Tag Archives: EASA

367 Remote ID Lawsuit Filed

A drone company files a Remote ID lawsuit against the FAA over the rules going into effect next month, EASA publishes a drone incident manual for European airports, MIT builds tiny insect-inspired drones, Erickson plans an optionally-piloted S-64 Aircrane, and another spectacular video of the week.

UAV News

FAA Announces Effective Dates for Final Drone Rules

The final rules go into effect on April 21, 2021, that require remote identification of drones, allow some flights over people and moving vehicles, and permit flights at night under certain conditions. Before flying under the new provisions a remote pilot must pass the updated initial knowledge test or complete the appropriate updated online training course.

RaceDayQuads LLC v. FAA (Lawsuit Challenging Drone Remote Identification Regulations)

RaceDayQuads (RDQ) filed a lawsuit against the FAA in Federal court. They believe some provisions of the Remote ID rule will have “devastating effects on our hobby and on all of RC flight.” 

“This case is about protecting the constitutional rights and freedom to fly of millions of active drone and model aviation hobbyists by upholding the rule of law through challenging the FAA’s illegal law in court.”

“RDQ and Tyler Brennan are defending our constitutional rights and freedom by confronting the FAA’s rulemaking as violating multiple constitutional protections and rampant with unlawful arbitrary and capricious decision making, some of which was done intentionally behind closed doors out of the eyes of the public. Everyone is under the rule of law -including the FAA. The FAA is not free to differ from what the law requires.”

RaceDayQuads Press Release

Specifically, “RDQ’s goal is to allow current and future drone and model aviation hobbyists to continue flying safely:

  • without the need to broadcast their information 
  • or be inhibited by any regulation which fails to comply with constitutional protections, 
  • fails to follow rulemaking procedures, 
  • fails to listen to the comments of those the rule would affect, 
  • is founded upon inaccurate risk assessments and data, 
  • or fails to provide an overall benefit to the American people.”

The Petition for Review was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on March 12, 2021. RDQ was represented by Law Offices of Yodice Associates of Potomac, MD, Rupprecht Law of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, and Parlatore Law Group of Washington, DC.

From the RDQ website: RDQ vs. FAA – RaceDayQuads and FAA Legal Battle – Challenging Remote ID. For more information, follow the UAV Law News & Discussion group on Facebook.

EASA issues guidelines for management of drone incidents at airports

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published the 35-page “Drone Incident Management at Aerodromes” (PDF) manual. It provides guidance to help aviation operators and national authorities address unauthorized drone usage near airports. This is Part 1: The challenge of unauthorised drones in the surroundings of aerodromes. The other two parts are addressed to those parties involved in the management of these incidents.

MIT’s insect-sized drones are built to survive collisions

Generally, the smaller you make a drone, the more fragile it is. Insects, on the other hand, are very resilient for their size. The MIT lab recognised that if you are going to design an insect-sized drone, it needs to survive a collision. While older designs used rigid ceramic-based materials, the newer designs are built with soft actuators made with carbon nanotube-coated rubber cylinders that elongate when electricity is applied. These are used to simulate beating wings.

Erickson rebuilding Air Crane as potentially pilotless combat logistics helicopter

Erickson is considering upgrading the S-64 Aircrane helicopter to make it an optionally piloted combat cargo transport. Adding the Sikorsky Matrix retrofit autonomy kit to become the S-64F+, the helicopter would remove the risk to pilots during nighttime operation through mountainous terrain.

UAV Video of the Week: 

If you liked the FPV bowling video, here’s more by the same pilot

See other Videos by Jay Christensen from the Rally Studios production company in Minneapolis at his jaybyrdfilms YouTube channel.

Video: Movie Night FPV

338 Drones and Biomimicry

Avian biomimicry, stadium sanitizing with a drone, a Galileo competition, a new HALE flies, drones and electromagnetic pulses, wildfire data from drones, new standards from EASA, an F-15 with a loyal wingman under its wing.

UAV News

Biomimicry from The Drone Bird Co.
The Aves from The Drone Bird Co.

A Bird James Bond Might Love

Netherlands-based The Drone Bird Co. knows something about biomimicry. The company has used flapping drones masquerading peregrine falcons to disburse populations of pest birds. Now the company has a non-flapping series called Aves (“aves” being Latin for “birds.”) CEO Jan-Willem van den Eijkel: “The AVES series is basically a very big fixed-wing bird whether it’s a gull, a hawk or an eagle. You can make any shape, but the gull was the most ambitious because of the wing shape. If you look at the gull, you’ll see there is no tail or stabilizer, so to make it look like the gull and fly stably, we had to test and develop a lot.”

Pennsylvania company using disinfecting drones to help fans return to stadiums in fall

Aeras Fog Company says their drone can sanitize an entire stadium in three hours. The 50-pound MG1S drone can spray disinfectant up to 20 acres-an-hour. People can occupy the sanitized space within three minutes. The drone is similar to those used for fertilizing crop fields.

MyGalileoDrone competition seeks UAV innovations

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has launched the MyGalileoDrone competition. “The aim of the contest is to design, develop, test, and prepare for commercial launch a drone-based application and/or service able to provide a position and/or time fix by using a Galileo-enabled receiver.” Galileo can be used on the drone, smartphone app, payload, or in any other device supporting the Galileo drone application. Initial ideas should be submitted by Aug. 31, 2020.

American Made Swift High-Altitude-Long-Endurance UAS Completes Landmark First Flight

Swift Engineering‘s high altitude long endurance (HALE) UAS completed its maiden flight at New Mexico’s Spaceport America. The Swift HALE UAS is designed to operate unmanned at 70,000 feet and offers 24-hour persistent and stable upper atmosphere operations for commercial and military surveillance, monitoring, communications, and security applications. The 72-foot solar-powered air vehicle weighs less than 180 pounds and can safely carry up to 15-pound payloads for missions.

Northrop Grumman to use Epirus’ C-UAS EMP weapon system

Northrop Grumman will use the Leonidas electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon system from Epirus. Leonidas uses solid-state commercial semiconductor technology for C-UAS defense and when fired, it creates an EMP that can be directed for precision targeting. It can “sanitise a volume of terrain or sky, creating a force field effect.” This will become part of the Northrop Grumman Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) systems-of-systems solution offering.

Plymouth Rock Technologies Forms Strategic Alliance With Hummingbird Drones to Fight Wildfire Threats

Plymouth Rock Technologies Inc. (PRT) develops threat detection technologies while Hummingbird Drones deals with wildfire analysis from drones. The companies are working together to mount sensors on drones and provide software that allows live actionable data for wildfire analysis.

EASA publishes proposed standards for certification of light drones

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has proposed Special Condition Light UAS standards in a 31-page draft document. The standards are applicable to unmanned aircraft under 600 Kg with no occupants. EASA is defining risk-based certification requirements. The proposal is open for public comments until September 30, 2020.

F-15 Eagle Seen Loaded With Loyal Wingman Drone For Previously Unknown Tests

An F-15C was photographed in a hangar with a loyal wingman drone attached to its left underwing pylon. The modified UTAP-22 Mako is from Kratos Defense and Security Solutions. The UTAP-22 reportedly has a price of between $2 and $3 million, can carry up 350 pounds of stores or other payloads, plus an additional 500 pounds of stores externally on underwing pylons and wingtip pods.

Video of the Week

360° video – The NRC’s Aerial Robotics Laboratory

The National Research Council of Canada’s Aerial Robotics Laboratory is an indoor drone testing environment designed for the development of contact-based drone applications on elevated structures.

UAV250 Skyship Search and Rescue Platform

Korean telecom KT proposes the Skyship platform for search and rescue operations, the EU takes a step to harmonize drone rules, China pushes ahead with deliveries by drone, a Japanese drone can change its shape, UAS success in the Arctic, and Transcend Air proposes a city-to-city VTOL aircraft.

The Skyship Search and Rescue Platform

Courtesy KT Corp.

UAV News

KT Unveils 5G Emergency Rescue Platform ‘SKYSHIP’

South Korean telecom company KT Corporation has announced a disaster and safety management platform. The “Skyship” platform uses remotely controlled drones for search and rescue operations for disaster survivors. The platform is made up of four components: the Skyship airship, the Skyship C3 (Command, Control, Communication) Station, a mobile ground control station, and Skyship Drones and Skyship Robots.

The Skyship airship Is helium-filled and includes a pod for propellants, cameras, network modules and drones. It performs signal scanning to detect smartphone signals, map them to customer databases, and identify survivor personal information.

The signal scanning locates survivors within a 50-meter radius, then the drones are deployed to pinpoint the exact location of survivors. Ground robots are deployed “to deliver emergency relief items, relay information to rescuers and take first-aid measures until rescuers arrive.”

Rescuers on the ground use augmented reality (AR) glasses that have a direct line of communication to doctors at nearby hospitals for assistance in delivering emergency treatment.

European Parliament Votes in Favor of EASA Basic Regulation: “It’s a Good Day for the Drone Industry in Europe”

Ensuring Aviation Safety and Safe use of Drones: Council Signs off on EASA Reform

The EU has revised its “Basic Regulation” that specifies aviation safety rules. It includes a new mandate for the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) that applies to all civil drones and creates harmonized EU-wide rules. A threshold for drone registration is established and the rules establish the basic principles for safety, security, privacy, data protection, and environmental protection. Detailed drone rules will be created by the European Commission with help from EASA.

Drone deliveries become reality as China races to take the lead

Looking at package delivery by drone in China, this article notes the size of the Chinese market, the expense of conventional delivery, the advanced drone technology in China, and the support of the government for drone delivery. Chinese e-commerce companies giants are taking advantage of this pro-drone environment.

Flying Dragon Robot Transforms Itself to Squeeze Through Gaps

The JSK Lab at the University of Tokyo has developed a modular robot called DRAGON, the “Dual-rotor embedded multilink Robot with the Ability of multi-deGree-of-freedom aerial transformatiON.” The DRAGON is made up of segments connected by hinges and each segment has a pair of ducted fan thrusters that provide roll and pitch thrust. The drone can reconfigure its shape as required.

Video: Design, Modeling and Control of Aerial Robot DRAGON

A bird’s eye view of the Arctic

A new study from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and NOAA researchers finds that drones and other unmanned technologies can cost-effectively collect weather data in harsh or remote environments and contribute to better weather and climate models. The DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility is now accepting proposals from atmospheric scientists to deploy UASs at their research sites. ARM uses four DataHawk UAS built by the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the larger ArcticShark fixed-wing UAV.

Transcend Air announces “affordable” city-to-city VTOL aircraft

Transcend Air Corporation announced the Vy six-seat aircraft that would utilize VTOL-ready landing pads. The tilt-wing Vy would fly 405 miles per hour utilizing a P&WC PT6A engine and have a range of 450 miles. Transcend plans to launch commuter airline service in early 2024.

The Vy VTOL aircraft.

The Vy VTOL aircraft. Courtesy Transcend Air Corporation.

Mentioned

Sensyn Robotics – Formerly V-Cube Robotics, the company now tells us they have changed their name to Sensyn Robotics and raised funds totaling approximately ¥1.2 billion (US$10.82 million).

UAV132 First Look: Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act of 2016

sUAS and the proposed FAA reauthorization bill, ALPA proposes to lock sUAS, a universal UAV control interface, Amazon Prime Air testing outside the US, and EASA drone rules.

News

Rep. Bill Shuster: How to fix America’s crumbling aviation system

Representative Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduced the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act of 2016 (the “AIRR” Act, or H.R. 4441) [PDF] to Congress February 3, 2016.

Here’s a summary of some of the key elements of the Act, under Title IV Safety, Subtitle B – Unmanned Aircraft Systems:

Sec. 432. Codification of existing law; additional provisions.

The term “model aircraft” means an unmanned aircraft that is (A) capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere; (B) flown within visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft; and (C) flown for hobby or recreational purposes.

Special rules for model aircraft:

(a) …the FAA may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft, if

(1) the aircraft is flown strictly for hobby or recreational use;

(2) the aircraft is operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a community-based organization;

(3) the aircraft is limited to not more than 55 pounds unless otherwise certified through a design, construction, inspection, flight test, and operational safety program administered by a community-based organization;

(4) the aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned aircraft; and

(5) when flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the aircraft provides the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower… with prior notice of the operation (model aircraft operators flying from a permanent location within 5 miles of an airport should establish a mutually agreed upon operating procedure with the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower…)

(b) A flight of an unmanned aircraft shall be treated as a flight of a model aircraft… (regardless of any compensation, reimbursement, or other consideration exchanged or incidental economic benefit gained in the course of planning, operating, or supervising the flight), if the flight is

(1) conducted for instructional or educational purposes; and

(2) operated or supervised by an eligible not-for-profit organization.

(c) Nothing… may be construed to limit the authority of the Administrator to pursue enforcement action against persons operating model aircraft who endanger the safety of the national airspace system.

Sec. 434. Unmanned aircraft systems senior leadership and staffing.

The Administrator shall designate a sufficient number of safety inspectors to focus on the safety oversight of unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system…

Sec. 435. Sense of Congress regarding unmanned aircraft safety.

The FAA should pursue all available civil and administrative remedies available to the Administrator, including referrals to other government agencies for criminal investigations, with respect to persons who operate unmanned aircraft in an unauthorized manner; the Administrator should place particular priority on continuing measures, including partnerships with nongovernmental organizations, to educate the public about the dangers to the public safety of operating unmanned aircraft near airports without the appropriate approvals or authorizations; and manufacturers and retail sellers of small unmanned aircraft systems should take steps to educate consumers about the safe and lawful operation of such systems.

Sec. 438. Facilitating unmanned aircraft authorization in support of fire fighting operations.

The FAA shall enter into agreements with the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture as necessary to continue the expeditious authorization of safe unmanned aircraft system operations in support of fire fighting operations…

Sec. 439. Low altitude unmanned aircraft system traffic management.

The FAA shall establish an advisory committee comprised of government representatives and appropriate industry representatives to:

(1) assess the necessity, feasibility, and benefits of establishing unmanned aircraft traffic management systems for airspace between the surface and 400 feet above ground level;

(2) develop recommendations for government oversight of such systems; and

(3) address any other issues the advisory panel considers necessary and appropriate.

The committee report is due in one year.

Sec. 440. UAS detection systems pilot program.

The FAA will establish a pilot program to deploy and evaluate the effectiveness of unmanned aircraft detection systems in maintaining the safety of air commerce and navigable airspace in light of aviation safety hazards posed by unauthorized operations of unmanned aircraft in proximity to airports. Three airports are to be chosen for pilot program, with the report due in 18 months.

Sec. 441. Evaluation of aircraft registration for small unmanned aircraft.

Within 180 days, the FAA shall develop and track metrics to assess compliance with and effectiveness of the registration of small unmanned aircraft systems by the FAA… including metrics with respect to

(1) the levels of compliance…

(2) the number of enforcement actions taken by the Administration for violations of or noncompliance… together with a description of the actions; and

(3) the effect of the [rule] on compliance with any fees associated with the use of small unmanned aircraft systems.

ALPA: Congress should mandate online training for UAV operators

Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) president Tim Canoll wants the FAA reauthorization legislation to require that sUAS operators must enter a “key code” before the UAV will fly. To obtain a key code, UAV owners would have to pass an online training course. Canoll said, “I’d like [UAV manufacturers] to voluntarily do it, but I believe if we could mandate it, it would take a lot of pressure off them.”

U.S. Army working on universal unmanned aircraft control interface

The US Army is developing a universal UAS control interface that would allow operators to fly different UAV types with the same controls. Currently, UAS types each have their own controls, and operators are trained to fly a specific type.

Amazon’s Drone Testing Takes Flight In Yet Another Country

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says the company is testing drones for Amazon Prime Air in Canada, the United Kingdom, and now the Netherlands. Significant FAA restrictions on flying in the U.S. are driving commercial operators like Amazon out of the U.S. to develop their technology.

Speaking of the Netherlands, law enforcement in that country is looking at using eagles to grab rogue drones.

EASA ruling may lead to unregulated commercial UAV ops

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) released a revised UAS regulation technical opinion in December. Head of operations at Resource Group – Unmanned Aviation Services, Neil Williams, believes the EASA proposal is too liberal.

Flightglobal reports that “The ‘open’ category proposed by EASA would allow for users to operate UAVs weighing 25kg (55lb) or less for whatever purpose, so long as ‘safety is ensured through compliance with operational limitations, mass limitations as a proxy of energy, product safety requirements, and a minimum set of operational rules.’”.

Williams worries that EASA focuses on UAV size, weight, and kinetic energy. Other factors that impact safety like training and insurance are not considered.

Resource Group – Unmanned Aviation Services is accredited by the UK CAA to assess for pilot competency for drones of 20Kgs or below, and verify that organisations meet the UK CAA requirement for Permissions For Aerial Work (PFAW).

New FAA video explains that the Super Bowl is a No Drone Zone

The Federal Aviation Administration launched a public service announcement, including a 20-second The Super Bowl is a No Drone Zone video, to let people know the airspace around Levi’s Stadium is a No Drone Zone during the Super Bowl.

TFRs will prohibit certain aircraft operations, including unmanned aircraft operations, within a 32-mile radius of the stadium in Santa Clara, California on game day. The restrictions will be in effect from 2 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016.

Video of the Week

First Droneboarding

You’ve heard of kiteboarding? Welcome to droneboarding.