-NDAA drones. Let's not forget about everyone's favorite segment: Don't be that guy! Starting with the guy who flew over the Bengals game in 2022. There were also a few surprises with Airmap shutting down their LAANC service, Amazon having a lot of issues keeping employees on board, and Skydio quitting the consumer drone business. But on the bright side, we accomplished a lot at Pilot Institute. We partnered with Influential Drones, Unmanned Tactical Group, and Axon Air to help provide even more training to our customers. We received a BVLOS waiver and submitted many more. We joined hand with the Drone Advocacy Alliance to help push back on non-sensical anti-drone regulation. We partnered with Aloft to provide the Air Aware to recreational pilots in preparation of the expected retirement of the current B4UFLY app. Then we travelled the country to various tradeshows: the Texas Robotic Summit in Burnitt TX, Sun N Fun in Lakeland Florida, AUVSI in Denver, FliteFest in Ohio, EAA Air Venture in Oshkosh WI, Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas, two back to back events in Colorado with the Colorado Round Up and the Colorado AirShow, and AZ Drone Fest in Phoenix AZ. We published 14 new courses, including 8 new drones courses such as the Skydio 2 and X2, DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise, Air 3, Mini 4, Inspire 3, the Evo Max 4T, and the Part 107 Waiver course. We end the year having trained 88,000 remote Pilots to date, 295,000 students totaling 506,000 course enrollments, 7.3 million lectures completed throughout our courses (that's 1 lecture every 4 seconds), 30,000 free registration stickers, 37,000 members in our Facebook groups, 128,000 subs on the various social media channels, and 6,800 WINGS credits issued on the FAASafety website. Needless to say, none of this would have been possible without all of you. A big THANK YOU for your continuous support, my team and I certainly appreciate it. We aren't slowing down, we are already working on some very cool projects for 2024 and we hope to release the first one later this month! Happy New Year, fly safe, and see you next year!
more
Drone News: Air Aware App, Stopping DJI Exports, PrecisionHawk Down, FAA Reauth, & Firmware Updates
2023/12/22
Welcome to your weekly news update, we have 5 stories for you this week, Air Aware Released, Legislators urge Pentagon to deny export licenses for DJI, PrecisionHawk shuts down operation, the FAA Reauthorization act and an important update to DJI Air 3 and Mini 4 Pro.
more
Drone News: Amazon Loses Head of Ops, FAA UTM Field Test, Skyebrowse Pay-Per-Model, and New FRIA Map
2023/12/15
Welcome to your weekly news update, we have 4 stories for you this week, Amazon loses Head of Safety and Flight operations, FAA and NASA conduct UTM Field Test, Skyebrowse introduces pay-per-model, and the FPVFC releases a FRIA map. Your first story this week is Amazon, who keeps losing people. Sean Cassidy, the head of Safety, flight operations, and regulatory affairs has reportedly left the company. Cassidy, a former Alaska Airlines Pilot, joined Amazon in 2015 to assist Prime Air through the process of obtaining FAA approvals. Amazon received their Part 135 certificate in August of 2020, and deliveries began this year. Over the last year, amazon has had a number of lay-offs including one in January and has lost a number of key players. Amazon hasn’t released any statement or status on their deliveries in the past few months, but we’ll keep you updated if we see any updates. Next up this week is the FAA and NASA, who have conducted a UTM field test. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of unmanned traffic management, it’s a system that allows a UAS operator to reserve a portion of the airspace for a particular time. These “reservations” would assist with deconfliction between UAS traveling at or below 400’ in uncontrolled airspace. The test included flights of varying complexity levels, verifying standards, evaluating UTM systems, testing FAA integration with USS, and testing the real world application of all these systems working with ones another. Data collected from the UTM field test is expected to be used by policymakers to enable low-altitude operations, particularly those that will operate beyond line of sight. If you’d like to read the full report, we’ll add a link in the description! Third up this week is Skyebrowse, who is now offering a pay-per model version of their software! Models start at just $3 per model and vary based on the size of the video file. Pay per models will allow you to unlock features, such as download or measurements, that are not available in the “freemium” subscription plan. This works with older models, and we were able to use a model from 2021 and access these tools! Alright, and last up this week is a map of FRIAs! Due to the UAS Facility maps not containing information about FRIA, Alex Suarez has created a map that contains the locations of approved FRIAs. The map is color coded to differentiate between the 4 CBOs, and for FPVFC, FTCA, and STEMC FRIAs, has precise boundaries. Great job Alex! Alright, that’s all we’ve got, have a great week and we’ll see you on Monday for the live! Last week, I was on vacation and @wolfpack4694 asked the team if they would do a video talking about how mean I am. The thing is, I’m really not mean, so they had to make stuff up, and let’s just say they had a little too much fun with it. Take a look, enjoy! https://www.skyebrowse.com/blog/2023/12/12/introducing-pay-per-model https://www.faa.gov/uas/advanced_operations/traffic_management/UFT-Final-Report.pdf https://www.faa.gov/uas/research_development/traffic_management/field_test https://dronexl.co/2023/12/07/faa-nasa-utm-field-test/ https://dronexl.co/2023/12/12/prime-air-shakeup-cassidy-amazon-exit/ https://www.friamap.com/
more
Drone News: Air 3 & Mini 4 DOC, Percepto Drone Swarm Waiver, Defibrillator Drones, and Texas Zoning
2023/12/01
Welcome to your weekly news update, we have 4 stories for you this week, Air 3 and Mini 4 Pro finally added to DOC list, Percepto gets drone swarm waiver, defibrillator drones are faster than ambulances, and the City of Plano is looking at zoning for AAM and UAS. First up this week is the Air 3 and the Mini 4 Pro, which have finally been added to the remote ID DOC list! This means you no longer need any RID modules for the Air 3 and Mini 4 pro IF you had one you were using. If you’ve been waiting for the Air 3 and Mini 4 to be approved before purchasing, now’s the time! Here’s hoping the FAA and DJI are more efficient about getting these drones approved when the drone comes out! Next up this week is Percepto, who has received a waiver allowing them to operate up to 30 drones with a single operator, beyond visual line of sight. The waiver is designed for drone-in-a-box systems to be used to inspect infrastructure and pipelines. Currently, the waiver doesn’t appear on the Part 107 Waivers issued so we can’t see the specifics of the waiver, but this is a pretty cool development allowing what many would consider the holy-grail of drone waivers. We’ll keep you update if we see any updates on this waiver! Third up this week is a study out of Sweden, which tested 55 drones over 11 months responding to cardiac emergencies. Over the 11 month study, drones responded to 72 emergencies, of those 55 delivered the AED. The study found that drones had a quicker response time from dispatch to arrival, with drones arriving first 37 out of 55 times, and 2 cases of shocks being delivered prior to the ambulance arriving. Super interesting study, we’ll have to see if drones are the next thing used by emergency services to deliver supplies such as AEDs! Last up this week is the City of Plano, which is looking at changing particular zoning rules that will affect AAM and UAS operations. This comes in response to DroneUp operating out of a local Walmart without any formal permit from the city. There’s no word on what the actual zoning changes would be or how they would affect AAM or UAS operations, but another meeting is scheduled for February 26th, 2024. Major John B Muns said during a meeting “ “We had the opportunity as a council to meet in person to see the operations in two different areas, one in Frisco and one in Plano, unfortunately, it was a couple of days before Thanksgiving, so we had a lozt of us gone,” “We still need some of that information, so we're respectfully hoping that we can table this item until we can get some real data that can be analyzed and explained to us… If we could get that information and come back with a much better understanding of what you're asking for.” We’ll keep you updated with what we see out of Plano. That’s it! Have a great weekend! https://dronexl.co/2023/11/28/plano-city-council-drone-delivery/ https://uasdoc.faa.gov/listDocs https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/phantom_4_pro/20231123/Phantom_4_Pro_V2.0_Release_Notes_EN.pdf https://dronexl.co/2023/11/28/defibrillator-drones-outpace-ambulances/ https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-approves-inspection-drone-swarms/
more
Drone News: Drone Stops NFL Game, FAA Safety Login Changes, DJI Agras T60, Skyebrowse 2D Mapping
2023/11/24
Welcome to your weekly news update, we have 4 stories for you this week, Ravens vs Bengals game halted due to drone, FAA Safety Login changes, rumors of a new DJI Agras T60, Skyebrowse releases 2D mapping, and our Black Friday sale is in full swing! I am certainly thankful for all of you who come here every week and watch this segment and engage in the comments. What started as a way to help our students stay informed with the industry changes has grown to a video that many of you tell me about when we meet at in-person events. I love the discussion that ensues in the comments and while many of you say it’s your favorite part of Friday mornings, my favorite part is to read the comments and interact with you all. First up this week is another drone over a major sporting event… A major league football game was halted due to a drone flying over the stadium this week, busting the stadium TFR. And while I would commonly say don’t be that guy (I’ll still say it), there are deeper issues that need to be brought up here... First, there isn’t enough notification for these TFRs… If you watched our live event you’ve heard my opinion on this: There is a single NOTAM issued for ALL stadium TFRs. This means that the stadium TFR doesn’t show on any of your favorite apps such as B4UFLY or Aloft Air Control. And no, that’s not a problem from the LAANC providers. In all reality, this is my and my team’s full time job but I personally don’t follow major sporting events. I don’t know when the games are and the TFRs aren’t charted, so we could potentially bust one of these TFRs because I don’t follow these major sporting events. Over the years I have been questioning the intent of this stadium TFR, especially when it only covers certain events. A concert from a popular artist would fill up as many if not more seats than a qualifying sporting event, and yet would not qualify for a TFR... why be selective? I’ll say it out loud: is the TFR protecting broadcasting rights of the NFL, MLB, and Nascar or is it actually designed for safety purposes? The second issue at play here is that we need better education for drone pilots at the point of sale. The FAA requires that manufacturers include a brochure with each drone sold in the US. Problem is, the rule is not enforced. Could this person who flew over the game have been better informed? Probably. Next up this week is an update to the FAA Safety Login process for non-governmental employees. The FAA is going away from using a username and password and is transitioning to a multi factor authentication service. The process is pretty easy and takes about 5 minutes to change info over. After setting up the new log in system, you’ll still need to use your old credentials to get in until Nov. 30th, 2023. FAA Safety doesn’t appear to have changed at all, but we’ll have to see once the changes are rolled out later this month! Your third story this week is a new and larger Agras! A shared image by DJI leaker Igor Bogdanov shows a new Agras to be released on Thursday - yesterday as you’re watching this! The rumored Agras T60 will have a 60-liter liquid spray capacity. Other specs are sparse, but the T40 had a 50kg dry payload, so it’s reasonable to expect the T60 will increase this. The T60 is also likely to have onboard RTK, Camera, and light similar to the T40! Your final story this week is Skyebrowse, who released free 2D mapping. As with other Skyebrowse products, their mapping and modeling software uses video instead of pictures to create models. You may already be familiar with Skyebrowse’s 3D mapping, which includes an app to fly the drone, 2D and 3D model processing in about 5 minutes, and model sharing. https://www.faa.gov/uas/programs_partnerships/manufacturers_toolkit https://dronexl.co/2023/11/20/dji-agras-t60-agriculture-drone/ https://www.faasafety.gov/login/
more

Podcast reviews

Read Drone News Update podcast reviews


5 out of 5
9 reviews
Dr John 59 2023/10/10
Staying informed
A great resource for staying up to date on changes in the drone world.
Boomer22770 2022/06/18
Nice
Perfect podcast for anyone who uses a drone professionally or just interested about what’s going on with drones. Perfect for 107 Pilots like mysel...
more
check all reviews on aple podcasts

Podcast sponsorship advertising

Start advertising on Drone News Update & sponsor relevant audience podcasts


What do you want to advertise?

Ad Format

Campaign Budget

Business Details