DJI Phantom 4 The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has enacted modifications to commercial drone regulations to include a micro drone category (100g<2kg). The new laws went into effect on September 29. Operators of commercial micro drones will not need an RPA operator’s certificate or Remote Pilot’s License, as …
Read More »Tougher French Drone Laws Introduced
Photo: Samantha Smith, CC by 2.0 Tougher French drone laws are in the works, as France’s parliament announced that a new set of laws for recreational drones will be enacted within a few weeks. France was the surprise leader in commercial drone investment at the beginning of this year. It …
Read More »Opportunity Rising: Drone Industry Testifies before House Subcommittee
Small business owners and representatives of the drone industry testified before a Congressional subcommittee about the FAA’s efforts to move commercial drone regulation forward. Speaking before the House Small Business committee, representatives from the FAA, AUVSI, the Small UAV Coalition, airports, and others testified about the need for sensible regulation to support …
Read More »Tremco’s SkyBEAM UAV Completes First FAA-Approved Night Flight
Ohio-based Tremco Roofing & Building Maintenance announced that its SkyBEAM unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has completed the first Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-approved night flight, to inspect rooftops at a southern Ohio business. More than 2.3 million square feet of roofing were scanned during the mission. The FAA granted approval to SkyBEAM for …
Read More »What Will Drone Laws Look Like in 100 Years?
1910 Rover Six As the drone industry anxiously watches federal drone laws unfold – slowly – it’s important to remember that we are at the very beginning of an emerging technology. Drone laws may seem draconian now, as the federal government struggles to focus on safety and state and local lawmakers wrestle with …
Read More »Palm Beach Drone Laws Illegal, Officials Now Realize
Michael Kagdis – Proper Media Group CC by-SA 3.0 The Palm Beach drone laws adopted last June are illegal, town officials now realize. Finding that the FAA claims sole jurisdiction over the airspace, the Town Council will have to rescind or rewrite the regulation, which all but outlawed recreational drones in their town. …
Read More »FAA Administrator Huerta Kicks Off InterDrone
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta delivered the grand opening keynote to thousands of attendees at the InterDrone conference in Las Vegas this morning. His speech was largely devoted to promoting collaboration between government and industry, and touting the new and more open regulations. Huerta, the main spokesperson for the FAA, said …
Read More »DroneDeploy and Skyward Form Partnership to Streamline Enterprise Drone Operations
Part 107 has provided some relief to large enterprise looking to incorporate drone technology and the benefits it offers into their overall operations. But there are still hurdles. While the regulations themselves are less onerous; compliance with the regulations is challenging. Today at the InterDrone show Skyward announced a partnership …
Read More »PrecisionHawk Receives First Waiver to Fly Beyond Line of Sight
Leading commercial drone company PrecisionHawk has announced that they have received the first Part 107 waiver for BVLOS flight (beyond visual line of sight.) PrecisionHawk has been working with the FAA to establish the safety case for BVLOS flight as part of the Pathfinder program, designed to help the FAA …
Read More »How to Pass the Part 107 Test, Part 2: Study Guides and Resources [List with links]
Image: Public domain Part 2 of a series – see How to Pass the Part 107 Test, Part 1. The FAA reports that 88% of participants taking the Part 107 Test on Monday passed it – but reports from the field say that the test was harder than most people …
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