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

A milestone for the UTM research platform, controlling drones with brain waves, FAA approval for night flying, rules for sUAS get one step closer, more from the Drone Dealer Expo, and a Flirtey goes into the Smithsonian. News NASA Marks Success for Most Complex Drone Traffic Management Test Yet at FAA Test Sites A three-hour field test of NASA’s UAS Traffic Management (UTM) research platform inclu...

An interview by Tim Trott with drone lawyer Jonathan Rupprecht at Drone Dealer Expo 2016. We continue our coverage of Drone Dealer Expo 2016 with an insightful conversation that Tim Trott recorded with Jonathan Rupprecht from  Rupprecht Law . Jonathan notes that the industry will become more regulated and comments on the responsibilities of drone manufacturers and retailers. He also has a ver...

Observations from the Drone Dealer Expo, hydrogen fueled drones, a drone rescue patent, and proposed federal preemption of UAS laws. Guest Mike Daniels  says he has been designing, building and flying model aircraft since the 1970s. He’s flown free flight, control line, and RC airplanes, helicopters, and multi-rotors. Mike built an F550 with parts he designed and printed, and he’s currently f...

The Drone Manufacturers Alliance is formed, a Digital Notice and Awareness System for airports starts, the Micro UAS Aviation Rulemaking Committee report is published, a satellite navigation system competition begins, and a new facial-recognition drone is available. News Drone coalition splits as DJI, GoPro faction quits The  Small UAV Coalition  was formed to advocate “for law and polic...

An autonomous package delivery drone, blanket COA altitude limit raised, FAA forecasts UAS sales, in U.S., states eye drone applications, NASA and AFRL developing a fully autonomous UAS, JPL applies Mars sensor technology to earth-bound drone, and the Pentagon will pair manned and unmanned jets. News First US autonomous, urban drone delivery in Nevada In Episode 59 we reported that  Flirtey &...

An online “junk yard” for UAVs and components, the drone pilot shortage, a UAS detect and avoid display project, UAV airspace integration in the UK, the US Senate version of FAA reauthorization, egg drop drones, LiPo batteries, and the CRACUNS submersible drone. News This Online ‘Drone Junk Yard’ Lets UAV Owners Swap and Exchange Parts UK Drone builder Andrew Spaxman founded  Drone Junk...

A significant change for Section 333 holders, a carrier-based aerial-refueling system, mapping with UAVs, a drone that romps in the crowd, using drones for health care, extrapolating birdstrike data to drone strikes, an unmanned underwater vehicle, and a fuel cell-powered drone. News UAS: blanket approval granted for 1,120 drones . . . But only going forward In the past, Section 333 exemption appl...

The Aurora Flight Sciences unmanned VTOL X-plane, shore-to-ship package delivery, Senate FAA reauthorization bill impacts UAS, more proposed local drone legislation, a new DJI Phantom, and high-altitude sUAS flying. News Aurora Wins Darpa Contract to Build Novel Drone Demonstrator The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded second- and third-phase contract awards to Aurora F...

We get a first-hand look at first person view drone racing. Guest Fred Samson works for a large, international software company, but he’s also a 400hr FAA certificated pilot, formation lead acrobatic pilot, and drone enthusiast. He’s a member of the San Francisco chapter of the  International Drone Racing Association  (IDRA), he races on the national circuit, and he also helps people get...

The House FAA reauthorization bill returns to Committee, package delivery by drone in Singapore, a quadcopter crosses the English Channel, filming wildlife with drones, a drone detection system for airports, and putting UAVs on the internet. News House FAA reauthorization legislation delayed The “AIRR Act” that passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on February 11 with “micro...

David, Max, and guest Tim Trott (“ The Drone Professor ”) try their hand at broadcasting a live episode. We discuss the Micro UAS amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill, another lawsuit challenging the FAA right to require drone registration, and the results of two UAV criminal cases. News A  Giant Step for Micro Drones On February 11, 2016, Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis introduced a&n...

“Drone lawyer” Jonathan Rupprecht talks about current legal cases that will have major implications for model airplane enthusiasts and sUAS operators. Guest Jonathan Rupprecht is a commercial pilot with single and multi-engine aircraft ratings and also a flight instructor. He has a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and his law degree from Fl...

sUAS and the proposed FAA reauthorization bill, ALPA proposes to lock sUAS, a universal UAV control interface, Amazon Prime Air testing outside the US, and EASA drone rules. News Rep. Bill Shuster: How to fix America’s crumbling aviation system Representative Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduced the  Aviation Innovatio...

The CEO of Skyward tells us about software and services for commercial UAS operations. Also, DJI and Lufthansa do a drone deal, open source vs. open architecture autopilots, and taking FPV drone racing to the next level. Guest Jonathan Evans is the CEO of  Skyward , a provider of professional services and software in the form of airspace maps and integrated flight planning tools for commercia...

Open source UAV software, safety with a soccer ball sized drone, a drone landing on a moving vehicle, combining rotors and wings for overall efficiency, the FAA blocks sUAS registration site outside the U.S., and UAS rules for public safety organizations. News Dronecode Project Advances Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Commercial Applications In its first year, the  Dronecode Project  has fo...

Anti-drone systems and shooting down drones, more legislation from California, the authority to control the airspace, the FAA clamps down on R/C and drone clubs in Washington, D.C., formation flying, drones in television and film, stealth UAVs, and the B4UFLY app. And now, for something completely different… Instead of recording this episode over Skype for an audio program, we tried a bit of an ex...

Registration of model aircraft moves to the courts, FAA releases an app and answers more registration questions, a cargo delivery UAV makes a first untethered flight, and a new drone challenge. News FAA Sued In Federal Court Over Drone Registration Rules Attorney and model airplane enthusiast John A. Taylor from Silver Spring, Maryland believes that the FAA requirement for sUAS registration is a v...

Small UAS registration is proceeding in the U.S., but AMA says to hold off, package delivery robots, drone registration in the Bahamas, security drones chase thieves, the FAA gets tough with states legislating drones. News sUAS Registration The  FAA sUAS registration website  is open for operators of small UAS intended for non-commercial use. Reportedly, 45,000 registrations were filed i...

The Hivemapper community-edited mapping and real-time navigation system for drone fliers. Guest Ariel Seidman is co-founder and CEO of  Hivemapper , which has been called “Waze for drones.” With Hivemapper, drone operators have a real-time view of obstacles and no-fly zones to help guide a safe flight. The growing database is a combination of data supplied by Hivemapper, observations from dro...

On December 14, 2015, the U.S Department of Transportation and the FAA held a media briefing to announce the new registration requirements for small UAS. This special episode provides the audio from the announcement. The rulemaking will appear in the Federal Register December 15, 2015. The requirement applies to sUAS from 0.55 pounds to 55 pounds. sUAS purchased before December 21, 2015 have until...

DaVinci Challenge Princess Aliyah Pandolfi created the non-profit  Kashmir World Foundation  to integrate art, science, and technology for sustainable projects that transform social and economic structures. One of these projects is the  DaVinci Challenge: Build a Drone Workshop , which helps students see robotic aircraft from a broader perspective. The workshop trains students and t...

The UAS Registration Task Force issues its report to the FAA, and industry responds. A free, worldwide UAS course for new users, and package delivery by drone down under. UAS Registration Task Force The Registration Task Force provided its sUAS  registration recommendations  [PDF] to the FAA. The FAA will now consider those recommendations, as well as the public comments received, and is...

DJI and 3D Robotics bring real-time airspace restrictions to UAV software, a UAV flagship store is planned to open, ArcadiaSky opens a marketplace for commercial UAV operators, FAA gives a UAV registration warning, and another municipality regulates drone flights. News DJI Introduces New GeoFencing System For Its Drones DJI plans to introduce a dynamic geofencing system that continuously provides...

“Polivation” policy briefing, UAS registration update, multicopters crash in Seattle, charges of misrepresenting UAS to the US Government, Google and Facebook want to be ISPs, and the tower industry looks ahead to UAS. Implementing Polivation to Achieve Autonomy: A Path Forward David tells us about the policy briefing he attended where panelists addressed issues of “polivation,” the intersection o...

Systems that allow drones to avoid obstacles, impediments to package delivery by UAV, the UAS registration task force kicks off and gets some help, and interviews and presentations from the UAS Industry Days conference. News A Drone with a Sense of Direction The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich has demonstrated a multirotor drone that creates 3-D maps of its environment. The first f...