Unmanned Vehicles

The FAA, behind schedule in finalizing regulations for commercial use of unmanned aerial systems, will be ready by June 17, 2016, according to congressional testimony Wednesday by the agency’s deputy administrator. Michael Whitaker told a House aviation subcommittee, when pressed for specifics, that June of next year would be a realistic time frame for the […]

The drone industry and other GA groups made another public push this week for the FAA to move ahead with commercial regulations for unmanned aerial systems. Wednesday was the date set by Congress in 2012 to complete the rulemaking process, but in recent months it has been apparent that the FAA wouldn’t be ready. Twenty-nine […]

I’ve been watching Diamond’s autonomous and fly-by-wire research for more than three years now, but I was mildly surprised to learn this week how far they’ve come with it. I wasn’t quite expecting the full autonomous flight tests so soon for light GA aircraft. But we’re there. It makes me wonder who else is doing […]

Diamond Aircraft, flying a DA42 twin, has completed a series of fully autonomous flight tests culminating in several landings without any input from human pilots. The tests used a new fly-by-wire system Diamond has been developing for light aircraft and were completed at Diamond’s Wiener Neustadt headquarters in Austria. The trials may lead to fielding […]

During the six hours that elapsed between the time I decided to write this blog and my actually pushing the button to publish it, 16 people were killed in fatal auto accidents in the U.S. None were killed by drones, nor probably even nicked. How do I know about the car wrecks? I don’t. I […]

A teacher in New York City was arrested Friday on charges of flying a drone in Louis Armstrong Stadium the evening before during a U.S. Open tennis match. The drone crashed into empty seats, and no one was injured, The Associated Press reported. Daniel Verley, 26, faces charges of reckless endangerment and operating a drone […]

Although it hasn’t been officially confirmed, last week’s reported collision between a drone and a Piper PA-23 was, in fact, a bird strike. Residue on the aircraft’s de-icing boot was analyzed by the Smithsonian Institution and found to contain the remains of a small, non-predatory bird, sources familiar with the investigation told AVweb on Friday. […]

The FAA on Wednesday updated its 34-year-old Advisory Circular on personal model aircraft, issuing safety and airspace rules similar to the ones it has issued on consumer drones. The new version, which triples the length of the original 1981 AC(PDF) to three pages from one, limits model aircraft to 55 pounds unless certified by a […]

Government agencies and law enforcement have been quietly testing ways to disable rogue unmanned aerial systems, Reuters reported this week. In efforts to address security concerns that come with commercially available unmanned aircraft, authorities are developing technology to track and disable them. According to Reuters, New York’s police department tested a system over the winter […]

Pilot reportsof unmanned aerial systems have topped 650 so far this year – well over the 238 reported for all of 2014, the FAA said this week. The agency said there was a big jump in sightings this summer, with 138 pilot reports in June and 137 in July. Meanwhile, there were just 52 reports […]