Drones

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced that the FAA has provided certification for commercial drone service operations to Wing Aviation, a Gooogle X project. The certification allows the service to start delivering packages via UAS in Blacksburg, Virginia. Wing Aviation’s success has come through a collaboration with Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic […]

Humacao, Puerto Rico-based Red Cat has announced a new product designed to track drones and analyze their activities in an effort to help pilots ensure that a flight stayed within the regulations of drone operations. A black box of sorts, the Blockchain black box tracks and records drone flight data. Red Cat claims to be […]

The FAA has partnered with Kittyhawk, a provider of the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) UAS service, to redevelop the B4UFLY app, which helps operators of UAS stay out of trouble in terms of where they can and can’t fly. Kittyhawk has offered to modify the app at no cost to the FAA. […]

The FAA says it is establishing temporary flight restrictions (TFR) for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) over dozens of federal facilities, mostly prisons and hospitals, at the request of the Defense and Justice Departments. The notam detailing the drone TFRs (FAA NOTAM FDC [9/2586]) is pending until it goes into effect on February 26. The FAA […]

The FAA’s latest Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published in yesterday’s Federal Register will soon require drone operators to prominently display their FAA registration number on the outside of their machines, just like those on regular aircraft, only smaller. Owners and operators may no longer place or write registration numbers in an interior compartment. The markings […]

Here we go again. All flights were grounded at London Heathrow Airport on Tuesday night after a drone was sighted in the vicinity. It was an eerily similar repeat of an incident three weeks ago at nearby Gatwick Airport. The departures runway at Heathrow was closed and police helicopters were deployed after numerous sightings were […]

As if the holiday travel isn’t chaotic enough, passengers planning to travel in or out of London Gatwick got a rude surprise this week. Two drones were flying near the major airport around 9 pm local time on Wednesday night, according to a report by NPR, causing airport officials to close down operations. Around 3 […]

One big fear in the world of manned aviation these days is for an airplane to collide with a drone. A Grupo Aeromexico crew flying a Boeing 737-800 got the scare of a lifetime as this exact scenario likely happened last week. The commercial airliner flying from Guadalajara to Tijuana appears to have ran into […]

The FAA has had enough of drone operators who don’t seem smart enough to remain clear of locations where their aircraft might interfere with wildfire containment crews, law enforcement efforts, or other first responders, such as medical flights. The agency said last week that violators are now more likely to face serious civil penalties, even […]

San Diego-based King Schools is offering a free course to help drone operators stay out of trouble in controlled airspace. “Using LAANC to Fly Drones in Controlled Airspace” helps operators through the task of getting approval to use airspace from the FAA Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC). LAANC allows drone operators to request […]