Drone News Update

Latest Episodes:

Drone News: Drone Pilot Cited, Volcano Tracking, DJI Update and Leaks, Airworks 2022 Oct 14, 2022

Show notes

This week in drone news we speak with Paul Brown, a PI student, about NYC ticketing him for flying a drone, next we will discuss a company that is tracking volcanos with what looks like a DJI M600, lastly, we will recap airworks, recent DJI troubles, and the Mavic 3 Classic leak.

Drone News: Remote ID App, Paladin Module with LTE, Drone Show, Wing Drone Crash Oct 07, 2022

Show notes

This week in drone news: the first remote id app was released to the app store, Paladin released an LTE dongle that attaches to the DJI M30 and M300, there was a drone show in New Mexico during the balloon festival, and a Wing delivery drone crashed into a power line leaving people without power.

Drone News: Bengals Pilot Indicted, Mavic 3 Thermal, Wildfire Ops Halted, Drone Finds Lost Man Sep 23, 2022

Show notes

In this week's drone news, the infamous pilot that flew inside the stadium during the Bengals game was finally indicted, the Mavic 3 Thermal has been leaked on the FAA DOC page amongst other places, wildfire ops were halted after sightings of a drone in the airspace, and finally, less than a minute after a search drone was launched a missing man was found and brought to safety.

Drone News Update: Remote ID delayed, DJI Leaks Mavic 3 Classic, Autel Releases 3 New Models Sep 09, 2022

Show notes

This week in drone news: Remote ID delayed for manufacturers working on compliance, DJI Leaks on Mavic 3 Classic, and Autel releases V3 aircraft and new smart controller.

Check out our gear list: https://www.amazon.com/shop/pilotinstitute

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Remote Id Delayed for manufacturers actively working on RID compliance. The new compliance date for these manufacturers is Dec. 16th, 2022.

Leaks show a new Mavic 3 classic drone with a fixed aperture camera.

https://dronexl.co/2022/09/03/dji-mavic-3-classic-camera-drone-photos/

https://dronexl.co/2022/09/01/dji-rumors-dji-mavic-3-classic-drone/

New Autel aircraft

V3 aircraft will be compliant with Remote ID and can come with a smaller more compact Autel Smart Controller!

Drone News: Mavic 3 Enterprise Leaks, UAV Stops Firefighting, Drone Tracking at LAX, New Deep Dives Sep 02, 2022

Show notes

This week in drone news; DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise leaks, Rogue Drone stopped firefighting efforts in Montana, Drone tracking installed at LAX, and some new Pilot Institute Deep-dive courses!

DJI Avata Deep Dive: https://pilotinstitute.com/course/dji-avata-deep-dive/

Parrot Anafi Ai Deep Dive: https://pilotinstitute.com/course/parrot-anafi-ai-deep-dive/

Matrice 300 Deep Dive: https://pilotinstitute.com/course/dji-m300-deep-dive/

An image shared by DealsDrone potentially shows the payload for the Mavic 3 Enterprise.

Currently, there are no specs on the Mavic 3 Enterprise or the payload

The Mavic 3 Enterprise is expected to be released or announced at DJI Airworks 2022, in just a few weeks.

https://dronexl.co/2022/08/29/dji-mavic-3-enterprise-camera-leaked-photo/

A rogue drone in Montana delayed firefighting efforts.

Firefighters were able to chase the drone back to the owner.

“The crew member actually kind of chased the drone down the hill and was able to find some kids that helped him out, that got him to the person that was actually operating the drone. We quickly called the PD and they responded within a few minutes, and we were able to catch up with the gentleman,” says Huston.

https://dronexl.co/2022/08/30/rogue-drones-mount-helena-firefighting/

In light of recent “Guy in a jetpack” sightings at LAX, TSA will be testing a new technology to track drones.

See our aerial armor video -

No confirmation on if this particular system will be used at LAX or not…

TSA reports that there have been 38 drone sightings at LAX this year.

https://dronexl.co/2022/08/26/drone-tracking-tech-tested-lax-airport/

Commercial UAV Expo: Sept 6-8 in Las Vegas, NV

Colorado UAS Roundup: Sept 11-12 in Mount Princeton, CO

DJI Airworks: Oct 10-12 in Las Vegas, NV

DRL Drone Race: Oct 11 at the PayPal Park in San Jose, CA

$15 tickets for PI Students, family, and Friends.

https://offer.fevo.com/drone-racing-league-kywoakr-8083d5a?fevoUri=drone-racing-league-kywoakr-8083d5a%2F

Commercial UAV Expo: Sept 6-8 in Las Vegas, NV

Colorado UAS Roundup: Sept 11-12 in Mount Princeton, CO

DJI Airworks: Oct 10-12 in Las Vegas, NV

DRL Drone Race: Oct 11 at the PayPal Park in San Jose, CA

$15 tickets for PI Students, family, and Friends.

https://offer.fevo.com/drone-racing-league-kywoakr-8083d5a?fevoUri=drone-racing-league-kywoakr-8083d5a%2F

Drone News: DJI Avata Releases, Zephyr Drone Crash, Evo 2 V3, and upcoming industry events! Aug 26, 2022

Show notes

This week in drone news; the DJI Avata has been released after weeks of leaks, the long-flying Zephyr Drone has crashed hours short of the world record time, FCC filings suggest an EVO 2 V3, and some upcoming industry events including Commercial UAV Expo and DRL's first race of the season!

Get the Avata here: https://click.dji.com/APt7wTOjepgyoDfSf0T_aA?pm=link

DJI Avata is out and it’s sweet!

4K 60, 18 minute of flight time,

GPS, Sport and Manual modes

New goggles with Head Tracking

Free Deep Dive

Full Review

Comparative Footage

The Zephyr drone crashed shortly after our news update went out last week.

The drone totaled 64 days airborne

The Zephyr was just hours short of the longest flight ever, which was set in 1958.

Two men flew a C172 Skyhawk for 64 days and 22 hours.

https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-powered-airbus-zephyr-drone-apparently-crashed-in-arizona-2022-8

According to recent FCC filings, Autel is preparing to release up to 6 new models of the EVO 2.

EVO II Pro V3: Quadcopter equipped with a 1-inch CMOS sensor that can shoot up to 6K video.

EVO II Pro RTK V3: Quadcopter equipped with a 6K camera and a RTK module that has centimeter-level positioning accuracy.

EVO II Pro Enterprise: Quadcopter equipped with a 6K camera and compatible with four kinds of enterprise accessories (Spotlight, Loudspeaker, Strobe, RTK Module).

EVO II DUAL 640T V3: Quadcopter equipped with a 4K camera and a thermal camera.

EVO II DUAL 640T RTK: Quadcopter equipped with a 4K camera, a thermal camera, and an RTK module that has centimeter-level positioning accuracy.

EVO II DUAL 640T Enterprise V3: Quadcopter equipped with a 4K camera, a thermal camera, and compatible with four kinds of enterprise accessories (Spotlight, Loudspeaker, Strobe, RTK Module).

This appears to be another chipset for the drones and controllers

New Autel smart controller “SE” for Evo lite and Nano series

Commercial UAV Expo: Sept 6-8 in Las Vegas, NV

Colorado UAS Roundup: Sept 11-12 in Mount Princeton, CO

DJI Airworks: Oct 10-12 in Las Vegas, NV

DRL Drone Race: Oct 11 at the PayPal Park in San Jose, CA

$15 tickets for PI Students, family, and Friends.

https://offer.fevo.com/drone-racing-league-kywoakr-8083d5a?fevoUri=drone-racing-league-kywoakr-8083d5a%2F

Drone News: Airbus Zephyr 60 Days, Avata Accessories Leaked, Drone Smuggling Attempt More PI Content Aug 19, 2022

Show notes

This week in drone news, the Airbus Zephyr has completed 60 days of flying so far, DJI Avata accessories leaked by Adorama, another drone smuggling attempt, more PI content coming to the Photography and videography course, and the upcoming Commercial UAV Expo!

The Zephyr drone is still flying!

82’ wingspan, 165lbs.

Solar powered

This is the same drone (and same flight) that flew to Belize and back.

The previous record for a sustained UAS flight was 26 days… we’ve passed 60 days now.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/armys-zephyr-drone-is-still-aloft-after-50-days

These leaks show the Avata accessories!

Looks like parts including new props, ducts/propeller guards, and the “upper frame” are available for purchase

Extra batteries, fly more combos, ND filters, and a battery hub are also available.

https://dronexl.co/2022/08/16/9-dji-avata-accessories-pricing-adorama/

DJI Battery Charging Hub for Avata Intelligent Flight Battery – $59

DJI Propellers for Avata Drone – $9

DJI ND Filter Set with ND8, ND16, ND32 for DJI Avata drone – $79

DJI 2420mAh Intelligent Flight Battery for Avata Drone – $129

DJI Fly More Kit w/2x Intelligent Flight Battery & Charging Hub for Avata Drone – $279

DJI Headband for Avata Goggles 2 – $19

DJI Propeller Guard for Avata Drone – $29

DJI Upper Frame for Avata Drone – $19

DJI 1800mAh Battery for Avata Goggles 2 – $39

Another smuggling attempt via drone was stopped this week in Fort Worth, Texas.

A man attempted to smuggle contraband into a prison including drugs, smartphones, and MP3 players.

Flight logs from the drone show that it was flown over a number of other correctional facilities previously.

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-man-accused-of-flying-drone-over-federal-prison-to-deliver-drugs-other-contraband/

Don, Greg, and Jason (and DSPA!) will be attending Commercial UAV Expo this year!

The Expo will have at least 193 exhibitors and project at least 200+ will actually fill the floor, a 50% increase over last year and a record-sized show.

It is the most important commercial drone show ever held in the Americas. Our attendance is also tracking at a record level, and our full-conference registration is way ahead of last year.

Drone News: DJI Avata Leaks, Skyebrowse Hyper, Remote ID MOC, Dronezone's new look, New PI Courses Aug 12, 2022

Show notes

This week in drone news; More leaks for the DJI Avata, Skyebrowse has released a new hyper-realistic modeling software, ASTM has gotten the first MOC for remote ID, the FAA's Dronezone got a new look this week, and an update on Pilot Institute's new courses!

Check out Skyebrowse: https://www.skyebrowse.com/

DJI Avata leaks continue, suggesting the drone is nearing release

Rumored specs include

18 minute flight time

RTH

408g

DJI Goggles 2 (looks like 2 different types)

A motion controller

1/1.7” sensor, 4K 60

3 modes: Manual, Sport, Normal

$629 to $1388

Also looks like an Avata Air Unit ($250-300)

DroneXL reported a leaked published day of 8/23

https://dronexl.co/2022/08/08/dji-avata-specs-drone-photo/

The DroneZone got a new look!

Functionality of the site remain the same, with additional links to mission specific rules and guidelines.

Remember that the Dronezone is the ONLY place to register your drone. If it doesn’t end in .gov, you’re in the wrong spot!

https://faadronezone-access.faa.gov/

Skyebrowse has released Hyper.

This system generates realistic models in as little as 2 minutes

This is a fully textured centimeter accurate 3D model

https://www.skyebrowse.com/?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_email_id=62f10995ac12f171652d0858

Drone News: Remote ID Case Closed, NASA and Zipline Partner, eVTOL Crashes, New FAASafety Course Aug 05, 2022

Show notes

In this week's drone news; The RDQ vs FAA court case has been settled and remote ID will continue as planned, NASA and Zipline partner for fleet integration, an experimental eVOTL crash, and a new FAASafety course by Pilot Institute.

ALC-803: https://www.faasafety.gov/gslac/ALC/course_content.aspx?pf=1&preview=true&cID=803

Remote ID was upheld in the US. Court of Appeals this week.

Race Day Quads sued the FAA based on the 4th amendment, procedural Mis-steps, and concerns of pilot safety.

“Remote ID technology requires drones in flight to emit publicly readable radio signals reflecting certain identifying information, including their serial number, location, and performance information. Those signals can be received, and the Remote ID information read, by smart phones and similar devices using a downloadable application available to the FAA, government entities, and members of the public, including other aircraft operators.”

For a full analysis, see our live stream and the article from DroneXL!

https://dronexl.co/2022/07/29/faas-remote-id-for-drones-upheld-in-court/

NASA has partnered with Zipline to create a vision for autonomous fleets of drones.

To achieve this, researchers are using a small number of people to operate large amounts of drones.

This experience along with Zipline’s other experience with operations of many aircraft will help shape the future of fleet operations in the US.

https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/nasa-partners-with-zipline-to-shape-future-operations-of-autonomous-fleets

The Guardian G1 is an eVTOL made by the company Aura Aerospace.

In a recent test, the G1 caught fire due to a failed current regulator.

“The problem is that certain components, such as commercially available high-power transistors and FETs, are not at all suited to aerospace electric applications. Only when certified power controllers are available will electric flying be able to get off the ground safely,” Thompson said.

https://dronexl.co/2022/07/28/passenger-drone-evtol-catches-fire/

What is FAASafety

Sarah Nilsson

ALC-803 - Regulations, Laws, Airspace Ownership and FAA Enforcement

Available for free on the FAA website

Drone News: DJI Leaks, Large UAS Crash update, Lifeguards Use Drone for Rescue, New FAASafety Course Jul 29, 2022

Show notes

In this week's drone news; Leaks for upcoming DJI drones include the Mavic 3 Enterprise, Inspire 3, and the Avata, an update on the large UAS crash in California, lifeguards save a swimmer using a drone to drop a life jacket, and a new FAA safety course by Pilot Insitute.

FAA Safety ALC-803: https://www.faasafety.gov/gslac/ALC/course_content.aspx?pf=1&preview=true&cID=803

The DJI Avata showed up in FCC filings this week, along with DJI goggles 2 and an O3 Air unit.

This appears to be a successor to the DJI FPV

According to registration, the Avata has a 2420mAh battery

No word on the launch date, but it’s in the FCC database!

https://dronexl.co/2022/07/26/dji-avata-drone-fcc-database/

New leaked photo of the Inspire 3!

The Inspire 3 is expected to have

Zenmuse X9

8K 75FPS

Time code sync

Built-in ND filters

https://dronexl.co/2022/07/26/dji-inspire-3-drone-leaked-photo/

We previously reported on a possible Mavic 3 Enterprise after the April fool’s post by DJI.

Now, leaked photos appear to show a Mavic 3 with a Matrice 30 payload.

Rumored features include a 3-1200m Laser Range Finder

24 MP 1” CMOS sensor

3-16X optical zoom

Up to 300X hybrid zoom

https://dronexl.co/2022/07/23/dji-mavic-3-enterprise-thermal-leaked-photos/

We previously reported on a large UAS crash in California

The pilot reported that the aircraft was on its third spraying mission of the day

The pilot completed a pre-flight and updated the previous mission.

The aircraft took off in autonomous mode, climbed to ~125 feet, and went into a left turn. The pilot noted no unusual behavior during the turn.

The aircraft’s right wing skin separated from the aircraft taking flaps and ailerons with it.

The aircraft rolled right and lost altitude crashing into the ground.

The batteries caught fire after the crash but did not spread.

(See pics)

https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=105109

Spanish lifeguards saved a 14 years old from drowning off of a beach in Valencia.

The drone dropped a lifejacket into the sea which kept the swimmer afloat until other guards were able to get to the distressed swimmer.

Don, Greg, and Jason (and DSPA!) will be attending Commercial UAV Expo this year!

The Expo will have at least 193 exhibitors and project at least 200+ will actually fill the floor, a 50% increase over last year and a record sized show.

It is the most important commercial drone show ever held in the Americas. Our attendance is also tracking at a record level, and our full-conference registration is way ahead of last year.

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