Tag Archives: drone strike

310 Hexa Electric VTOL

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Rides available in the Hexa Electric VTOL, mapping a railway project, low-altitude hurricane hunting, another reported drone strike, a DHS warning for private industry, another round of financing for PrecisionHawk, and spying on hippos with drones.

The Hexa electric VTOL passenger drone. Courtesy Lift Aircraft.
The Hexa electric VTOL passenger drone. Courtesy Lift Aircraft.

Lift Aircraft says 13,000 people have signed up for drone rides; flights begin in beta mode in Texas

In 2020, Lift Aircraft plans a 25-city tour of it’s Hexa electric VTOL passenger drone. You can register for a flight on Lift’s website. It will cost $149-$249 depending on flight duration. The 432-pound electric VTOL uses 18 independent electric motors and propellers and is controlled through a triply redundant autopilot computer and a single 3-axis joystick. Or you can tap on the seven-inch touchscreen for a “Look mom, no hands!” mode.

Flying the Hexa electric VTOL passenger drone.

What if? Norfolk Southern develops effective UAV program, but it did not come without some trial and error

Norfolk Southern Railway asked themselves if they could use lower-cost UAVs to image project areas and stitch them into survey-grade 3D mosaics for the project team. They formed a UAV field team, got a Part 107 license, and designated a 5-mile linear project. What they learned will help them (and others) in future projects.

Drones Provide a New Frontier in Hurricane Observations

Hurricane hunters fly through hurricanes, but not at sea level where the winds are strongest. Scientists flew expendable Raytheon Coyote drones as low as 360 feet into several hurricanes and measured atmospheric conditions in winds as high as 194 miles per hour. These were deployed NOAA’s P-3 reconnaissance aircraft. The Coyote UAS is adaptable for a variety of missions including surveillance, electronic warfare and strike. A swarm of Coyote drones has successfully flown and demonstrated autonomous networking. A paper was recently published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: “Eye of the Storm: Observing Hurricanes with a Small Unmanned Aircraft System.”

AIR7 HD struck by suspected drone over downtown LA, makes precautionary landing

Los Angeles ABC affiliate KABC reports that their helicopter was struck midair by an object. At first, the pilot and reporter thought it was a bird strike but after landing and inspecting the damage to the helicopter tail, they believe it was a drone strike. The incident occurred at 7:15 pm, flying at 1100 feet.

DHS Continues to Warn Private Industry Against Using Foreign-Made Drones

In late November, the FBI’s Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a bulletin to private industry warning about the risk of exposing private data when using UAS manufactured abroad. The bulletin warns of possible data compromise when operating UAS “designed, manufactured, or supplied abroad where the data is stored, transferred to, or accessible by servers in a foreign country.”

PrecisionHawk Raises $32 Million to Advance Next Phase of Growth in Commercial Drones

PrecisionHawk announced $32 million in funding by a group of venture investors. The company says this will allow them to innovate with their PrecisionAnalytics A.I.-powered aerial data analytics platform, accelerate sales initiatives, and support further market expansion. In total, PrecisionHawk has raised $130 million from leading venture capital firms. See also, We’ve Raised $32 Million to Build the Next Generation of Drone Software and Services.

Spying With Drones to Help Hippo Conservation Efforts

University of New South Wales conservationists used drones to monitor threatened hippos in Africa. They used a DJI Phantom 4 to film the hippos from a safe distance. The wild hippo population is declining because of habitat loss, and hunting for meat and ivory. They are under-studied because they are nocturnal, amphibious and aggressive.

UAV218 UAS Integration Pilot Program Details Emerge

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Additional details of the FAA UAS Integration Pilot Program have emerged, with webinars held on that topic by the FAA and others. Also, Boeing’s acquisition of Aurora Flight Sciences is complete, NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) is expanding its research scope to include Urban Air Mobility, and drone strikes on manned aircraft.

UAV News

UAS Integration Pilot Program Webinar

UAS Integration Pilot Program

The FAA conducted several one-hour UAS Integration Pilot Program webinar sessions. The Program seeks to achieve BVLOS and other complex operations (flight at night, over people, and operational coordination with manned aircraft), promote innovation, develop regulations that reduce the need for operations by exception. address security concerns, and balance national and local interests.

The 17-minute UAS Integration Pilot Program Webinar video provided an overview of the program, the application process, acceptance criteria, and deadlines.

We recorded the live Q&A session from the November 3, 2017, webinar, which runs about 40 minutes:

To learn more, about the UAS Integration Pilot Program, see these FAA webpages:

UAS Webinar: Regulatory and Policy Developments

Hogan Lovells Unmanned Aircraft Systems is offering a free webinar Thursday, November 16, 2017, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Eastern to discuss key UAS regulatory and policy developments and provide insight on the Part 107 waiver process. Emily Avant, Senior Counsel for CNN, will be participating to discuss CNN’s new waiver for operations over people, what it means for the broader commercial UAS industry, and tips for making your waiver application a success.

Other webinar topics will include:

  • Status update on Part 107 waivers granted to date
  • The inside scoop on CNN’s precedent-setting waiver for operations over people
  • Developing a safety case for a Part 107 waiver application
  • The Trump Administration’s new UAS Integration Pilot Program
  • Rollout of the FAA’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) system
  • Upcoming FAA rulemakings and next steps moving forward

Register for the Hogan Lovells webinar here.

Also, Drones and the Legal Landscape from the AOPA Drone Talk Series will be held November 10, 2017, 8 PM Eastern.

Boeing completes acquisition of Aurora Flight Sciences

Boeing announced the completion of its acquisition of Aurora Flight Sciences. Aurora will operate under Boeing Engineering, Test & Technology as a subsidiary called Aurora Flight Sciences, A Boeing Company. It retains its independent operating model. Boeing first announced the agreement with Aurora on Oct. 5, 2017, pending U.S. government approval.

NASA Embraces Urban Air Mobility (UAM), Calls for Market Study

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) is expanding its research scope to include Urban Air Mobility or UAM.

UAM is defined in this article as “a safe and efficient system for air passenger and cargo transportation within an urban area, inclusive of small package delivery and other urban Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) services, which supports a mix of onboard/ground-piloted and increasingly autonomous operations.”

NASA’s associate administrator for aeronautics Jaiwon Shin says, “We plan to conduct the research and development, and test the concepts and technologies that establish feasibility and help set the requirements. Those requirements then serve to make using autonomous vehicles, electric propulsion, and high density airspace operations in the urban environment safe, efficient and economically viable.”

ARMD awarded contracts to Booz Allen Hamilton and to Crown Consulting to conduct market studies on the policy, economic, social, environmental, and legal barriers to enabling UAM; and also to estimate how much potential demand there is for UAM.

Here’s How Drones Do (and Don’t) Threaten Passenger Aircraft

Recently, a civilian drone struck a U.S. Army UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter and a drone hit a Beechcraft King Air. Studies have been conducted by the Crashworthiness for Aerospace Structures and Hybrids (CRASH) Lab, the U.K.’s Department for Transport and Military Aviation Authority, and George Mason University, but there is little data on the damage small drones can cause in a collision.

 

UAV037 UAS Test Site Receives FAA COA

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Draganflyer X4-C

A UAS Test Site receives an FAA Certificate of Authorization, Spain bans commercial drone use, a drone tracker kit, drones for burglers, a survey says Americans favor targeting terrorists with drones, and an update on the FAA v. Pirker appeal.

The News:

Press Release – FAA Announces First UAS Test Site Operational

On April 21, the FAA announced that the UAS Test Site operated by the North Dakota Department of Commerce is operational. A Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) was granted to the Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site to begin using a Draganflyer X4ES.

Spain Just Made Itself The Enemy Of Drone Enthusiasts Everywhere

The AESA, Spain’s State Agency for Aerial Security, has banned commercial drone use anywhere in the country. The Agency fears “misunderstandings and possible incidents” with these new UAVs. If that’s not bad enough, what does this mean for two new projects: the Atlas Experimental Flight Centre for testing UAS and the aerodrome project in Doñana National Park?

NextGen Drone Tracker Kit now available

Sagetech Corporation designs and manufacturers electronic subsystems for the unmanned and manned aerial vehicles. Their ADS-B Tracker Kit is a turnkey solution that tracks drones on iPads. For that price, you get a 150 gram Sagetech XPG-TR micro transponder for the drone, a Clarity ADS-B receiver, and an iPad.

Thieves using heat-detecting £60 drones bought from supermarkets to spot cannabis farms – then break in to steal the drugs

If you obtain a relatively inexpensive multi-copter and attach an infrared camera, you can fly around and detect sources of relative heat. Also, someone growing a large number of marijuana plants in an indoor farm is going to be using a lot of grow lights. Put the two together and you have a creative use for drones. Good guys can catch the pot growers, Bad guys know where they can steal a lot of weed.

In U.S., 65% Support Drone Attacks on Terrorists Abroad

A recent Gallup Poll asked about 500 adult Americans “Do you think the U.S. government should or should not use drones to — ?” 65% said yes to launching airstrikes in other countries against suspected terrorists.

FAA Files Appeal Brief In Closely-Watched Drone Pilot Case

Much of this article repeats what we said last episode about FAA v. Pirker, but this was written by John Goglia, a former Board member. At issue is whether or not the small UAS is an aircraft as defined by the FARs, and thus subject Pirker to it’s limitations on careless or reckless operation of an aircraft. After almost ten years on the NTSB, Goglia notes that most (not all) cases go in favor of the FAA. But here he says, “This case appears to me to be one that defies logic.”

Video of the Week:

Matternet, A Ted Talk video about autonomous electric aerial vehicles proposed for a transportation network that brings items (“matter”) to areas of the world without year-round ground transportation roads. Via Michael.

Mentioned:

A Drone Perspective, a map of Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) videos, via Chris.