DroneDJ

Over its some 700-year-history, the UK’s annual Goose Fair in Nottingham has adapted to and embraced technological innovation as part of its festivities, but this year is drawing a line – in the sky – to exclude drones.

UK drone delivery and advanced air mobility infrastructure startup Skyports has launched trials of on-demand UAV equipment provisioning flights to North Sea oil rigs in partnership with its Norwegian energy client, Equinor.  

As an additional reminder that you can’t make everyone happy – especially in this divided, frequently infuriated world – a UK medical drone delivery project has come under considerable fire for its efforts to seek prolonged flight restrictions across an expanse of airspace that locals say would effectively shut down local air traffic.

DJI has released a new firmware update for Mini 3. Aircraft firmware v01.00.0300 is now available to download for the sub-250-gram drone.

So, DJI might be prepping to release not one but two new drones in the coming weeks! The sub-250-gram Mini 4 Pro, as you likely know, has already made its way to the FCC database. But now, leaked pictures of what appears to be a new high-tech DJI drone, Matrice 3D, have also surfaced online.

Despite the accumulating details over recent months indicating a looming Mini 4 Pro release, relentless DJI leaker Igor Bogdanov has managed to dig up additional unseen images of the rumor-in-name-only craft, before returning his attention to a docked enterprise drone he first revealed last month – this time via retweeted photos from fellow sleuth @NGDrones.

Drone delivery startup Flytrex has announced an upgrade of the method it uses to upload food orders destined for customer households, as part of an effort to reduce processing and transport time and permit the company to continue expanding its aerial business activity.

The looming arrival of battery-powered air taxis may conjure futuristic, Jetson-esque images of urban aerial travel, but California aviation startup Jump Aero is eschewing the allure – and anticipated profits – of that mass market transportation potential to develop an electric takeoff and landing plane (eVTOL) designed exclusively for getting medical responders to patients in time to provide critical care.

The FAA on Wednesday announced it was pushing back the compliance deadline for its drone Remote ID rule by six months, to March 16, 2024. Does that mean the agency is giving a free pass to pilots or that all apparent noncompliance in the meantime will be ignored? Not really. Here’s what is happening…

So, the FAA has finally delivered the news that users of DJI Mavic Air 2, Mavic 2 Zoom, Mavic 2 Pro, and Phantom 4 Pro V2 were eagerly waiting for! The agency has extended the enforcement deadline for its Remote ID rule, giving these legacy DJI drones a fresh lease of life until the tech giant drops a compliance firmware package later this year.

After comments stated by the FAA’s chief of aviation safety last week, the administration formally announced the “relief” that is coming to remote pilots still trying to come into compliance with Remote ID rules.

Open-source drone autopilot specialist CubePilot is offering an affordable solution to help drone pilots comply with the FAA’s Remote ID rule. The Cube ID Serial add-on module from CubePilot is priced at only $39, making it the cheapest FCC-certified Remote ID broadcast solution for FAA built-in compliance.

Aerial transport and services company Drone Delivery Canada has won work with a Canadian government defense agency for an initial series of trials of the startup’s Canary UAV, which if successful could lead to an extension of the relationship.

German air taxi developer Volocopter has inked a deal with international aviation services company Bristow Group, covering 80 of the startup’s VoloCity aircraft for services planned in both the US and UK.

In a world where clicks are king, stories about drones deployed to rescue kidnapped puppies are royal – as is the Ashland County Sheriff’s officer who piloted a Hallmark-card-meets-abduction-release operation in Ohio recently. 

Wing, the drone delivery firm owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, is seeking FAA approval to expand its retail package delivery service in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. The company says it wants to establish a network of up to 25 drone nests, with each unit conducting as many as 400 deliveries per day in a six-mile radius.

In spite of the rash of largely protectionist blacklisting initiatives in the US justified by nominal data piracy motives, a new survey commissioned by drone and onboard tech specialist Teledyne FLIR indicates information leak risks remain a middling UAV purchasing criterion for US enterprise and public administrations operators.

H2FLY, the German affiliate of air taxi developer Joby, has passed a major technological and aviation milestone in clear power transportation, with the successful test flights of what it hailed as the world’s first piloted electric aircraft fueled by liquid hydrogen.

With the DJI Mini 4 Pro’s FCC listing suggesting that the product is close to launch, the tech giant has announced discount deals on some of its most popular camera drones, including the Mini 3 Fly More Combo (DJI RC), Air 2S, and DJI FPV Combo.

Though still not officially acknowledged by maker DJI, it’s become apparent through a series of rich leaks by online tech sleuths that the company’s Mini 4 Pro is en route to stores – an anticipated arrival further backed up by rumored prices for the drone that were shared today.

Ahead of Emergency Services Show 2023, UK’s annual showcase of the blue light sector, drone supplier Heliguy, and emergency vehicle manufacturer Venari have teased a new UAS command unit that would come pre-integrated with DJI Dock.

Drone Assist, a popular drone flight planning and approval app in the UK, has received a new update to give users a greater understanding of airspace restrictions and NOTAMs (Notice to Aviators).