Aloft Achieves Record Growth Milestones

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M Crosby

Aloft Technologies has announced a series of record flight and airspace safety milestones spanning its applications and UTM platform.

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The company recorded half a million LAANC authorizations in total, seeing record growth in June where total authorizations grew 58% year-over-year and commercial airspace authorizations grew 102% year-over-year. The B4UFLY app also saw record usage and adoption, surpassing 20 million airspace searches. Additionally, the Aloft UTM data network exceeded one million monthly airspace events in June with a quarter-over-quarter commercial revenue growth of 300%, the platform’s largest expansion to date.

Aloft’s B4UFLY app, following its relaunch in August of 2019 and the addition of a web-based version, has become the leading source of situational awareness for both UAS operators and recreational drone pilots. Recently added features such as Notify & Fly, which provides operators with the ability to anonymously share their flight intent and location to other pilots, are also experiencing growth. Notify & Fly experienced record usage during May and June, with usage tripling between March and June.

“We know that adoption by users is key to all successful compliance efforts. While we continue to build open and scalable systems, we can’t mistake walls for highways,” said Aloft CEO and Founder Jon Hegranes. “We have to make compliance, safety and security part of the benefits that come along with accessible and easy to use tools. We’re excited to continue growing along with the broader drone ecosystem.”

Aloft Geo, the company’s latest product, enables government and authoritative agencies to publish air and groundspace advisories to the Aloft UTM data network. This service exceeded 50 verified agencies in only its first month. Aloft Geo advances UTM situational awareness by bringing together authoritative data sets with Aloft’s airspace restrictions and flight activity data. This integration allows authoritative agencies to manage and publish data directly to the most comprehensive network of drone pilots and airspace stakeholders.

“Many pilots who fly motorized aircraft within Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) have told MBNS staff they use the B4UFLY app for situational awareness,” said MBNMS Permit Coordinator and GIS Specialist Sophie De Beukelaer. “Therefore, MBNMS staff made it a priority to upload the boundaries of the NOAA regulated overflight zones as a *.kml file to Aloft Geo and provide metadata and links to inform pilots where flights under 1000 feet within MBNMS are prohibited by federal regulations. Aloft Geo’s interface is intuitive and updates are efficiently published to B4UFLY.”

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Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.