Episodes

A charging pad for your drone, USAF Unmanned Systems faces a huge manpower problem, real estate and agriculture gain FAA exemptions, timeline for ICAO RPAS standards, and UAS in Canada. News New Charging Pad for Parrot Drones Changes the Way You Charge Your Batteries The portable Skysense Charging Pad is said to support nearly all existing multicopters and VTOL aircraft. Plug the Pad into an electrical outlet, land your drone on the Pad, and your batteries will charge at the same rate as your r...

No sUAS NPRM, “Know Before You Fly” safety campaign, it may be OK to say “drone” now, UAS America Fund proposes rules, drone privacy legislation, ICAO looks at integrating RPAS into the air space, an embarrassing UAS test center first flight, and the MQ-8C Fire Scout takes flight. News No Firm Date For UAV Rules As FAA, Industry Launch Safety Campaign At 2014 year-end, we don’t have an sUAS NPRM from the FAA, but we do have many new quadcopter owners after the holiday gift-giving season. The K...

The FAA issues more exemptions, the NPRM might affect hobbyists, NYC looks at banning drones, agriculture eager to get started, Fort Bliss is building a drone port, and drone videos for the holidays. News FAA Grants Five More Commercial UAS Exemptions The FAA granted five regulatory exemptions for unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations to four companies under Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. The four companies that received exemptions want to fly UAS to perform op...

A new civilian HALE, 12 drones for the holidays, where to fly your drone in the UK and Canada, drone near misses and hits, and a holiday video of the week. News Arca Space Announces New Range of High-Altitude UAVs New Mexico-based Arca Space Corporation announced the AirStrato line of electric HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance) UAVs. These fill a gap between large, expensive military unmanned aerial vehicles and small, inexpensive civilian commercial drones. The target market is small-scale b...

Should we be satisfied with strict regulations if that will allow commercial operation of UAVs to begin? Also: The FAA looks to focus on drone certification and pilot standards, Canada makes it easier to fly small UAVs, UAS pilot training, model aircrafters getting swept up in drone regulations, and a proposal to allow drones to fly in US National Parks. Guest Ryan Morton is a roboticist. He’s the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of SkySpecs, which produces innovative drone technologies...

Sneak peak at the FAA sUAS regulations, NZ drone regs, bioengineered drones, busting poachers, the threat to airliners, first amendment issues, and GoPro to enter the UAV market. News Drone Flights Face FAA Hit The Wall Street Journal reports that “people familiar with the rule-making process” are talking about what we can expect in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) from the FAA for sUAS. The expectation is that the FAA will: Lump all sUAS under 55 pounds under the same regulations Re...

The NTSB issued its Opinion and Order in the FAA v. Raphael Pirker matter, reversing the Administrative Law Judge’s decisional order and remanding the matter for further proceedings. Guest Justine Harrison is an attorney whose practice includes corporate and aviation law. She’s a multi-engine instrument rated pilot, aircraft owner/operator, and an experimental aircraft builder. Justine understands aviation issues, has experience in aviation transactions, as well as FAA and NTSB matters. Her av...

Opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurs looking to develop a commercial UAV business. This Episode The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle industry is in its infancy and presents many business opportunities to entrepreneurs. Some opportunities are obvious, like agriculture, real estate, emergency response, and package delivery. Others have not yet been imagined. In this episode, we look at issues for UAV startups, with someone who is immersed in that process. Guest Don Toporowski is an advisor to ...

A new ScanEagle from Insitu, an Ohio UAS test site is up and running, students learning about UAVs in a precision agriculture program, ABC creating drone journalism policies, and a drone on an urban rescue mission. News Insitu Launches New ScanEagle 2 UAS The new Insitu ScanEagle 2 features a slightly longer fuselage, the same wingspan, and a new engine from Orbital. Endurance of this fixed-wing system grows to 24 hours from 16. US Navy seeks information on sense and avoid radar for Triton UAS...

Drones assist with solar energy production, the satellite industry sees UAS opportunities, a quadcopter approaches a commercial flight, NYPD is developing a plan to counter weaponized drones, and more from the NBAA panel discussion on UAS. News These Drones With Little Brooms Keep Solar Panels Clean Large solar panel farms are increasingly being used to generate electricity. You can capture a lot of solar power in the desert, but the panels need to be cleaned to remove the dust that accumulates...

We review the Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Regulatory and Legal Developments panel discussion at the NBAA 2014 conference. NBAA2014 – BUSINESS AVIATION CONVENTION & EXHIBITION At the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Florida on October 21, 2014, a panel discussion was held titled, “Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Regulatory and Legal Developments.” The Panel was moderated by Marc Warren of Crowell & Moring LLP. Panel members were: Dean Griffith, FAA; Mario Mairena, AUVSI; Dave Hamrick,...

An amphibian RPA, India bans drones, open source code for drones, area terrain mapping, DARPA’s ship-based MALE UAV concept, a new UAV market study, and more on logbooks for drone pilots. News The Flyox Amphib UAV enters market Singular Aircraft has released the Flyox I, an amphibian RPA (Remotely Piloted Aircraft) that can take off and land on water, as well as on unpaved runways and snow. Flyox I is a high wing aircraft with a 14 meter wingspan, a 2000 kg payload, and is powered by two 340 H...

The Small UAV Coalition launches, law enforcement using drones, UAVs showcased, a spat over the MQ-9 Reaper, GNSS developments, and logbooks for UAV pilots. News Small UAV Coalition formed to promote civil and commercial use of small UAVs Eight companies have formally launched the Small UAV Coalition to facilitate the entry of small UAVs in the United States and abroad. The Coalition intends to advocate for commercial, consumer, recreational, and philanthropic use of UAVs by removing “unnecessa...

Agriculture wants UAVs, the White House seeks drone data transparency, a wearable quadcopter, UAVs fight poachers, and Facebook plans to offer Internet access via drone. News FAA’s Sluggish UAV Ruling Slows Ag Research, Group Suggests Commercial farmers everywhere are eager to apply new technology to their operations. That includes using unmanned aircraft for things like crop and livestock surveys, monitoring irrigation needs, and pest control. Farmers in Louisiana as well as representatives f...

Production companies get sUAS exemptions, FAA wants N-numbers for drones, new chip offers possibility of smarter UAS controllers, Google wants to test Internet service, and DHL will provide package delivery. Guest Guest Tim Trott has a broadcast production background, but today at Tim Trott Productions, he creates video for a range of services, including real estate tours, industrial videos, training DVD’s, commercials, web and conference/trade show videos, and industrial productions. Southern...

FAA grants an emergency COA, Reno is not just for manned aircraft anymore, Chinese inflatable UAVs, more UAS regulations, and more bad behavior with drones. News Drones Get Waiver to Search for Missing Texas Woman Christina Morris The FAA granted an Emergency COA to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of Gaithersburg, MD in order to utilize an Unmanned Aircraft System in the search for a woman missing in Texas. Under the Emergency COA, NIST was able to operate an unmanned...

Sense and Avoid by NASA and General Atomics, South African rules by 2015, Amazon’s drone page, package delivery by Flirtey and Google, and cease and desist letters from the FAA. Guest Maj. Gen. Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., (USMC-Ret.), the NASA Administrator since July, 2009. In this clip from a longer interview recorded for the Airplane Geeks podcast, Charlie talks about NASA’s activity to develop autonomous flight technologies with the UAS test sites, focusing on sense and avoid. NASA is looki...

FAA sued over drone restrictions, UAV arrests and confiscations, privacy legislation in California, UCLASS delay, NASA developing ATC for drones, Disney seeks UAS patents. News Lawsuits Assert Broad Economic and Scientific Impact of FAA’s Drone Restrictions Three lawsuits have been filed by attorney Brenden Schulman (@dronelaws) over the FAA’s Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft. These were filed on behalf of: 1. The Academy of Model Aeronautics and its 170,000 members The ...

Guest Dr. Ernest Earon is President and Co-founder of PrecisionHawk. Their Lancaster Platform is designed around the goals of ease of use and autonomous collection of high resolution aerial data. Much of the focus is on agricultural applications, but their platform, and data collection and analysis methodology is applicable to a variety of industries. The NUAIR Alliance, one of the six FAA UAS Test Sites, has a COA for the PrecisionHawk and we talk with Dr. Earon about that program. Also, we d...

The FAA definition of an aircraft, drones and agriculture, UAV privacy issues, FAA solicits a UAS Center of Excellence, Amazon Prime Air, X-47B milestone, drone legislation, and a successful UAV company despite regulatory uncertainty. News FAA Thinks Two Pound Drones Aircraft. But 1100 Pound, Manned and Flying Craft? Unsure. The FAA’s June interpretive rule treats model airplanes as aircraft. But what about other devices that fly – like the Flying Hovercraft that Hammacher Schlemmer sells for ...

UAS test sites update: Virginia gets FAA COA’s, Maryland starting, New Jersey delayed, Nevada moving slowly. Also, hobby UAV’s you can buy, UAS in the Netherlands, and a possible drone near miss. News The Drone You Should Buy Right Now The Verge offers up their top five recommended hobby drones. These range across the spectrum in size, price, and capability. FAA Announces Virginia Tech UAS Test Site Now Operational The FAA granted Virginia Polytechnic Institute seven Certificates of Waiver or...

NUAIR becomes the fifth FAA UAS test site to receive a COA, DJI introduces a new model, regulations in the EU and Singapore, North Dakota and Yellowstone in the news, businesses embrace UAVs in Charlotte, and how long until we see deliveries by drone. News NUAIR Cleared to Begin First Flights of Unmanned Aircraft Systems The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR Alliance) and Griffiss International Airport announced the receipt of their first Certificate of Authorization (...

Aerial photography in real estate, autonomous lighting for photographs, nano drones for situational awareness, a new UAV market size study, video selfies by quadcopter, a U.S. “no drone zone” map, taking aerial video of wildfires, and university professors speak to the FAA. The News NRT bans drone photography in northeastern US Attorneys for NRT LLC, a large real estate brokerage, sent letters to the presidents of 200 offices telling them not to use drone photography until the FAA issues regula...

Guest Parker Gyokeres owns Propellerheads Aerial Photography and produces professional aerial videos. We talk about that business in general, and in particular about the video of a recent wedding that is getting attention from the press and the FAA. This story offers UAS regulatory issues, safety of flight issues, and even some good old fashioned politics. These are the facts: Sean Maloney, a Democratic member of Congress from upstate New York was married June 21, 2014. A video of the wedding...