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

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...

Concepts for UAS traffic management (UTM) in urban areas, calls for a UTM system in Australia, Flirtey raises capital, a Great Sand Dunes National Park mapping project, and visualizing the airflow around a quadcopter. UAV News Deciding Rules Of The Road For Urban UAS If large numbers of drones are ever to provide delivery services in urban areas, UAS traffic management rules need to be created to...

Online UAS training from well-respected providers, a UAV traffic control project in Germany, the FAA levies the largest ever civil penalty for UAV operation, a jet-fueled UAV endurance record, and companies collaborating for agriculture applications. UAV News King Schools Announces Unmanned Aircraft Knowledge Course Embry-Riddle Offers UAV Basics Class Online The names John and Martha King are syn...

GoPro will relaunch its Karma foldable drone, FAA approves Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) operations at a UAS test site, a drone strike on an airliner proves to be false, a new droneport is taking shape, a Canadian company offers fuel cell-powered drones, and autonomous drone swarming is a success. UAV News GoPro is relaunching its Karma drone after an embarrassing recall The new GoPro Karma...

The owner of an FPV flying wing company describes their design, construction, and applications. In the news, Amazon patents a floating warehouse concept, and the EU moves closer to an RPAS regulations roadmap. Guest Ruben Jauregui is the owner of  SweepWingsRC , a maker of FPV flying wings. In 2010, Ruben received a little UMX Vapor indoor flyer and over time he grew more interested in RC fly...

The Naval Research Laboratory powers a drone with a new fuel cell design, an Amazon patent to identify threats to drones, PrecisionHawk reports on BVLOS technology needs, and the FAA drone registration system reaches its one-year anniversary. News NRL completes first flight of UAV with custom hydrogen fuel cell A team from the U.S.  Naval Research Laboratory  (NRL) has developed and flow...

Amazon Prime Air begins a package delivery beta test, a DOT audit finds some FAA deficiencies, Defiant Labs shows a new VTOL long endurance drone, three models of aerodynamic lift are called into question, some drone tips for growers, and a wild video of the week. News Amazon Claims First Successful Prime Air Drone Delivery Amazon Prime Air  delivered a TV streaming stick and a bag of popcorn...

UAS industry consolidation, open source drone projects, and the Dutch Drone Awards. News Flir buys UAS firm Prox Dynamics following Point Grey acquisition Flir Systems  has acquired Oslo Norway-based  Prox Dynamics  for $134 million in cash. Prox Dynamics is a developer of nano-class unmanned aerial systems, with a “core mission to develop, produce and sell the world’s smallest and...

Aerial Information Systems describes counter-UAS technology, the Karma drone recall exposes a larger issue, and some areas to watch in the UAS space in 2017. Interview Tim Trott from Southern Helicam interviews Larry Friese, Jr., president of Aerial Information Systems Corporation (AIS) at the inaugural  Emerald Coast Unmanned Systems Business Expo  in Pensacola, November 19, 2016. Larry...

A report on Drone World Expo, held November 15-16, 2016, in San Jose, California. Guest Max Trescott attended  Drone World Expo  2016 and brings us his observations from the show. Max tells us about the makeup of the attendees and the keynote panel. We hear a clip from the keynote where moderator Gretchen West of  Hogan Lovells  asks Ingo Piroth (IBM North America GTM Lead Part...

Rulemaking for sUAS flights over people moves forward, fuel cell-powered UAVs, a drone detection system, a Predator for humanitarian relief, drones flying in formation, and autonomous aircraft collaboration. News Big News: Proposed Small UAS Rule for Flights Over People at White House for Review Hogan Lovells reports that the FAA sent to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs...

We talk with the founder of a company that provides drones for precision agriculture. Guest Bret Chilcott founded  AgEagle Aerial Systems  in 2013 as a spin-off of a Kansas State University research project. AgEagle provides data acquisition drones for precision agriculture. They are an FAA Section 333 exemption holder, and their drone technology captures aerial images of crop health. Br...