Drone Authority news desk
New aircraft, FAA proposals, market shifts, and safety changes, reported with the source attached and the pilot consequence made clear.
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The agency says Gorge Drones dispensed fertilizer without an agricultural aircraft operator certificate and used an unregistered aircraft without an airworthiness certificate.
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DoorDash says it is now the eighth U.S. drone air carrier and is building the aircraft, ground handoffs, routing, and merchant integrations as one delivery system.
Two Central Florida stores are live, three more are planned, and the current 2.5-pound payload shows both the usefulness and the limits of neighborhood delivery.
Archive / 32 reports / 5 beats
Castle Rock and Parker are using local land-use authority to stop new hub approvals temporarily while they write rules for noise, privacy, siting, and neighborhood compatibility.
James City County is moving from test flights into a controlled 911 pilot after an AED-equipped drone reached one rural home in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, but the clinical question remains open.
The July release adds faster Aerial Pro processing, denser 3D output, revised volumetrics, and new dock-health tools, while several headline AI and robotics features remain early access.
Researchers found live SFPD drone feeds at a public web address with no PIN and a one-year expiration, exposing how a useful ground-team sharing feature can become a privacy and operational-security failure.
A drone tracked people riding on top of a moving Brooklyn train and helped officers position for five arrests, showing what public-safety aviation looks like when the aircraft is one link in a coordinated response.
The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office says it identified the pilot from social media footage and is working with federal authorities on charges after a July 17 flight inside the Aspen Acres Fire restriction.
A joint DHS-DOJ rule creates separate detection and mitigation certifications for qualified state, local, Tribal, territorial, and correctional agencies, with comments open through September 4.
A final FCC order blocks new authorizations for devices containing logic-bearing hardware from specifically named Covered List entities and makes online sellers expose certification IDs before purchase.
The FAA says nearly 250 temporary flight restrictions protected venues, fan zones, team hotels, and training sites across all 11 U.S. host cities.
The company says its U.S. delivery marketplace grew 13 times in the first half of 2026 as healthcare, restaurant, and retail programs expanded.
Manufacturer-reported missions joined cargo delivery, glacier photogrammetry, and atmospheric sampling in one high-altitude operating environment.
The live federal list now shows the two aircraft as cleared, while Skydio says its Dock for X10 creates the first Blue UAS-cleared DFR solution.
A July 17 FCC notice proposes restricting previously authorized equipment tied to nine company groups. It is not final, and the agency has not issued a grounding order.
Eight July 10 notices concern unanswered equipment-marketing inquiries, not final findings that every product sold by the named companies is unlawful.
The public-safety manufacturer says the round will expand domestic production and new products, but routine remote response still depends on FAA authority, agency policy, dispatch, privacy, and measured outcomes.
The South London service moves pathology samples between Nelson Health Centre and St George's Hospital under a continuing UK approval, with thousands of patient samples delivered so far.
The FAA opened a 30-day comment period on three proposed Prime Air centers, each analyzed at up to 1,000 MK30 delivery flights per day.
The FAA's workbooks contain 600 report records for April through June, up from 319 in the prior quarter but slightly below the same period in 2025.
The tournament restrictions ended after the July 19 final, but the separation between LAANC and security TFRs remains a useful preflight lesson.
DETER can offer eligible first-time operators a reduced penalty or suspension, but only after they admit liability and waive an appeal.
The AP100 adds an independent emergency descent system to DJI's heavy enterprise platform, but it does not create automatic U.S. authority for flights over people or BVLOS.
Skydio says its customers now operate more than a thousand remote docks across three countries. The important number is not the hardware count, but the operating model behind it.
DJI's T55 and dual-battery T100 push agricultural payload and uptime higher, while U.S. dispensing and heavy-aircraft approvals remain the real barrier to entry.
The next expansion reaches Memphis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, the Bay Area, and Salt Lake City as Wing works toward more than 270 Walmart locations.
A temporary waiver lets previously authorized foreign-produced drones and components receive qualifying software and firmware updates through January 1, 2029.
The 249g 8K 360 drone has gained new flight, safety, and editing tools. The bigger shift is a shoot-first, frame-later workflow pilots can actually use.
The FAA's UAFR proposal would create Standard and Special drone flight restrictions around eligible fixed-site facilities. Comments are now due August 5, 2026.
The FAA's BVLOS framework remains at the NPRM stage as of July 2026, while delivery networks and utility programs scale as if it is coming.
New models of low-capability Chinese drones can be imported again under a June 16 FCC decision, but reporting suggests the thresholds exclude anything most pilots would actually want.
Educational, not legal advice. Every report links its sources. Verify current rules with the FAA before you fly and send corrections to corrections@droneauthority.org.