Drones

It’s hard to forget the holiday season of 2015. You could walk into a Best Buy and walk out with a DJI Phantom 3 Standard for $250. Black Friday sales had taken an already well-priced drone and made it a must have item for a lot of American households. I remember, because I paid $750 […]

A California man’s multiple attempts at dropping anti-media pamphlets over NFL stadium crowds landed him in jail after flying over Oakland Coliseum and Levi’s Stadium during Sunday’s games. Tracy Mapes, a 55-year-old Sacramento resident, was cited and released by Santa Clara police for flying the drone in violation of a local municipal code, department spokesperson […]

Professional drone racing pilot Ken ‘FlyingBear’ Loo is used to racing the likes of Paul ‘Nurk’ Nurkala, Nick ‘Wild Willy’ Willard and Jordan ‘Jet’ Temkin through extravagant tracks in cool locations, later to be aired on ESPN. Racing a NASA-built autonomous drone? Not so much. “We pitted our algorithms against a human, who flies a […]

Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao’s office sent out a memo announcing new information about the FAA’s state program to allow state and local governments to control their own drone regulations. It will also allow them to partner with private sector entities such as UAS operators or manufacturers to accelerate safe UAS integration. “Entities that wish […]

Waiting three months for drone authorization from the FAA may soon become a nightmare of the past. Get ready for instant approval to fly in controlled U.S. airspace thanks to AirMap and the LAANC (Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability) program. The launch of the LAANC pilot program is the culmination of a year of […]

President Donald J. Trump’s memorandum to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao called for an initiative to safely test operations for drones in partnership with state and local governments in select jurisdictions. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program will be used to accelerate the integration of UAS into the national airspace […]

A drone struck a plane on one of its wings while on approach to Québec City’s Jean Lesage International Airport on Thursday. The plane was operated by local charter airline Skyjet. “This is the first time a drone has hit a commercial aircraft in Canada. I am extremely relieved that the aircraft only sustained minor […]

The FAA’s panel of experts and law enforcement officials could not agree on the specifics of tracking civilian drones, such as what models should be radio tracked, and whether or not size and weight should be determining factors. The panel is wrapping up as the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the first case of […]

If you had plans to take scenic shots of the Statue of Liberty, or diving the Hoover Dam with your new racing quad — we’re looking at you, Paul ‘Nurk’ Nurkkala and your viral train video — the FAA may have just ruined your next drone adventure. Beginning on October 5, the FAA is “using […]

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo sent three of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s drones and two operators to Puerto Rico to assist the New York Power Authority in restoring the island’s grid and carrying out other emergency response missions. Training at the FAA’s UAS test site at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, 14 DEC pilots […]