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UAV Safety

Fruity Chutes Rolls out New Mechanism for UAV Parachute Deployment

Posted by Betsy Lillian on November 10, 2016

Fruity Chutes has announced the availability of the new Hawk CO2 release valve, used for the company’s parachute deployment system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The valve can be integrated with the company’s Peregrine UAV Ballistic Parachute Launcher. “We have [Read More]

Echodyne’s UAV Detect-and-Avoid Radar Test Goes off Without a Hitch

Posted by Betsy Lillian on November 10, 2016

Echodyne Corp. has completed what it says is the first-ever successful test of airborne detect-and-avoid (DAA) radar on a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Over a period of several days, the drone, equipped with Echodyne’s radar, flew multiple missions below [Read More]

AirMap, Kongsberg Provide Real-Time Airspace Awareness for UAS Pilots

Posted by Betsy Lillian on November 10, 2016

Kongsberg Geospatial, an Ottawa, Ontario-based developer of real-time, mission-critical, geospatial visualisation software, and AirMap, an airspace management platform for drones, recently announced a new collaboration: AirMap’s real-time airspace services will be delivered to users of the Kongsberg Geospatial IRIS unmanned [Read More]

GoPro’s Karma Drone Takes a Hit: All Units Recalled

Posted by Betsy Lillian on November 09, 2016

Uh-oh: GoPro is recalling approximately 2,500 Karma drones, which, in a very small number of cases, lost power during flight, the company says. GoPro’s new Karma quadcopter made its official debut in the consumer unmanned aircraft systems world back in [Read More]

Drone Insurance Comes to Professional Photographers of America

Posted by Betsy Lillian on November 08, 2016

Professional Photographers of America (PPA) has partnered with its insurance provider, Lockton Affinity, to offer a new drone insurance package for its members. The new package comes in two forms: liability and equipment coverage. The drone photography liability insurance is [Read More]

Safety Audit a Success for North Dakota UAS Company

Posted by Betsy Lillian on November 07, 2016

Grand Forks, N.D.-based SkySkopes says it has earned a passing grade on a safety audit conducted by the Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence and Innovation and Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service. SkySkopes says the National Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems [Read More]

Wyvern, Ascend Form Partnership for Pay-as-You-Fly UAS Insurance

Posted by Betsy Lillian on November 03, 2016

Wyvern and Ascend have linked up to offer pay-as-you-fly insurance coverage for unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operators. Building on its 25 years of experience in delivering risk management to the aviation community through its flagship Wingman Program, Pennsylvania-based Wyvern has [Read More]

Birmingham Company Now Offering UAS Training Program

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 28, 2016

Birmingham, Ala.-based Viper Drones, a company specializing in the integration of thermal imaging systems on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), is expanding its offerings to include a comprehensive UAS training program. From those with no prior aeronautical knowledge to students already [Read More]

Texas Group Hit With Cease and Desist Letter for Drone Ops

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 27, 2016

A district in Natalia, Texas, is ordering Save Medina Lake to stop unmanned aircraft flights over a local dam, as well as destroy photos taken of the landmark.

FAA Kicks off First Meeting of Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 25, 2016

Last week in Washington, D.C., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) convened the first meeting of its Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team (UAST). According to the FAA, the group, which was established in August at the White House’s Drone Day, includes a [Read More]

British Columbia Man Convicted, Fined for ‘Harassing Wildlife’ with UAS

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 24, 2016

The Conservation Officer Service (COS), a Canadian government organization based out of North Vancouver, British Columbia, has convicted a Vancouver Island man for “harassing nesting eagles” with an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) last year. According to a Facebook news post [Read More]

Researchers Take Down Quadcopter by Hacking 3D-Printed Propellers

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 20, 2016

Researchers from three universities have demonstrated what they say was the first complete sabotage attack on a 3D additive manufacturing (AM) system – specifically, a 3D-printed drone propeller. According to the researchers, the test illustrated how a cyber attack and [Read More]

NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft System Flights in Nevada Boast Several Firsts

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 20, 2016

In collaboration with the FAA and a number of drone tech companies, NASA carried out milestone tests as part of its UAS Traffic Management research.

SpotterRF Helps Secure Presidential Debate from Low-Flying UAS

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 20, 2016

SpotterRF, an Orem, Utah-based provider of compact surveillance radar (CSR), says it helped secure last night’s presidential debate in Las Vegas from ground and air threats, including from small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The company collaborated with Milestone Systems and [Read More]

Las Vegas PD Reminds Public of UAS Restrictions for Presidential Debate

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 19, 2016

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) is reminding the public that there will be a temporary flight restriction (TFR) for the last presidential debate, taking place tonight at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The TFR, which includes [Read More]

Unmanned Safety Institute Joins FAA Program; UAS Course Made Available

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 18, 2016

The Unmanned Safety Institute (USI), a subsidiary of ARGUS International Inc., has been accepted as a training provider to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Safety Team (FAASTeam) Program. USI has also made available its Small UAS Safety Ground School course [Read More]

How to Assess Impact of UAV-Plane Collisions: Fly Them into Each Other?

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 18, 2016

The U.K.’s Department of Transport, Civil Aviation Authority and Ministry of Defence collectively called for the “secretive tests,” which will take place in restricted airspace in Wales.

Drone Sense-and-Avoid Competition Launched for November’s UTM Convention

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 18, 2016

The UTM Convention 2016 and HiddenGenius.com have partnered to launch a $15,000 technology competition that demonstrates drone sense-and-avoid (SAA) technologies. The competition will be held on Nov. 9 in conjunction with UTM Convention 2016, located at the Oncenter in Syracuse, [Read More]

Woops! UAV Injury Causes Snafu in MLB Playoff Pitching Rotation

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 17, 2016

Trevor Bauer, a starting pitcher for Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Cleveland Indians – who are currently fighting with the Toronto Blue Jays for a spot in the World Series – reportedly missed his start on Saturday due to a drone-related [Read More]

NASA is Rolling out a Big UAS Demo in Nevada

Posted by Betsy Lillian on October 13, 2016

Next Wednesday, NASA will be flying five unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to test planning, tracking and alerting capabilities of its UAS traffic management (UTM) research platform. During the test, two of the drones will fly beyond the visual line of [Read More]