Next week, on August 21, a total solar eclipse (or the alignment of the sun, moon and earth), visible from the continental U.S., will take place for the first time in 38 years. The last time this cosmic event occurred, there were no battery-powered supercomputers—smartphones—in your hand to fly a self-stabilizing, GPS-guided aircraft with a … Continue Reading
We posted last week about the U.S. Army issuing a memorandum banning the use of DJI drones due to security concerns, but now, this week DJI reports that it is developing a new local data mode that stops internet traffic to and from its drone flight control apps. DJI says that it is making this … Continue Reading
Last week, the U.S. Army issued a memorandum discontinuing the use of DJI drone products due to cybersecurity concerns. The memorandum said, “Due to increased awareness of cyber vulnerabilities associated with DJI products, it is directed that the U.S. Army halt use of all DJI products. This guidance applies to all DJI UAS and any … Continue Reading
North Carolina Governor, Roy Cooper, signed two bills this week to regulate the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones). First, House Bill 337 revises existing state drone law to make that existing state drone law applicable to model aircraft. House Bill 128 prohibits drone use near prisons –with the term “near” being defined … Continue Reading
Last week, a drone carrying 16 individual bags of marijuana, cell phones and chargers, two bags of tobacco, and 31 oxycodone pills crashed into the ground near the Washington State Prison yard. A corrections department spokeswoman, Joan Heath, said that the drone crashed into the ground near the prison around 10:45 p.m. Drones carrying contraband … Continue Reading
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Part 107 waiver process for the operation of unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones) in certain restricted airspace or beyond the limitations of the Part 107 UAS regulations, was originally designed to streamline approval. However, for many drone operators who have had their Part 107 waivers denied, the process can … Continue Reading
In the last few weeks, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization bills have made their way around both houses of Congress, which will allow funding to the FAA to continue beyond Fall 2017. These bills contain lengthy and significant language that could greatly affect commercial and hobbyist drone operations in the U.S. Below is a … Continue Reading
CNN’s Aerial Imagery and Reporting (CNN AIR) unit received its Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 waiver last week for closed-set drone operations over people for motion picture and television filming. This is the first Part 107 waiver of its kind. While CNN already has a Part 107 waiver to fly drones over members of … Continue Reading
By Fall 2017, 50 U.S. airports will start allowing unmanned aircraft systems’ (UAS or drone) operators apply for automated authorizations to fly in controlled airspace around those airports. Specifically, these airports will roll out a Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) with all other airports following that lead in 2018. Normally, UAS airspace authorization requests … Continue Reading
Taking off from the Blackpool airport in England, a drone owned by a private company called FlyLogix, set a British record last week after successfully completing a 50-mile offshore beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) round trip. On its trip, the Condor drone inspected an unmanned platform in Morecambe Bay operated by one a British utility company. While drone … Continue Reading
In Washington, D.C. last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Unmanned Systems Caucus and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) held a briefing for congressional staff on technologies that enable unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to operate longer distances and at higher altitudes in the U.S. national airspace. The briefing included two panels of … Continue Reading
More and more utility companies are finding drones (or more formally, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)) useful, and cost effective, to inspect power lines in lieu of sending up their employees to carry out the dangerous task. This month, New Braunfels Utilities (NBU), a community-owned non-profit utility company in New Braunfels, Texas, will begin sending drones … Continue Reading
Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, recently cut the ribbon on a new runway in Virginia dedicated solely to unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones). The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s UAS Airfield is a 3,000-foot runway for UAS (of course, also capable of accommodating larger aerial vehicles, too), and is the first of its kind. After the … Continue Reading
On July 1, 2017, a new law in the State of Florida became effective in order to keep “local governments from regulating drone and model aircraft operations” in the State, while in turn, “protecting those who fly safely and within the bounds of the law from unnecessary and burdensome local regulations.” However, the law does … Continue Reading
On June 16, 2017, Transport Canada, the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in the country, issued an Interim Order (“the Order”) under the Aeronautics Act and Canadian Aviation Regulations, to regulate recreational drone use. The order applies to all aircraft between 250 g … Continue Reading
While police departments and law enforcement have been using drones for some time now, a police department in southern Minnesota, the Rochester Police Department, has recently acquired a new drone for a new purpose – to find missing (or wandering) persons who suffer from Alzheimer’s, autism and other related conditions and disorders. The drone was … Continue Reading
Yet another piece of drone legislation is in circulation; the Safe DRONE Act of 2017 was recently introduced by U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner, John Hoeven, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Dean Heller. The Act proposes the following for unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones) in the U.S.: Develop a trained UAS workforce: Directs the U.S. … Continue Reading
Facebook announced last week that it successfully completed a second test of an unmanned aerial system (UAS or drone) designed to carry internet access to remote parts of the world. Unlike Facebook’s first test for this task back in June 2016, the drone did not crash in this second test. Facebook plans to develop an … Continue Reading
We previously wrote about the Drone Federalism Act introduced earlier this month, and now, another bill is seeking to regulate drones at the local level. The Drone Innovation Act, H.R. 2930, introduced by Jason Lewis of Minnesota, addresses the operation of drones below 200 feet in altitude “within the lateral boundaries of a state, local … Continue Reading
While drone delivery services are certainly on the agendas of large retailers like Amazon, inmates in jails across the U.S. are already using drones to receive their own aerial contraband shipments. Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that there have been many attempts over the past five … Continue Reading
According to recent studies and statistics, unmanned aerial systems (or drones) promise to have the most dynamic growth of any sector in the aerospace industry. With the ease of airspace regulations and operational limitations set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (for the most part), the flood of investments, and the introduction of new drone … Continue Reading
Over the past decade, since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) first permitted the use of drones for commercial and hobbyist purposes, after the 2012 directive of Congress for the FAA to come up with a “comprehensive plan” for integrating drones into the National Airspace, drone use has grown substantially. However, with that growth has come … Continue Reading
The town of Garfield, New Jersey has introduced new regulations related to hobbyist drone operation—or better yet, the non-operation of drones above residences other than your own, commercial zones, roadways, government or public buildings and specific property and parks that the city designates. Hobbyist drone operators may only fly their drones over their own residences. … Continue Reading
The Drone Federalism Act of 2017, introduced by U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein, Mike Lee, Richard Blumenthal, and Tom Cotton, seeks to “establish a process for federal, state, local and tribal governments to work together to manage the use of recreational and commercial drones.” This bill would allow “communities to create low-altitude speed limits, local no-drone … Continue Reading
