UAV News Talk – Drone News, eVTOLs, UAS Policy & Air Mobility

Max and  @dronemama  visit Smith College and talk to the summer drone class, 3DR and DJI join resources, drones assist with invasive snakes, Farmers Insurance expands the use of UAS, and a drone privacy spat on Twitter. Drone Class at Smith College Max spoke to the  SSEP Drone Class  at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. The class is part of the College’s  Summer...

The UK plans to require registration for drones over 250 grams, a study looks at drone strikes on aircraft windscreens, a transformable UAV is under development, Airbus tested their Sagitta demonstrator, some DJI Sparks are experiencing a problem, and draft Technical Standard Orders win AOPA approval. UAV News Drones to be registered and users to sit safety tests under new government rules Drone r...

The Test Range Manager of the Warm Springs FAA UAS Test Range joins us as our guest. Guest Liz Stalford is the FAA UAS Test Range Manager for the Warm Springs – University of Alaska, Fairbanks Pan Pacific Unmanned Test Range Complex (PPUTRC). The complex is one of six official FAA test sites in the United States. It spans seven climate zones, allowing UAS manufacturers and potential users to...

A year after the crash of the prototype, testing of the Piaggio HammerHead UAS is underway again. We also look at drones and field biology, security, and swarming technology. UAV News Piaggio Aerospace Resumes Test Flights of Hammerhead UAV In May 2016, the prototype  Piaggio Aerospace P.1HH HammerHead  UAV crashed off the coast of Sicily. Reportedly, there were flight control syste...

Telecommunication drone tests from MIT and Verizon, flying near firefighters, pipeline inspection, drone registration refunds for recreational operators, and the UAS Identification and Tracking Aviation Rulemaking Committee. UAV News MIT Develops Gas-Powered UAV That Can Stay Aloft for Five Days This fixed-wing, long-endurance UAV was developed to provide temporary telecommunications service for d...

A look back at the first 200 episodes and a peek into topics that might get our attention in the future, including regulatory actions that result from FAA reauthorization. To celebrate the 200th episode, David and Max take a step back from the usual format and reminisce about the issues that were important when the podcast started in 2013. The main topic then was whether or not to call them “drone...

The director of the GENIUS NY accelerator competition for unmanned systems describes how they are helping UAS companies become successful. Guest Jonathan Parry is the Director of  GENIUS NY , an in-residence business accelerator program at the CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity (CEO) Tech Garden in Syracuse, New York. As the world’s largest accelerator competition for unmanned s...

The Drone Racing League gains sponsors and additional funding, NASA UAS traffic management testing, the impact of Taylor  v.  FAA on commercial drone operators, iRobotics proposes a drone race across the Pacific, and drones swarm in China. UAV News The Drone Racing League (DRL) Announces International Partnerships For 2017 Race Season, Close Of Series B Investment Round The Drone Racing...

NASA UAS Traffic Management system testing at the UAS test sites, Arizona law enforcement uses a drone to find a missing man, a drone company becomes a drone data company, DARPA studies mid-flight multitasking for small drones, a University of Calgary study of drone incidents, and fuel cells for drones. UAV News NIAS and NASA test the Next Phase of NASA’s UAS Traffic Management System Tests for NA...

The DJI Spark, Snap Inc. interest in drones, the ANSI UAS Standardization Collaborative, the Drone Federalism Act of 2017, Florida utility company using drones, the MQ-25A Stingray carrier-launched unmanned tanker, a drone camp for girls, and NATE embraces drones. UAV News DJI brings gesture control to consumer drones with the diminutive Spark The $499  DJI Spark  mini-drone recognizes y...

A court ruling halts recreational drone registration in the U.S. while China implements a new drone registration requirement. Also, a fast fixed-wing VTOL UAV, heavy-lift delivery drones, remote pilot training in Australia, a long-endurance solar powered unmanned sailplane, and some new drone swarming applications. UAV News Court Strikes Down Drone Registration Requirement The U.S. Court of Appeal...

The CEO of SkyFire Consulting explains the use of drones by public safety agencies, such as law enforcement, firefighting, and first responders. Matt Sloane  is the CEO of  SkyFire Consulting , a consulting company focused on the use of drones by public safety agencies. Started by four public safety professionals and a commercial pilot, SkyFire delivers professional level training, FAA c...

The impact of drones striking people, geo-restrictions in war zones, monitoring volcanic ash, structure inspections using UAVs and artificial intelligence, keeping wildlife away from crops, waste management with drones, swarming tactics, Project Wing update, and drone weaponization for law enforcement. UAV News FAA Issues Study on UAS Human Collision Hazards In order to create regulations for flyi...

Drone vulnerability to hacking, the ScanEagle gets fuel cell power, Grand Sky UAS Park adds a major tenant, drone privacy issues in Australia, swarming biobots, and Uber collaborates with Aurora Flight Sciences for an air taxi. UAV News Watch A Very Vulnerable $140 Quadcopter Drone Get Hacked Out Of The Sky Researchers at the Cyber-Physical Systems Security Lab at the University of Texas at Dallas...

A drone for high altitude mountain search and rescue, a package delivery plan for Singapore, a “flying cell site” using a long endurance drone, and a growing market for anti-drone products. UAV News Hydrogen Drone, HyDrone 1550, Successfully Tested at High Altitudes The MMC hydrogen-powered  HyDrone 1550  has been tested at altitudes over 14,000 feet in cold and mountainous Yunnan Provin...

Putting ADS-B on small drones, faster and more agile drones for the Drone Racing League, speeding up Part 107 approvals at the FAA, and equipping U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents with sUAS. Interview Tim Trott, “ The Drone Professor ,” talks with Ryan Reed from  uAvionix  at the 2017  Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-In Expo  held April 4-9, 2017 in Lakeland, Florida. They...

A successful test flight program for a VTOL UAS, an autonomous drone system gets an authorization to fly, the insurance industry advances drone use for structure inspections, UK drone reports increase, and drone weaponization for law enforcement. UAV News Aurora’s massive LightningStrike VTOL UAV just got one step closer to reality The  Aurora Flight Sciences LightningStrike  XV-24A subs...

A drone that inflates and floats, the drone shoot-down lawsuit, a workshop on using UAS as photographic tools, drone privacy legislation returns at the federal level, and drones deployed with a missile launcher. UAV News SOFINS: Airvada unveils inflatable UAVs French company  DIODON Drone Technology  offers drone solutions for inspection missions and for reconnaissance in hard to reach a...

Our guest explains the research on fuel cells as a power source for unmanned aircraft. In the news, an Airobotics drone operates without a human pilot, the USAF uses a drone for aircraft inspections, BVLOS inspections in Canada, an underwater autonomous vehicle, a drone for humanitarian missions, more Amazon UAS patents, and a Patriot missile takes out a small quadcopter. Guest Dr. Benjamin D. Gou...

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Senior Director of UAS Programs explains the organization’s strategies for unmanned aircraft. Guest Kathleen “Kat” Swain  is Senior Director for  AOPA  UAS Programs. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association created the position in 2016, and since then Kat has been working to implement the organization’s strategies for UAS. Kat was...

New DJI Matrice 200 drones created for enterprise users, Parrot also sees a future in the commercial market, an RQ-7 Shadow goes on an unexpected cross-country flight, and swarms of drones may someday map oil spills. UAV News DJI’s Matrice 200 UAV line is built for work DJI showed its new  Matrice 200  series of quadcopters at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It’s a workhorse designed...

Drone pilots are welcome to join AOPA, drone sightings increase again, a large autonomous freight drone prototype, a beyond visual line of sight record, and autonomous package delivery by UPS. UAV News AOPA believes manned and unmanned pilots are more alike than different: “…both groups are part of general aviation, and share a fascination for flight and a craving for new perspectives.” To bring d...

Dubai plans to address traffic problems with a taxi drone, the Drone Advisory Committee looks at UAS tasks, a concept for very large racing drones forms in Australia, a tower trade organization issues a UAS guidance document, investing in drone technology, an NDVI data gathering solution for growers, a Microsoft UAS simulation platform, and Amazon looks at controlled descent of ejected packages. U...

Drones appear at the Super Bowl, Kansas wants to be an unmanned aircraft leader, UAS for newsgathering gains momentum, an unmanned air combat drone, drones that seed clouds, and those that pollinate. UAV News Lady Gaga Halftime Drone Swarm Was Pretaped to Shield Crowd The Super Bowl LI halftime show included 300 drones choreographed by  Intel . The drones were filmed in advance to comply with...

DARPA calls for drones that vanish, the U.S. Coast Guard tests the ScanEagle, more Amazon drone patents, a shortage of military drone pilots, Microsoft drones for good, the Trump administration’s regulatory policy throws confusion at the UAS industry, 3DR operates drones at the Atlanta airport, and a biometric drone based on the bat. UAV News These mushroom-based drones eat themselves at mission’s...