Drone News Update

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, have 3 stories for you this week: a Colorado drone pilot facing federal charges after grounding wildfire aircraft, a possible US ban on imports of some “military-grade” drones, and the National Press Photographers Association pushing back on the FAA's Section 2209 rule. Let's get to it.

This week Pilot Institute is in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for EAA AirVenture. If you've never been it's a really cool event with thousands of aircraft on display, air shows, workshops, and Pilot Institute. Greg and the team will be there through Sunday, July 26th, and would love to see you in person. If you're in the area stop by the big pink tent and meet the team. And when you meet Pilot Institute, you don't just leave with memories, no. You'll also be leaving with free Pilot Institute gear and giveaways. Plus, I hear there are fantastic cheese curds and double-fried French fries close by. I have sent a request to Greg to have a BVLOS french fried drone delivery sent all the way back to Arizona, but I am still waiting on that response.Alright, in our first story, A drone pilot in southern Colorado is facing federal charges. On Friday, July 17th, someone flew a drone into the temporary flight restriction over the Aspen Acres Fire near Rye. That fire has burned more than 100,000 acres. It's the largest wildfire currently active in Colorado.In case you don't know, once a drone is detected, every helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft on the fire has to stop flying. However, investigators didn't have to work hard on this one. The pilot posted the flight on social media and The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office used that footage to identify the suspect. Civil penalties can exceed 75,000 dollars. Next up, The FCC announced 2 drone supply chain actions, but the one that matters most for equipment is a new request for public comment. The Commission is asking whether it should prohibit the import, marketing, or sale of certain “military-grade” foreign-made drones already on its Covered List. The categories under consideration include swarming drones, drones designed to carry defense articles, thermal imaging drones, drones with LiDAR sensing, drones capable of dispensing aerosols classified as economic poison under FAA rules, drone docking stations, and any drone weighing 55 pounds or more. Several things would be excluded from any such ban: equipment not on the Covered List, equipment sold for federal government use or for commercial testing and product development, and any drones people already own. Separately, the FCC extended its exceptions for trusted drones, with the Blue UAS and Buy America carve-outs now running through January 1, 2028, and Conditional Approval products losing their expiration date entirely. Comments on the proposed prohibition are due 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register.The National Press Photographers Association just filed comments on the FAA's proposed Section 2209 rule. This is the rule that lets critical infrastructure sites apply for permanent drone flight restrictions, called UAFRs. The FAA has identified about 125,000 candidate facilities total, and they're expecting around 9,000 applications over the next five years. The NPPA's complaint is simple. As written, these restrictions could last forever, with no expiration date, no public record of why they exist, and no way to challenge one. The comment deadline is August 5th, 2026. Be sure to check out our full discussion of the proposed rule.No post flight this week, but we'll still have a Monday live Q&A with our guest host, Vic Moss. Hope we see you there. Have a good weekend!https://dronexl.co/2026/07/21/drone-pilot-charges-aspen-acres-fire/https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-takes-action-secure-drone-supply-chainhttps://dronexl.co/2026/07/20/nppa-faa-section-2209-drone-rule-press/

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, we have four stories for you this week: the FCC fines eight alleged DJI front companies for stonewalling investigators, an SFPD Skydio drone feed exposed live on the open internet for six months, BRINC raises 125 million dollars, and Duke Health drones now fly defibrillators to real calls. Let's get to it.

First up, the FCC has proposed 25,000 dollar fines against eight companies it suspects of selling rebranded DJI hardware in the US. These brands include Skyrover and Xtra Technology. Here's the important nuance: these fines aren't for the hardware itself, at least not yet. They're for straight up ignoring the FCC's official Letters of Inquiry sent back in May, asking whether these companies market equipment tied to DJI's spot on the Covered List. None of them responded. All eight now have until July 20 to finally answer, and if they don't, the FCC has already given itself the authority to revoke existing equipment authorizations entirely, which would mean import and marketing bans. Next, the San Francisco Police Department left live video from five of its Skydio surveillance drones exposed on the open internet for about six months. Two outside security researchers stumbled onto the feed last month, reported it, and it came down within days, but by then they had archived roughly 48 hours of real operations. We're talking color and thermal video, live GPS tracking, and even the names and emails of six SFPD drone pilots. The cause was a Skydio sharing link created with no password and a one year expiration, later picked up by a public archive of scraped web addresses. The footage showed full missions from takeoff to landing, including officers filming through apartment windows and a drone tailing two guys who turned out to just be going to play basketball. That's a direct contradiction of SFPD's own policy, which requires minimizing incidental recording. This is entirely American made Skydio hardware. No “foreign adversary” needed, just a misconfigured link.Speaking of drones responding to 911 calls, BRINC just raised 125 million dollars in a round led by Motorola Solutions, pushing its total funding past a quarter billion. The goal: a drone as first responder on the roof of every one of the roughly 80,000 police and fire stations in the country. Motorola invested in BRINC back in April 2025, and that relationship lets an officer launch a BRINC drone from a button on a Motorola radio, or have one dispatched automatically the second a 911 call comes in. BRINC says revenue tripled last year and contract signings are up roughly four times.On a similar topic, Duke Health researchers are now flying drones with defibrillators to real 911 calls in Clemmons, North Carolina. When a 911 dispatcher takes a cardiac arrest call, the drone launches alongside the ambulance, cruises at 200 feet, drops to 100 feet over the scene, and winches the AED down while the dispatcher coaches the bystander by phone on how to use it. The math here is brutal. An AED used within two to three minutes of collapse pushes survival toward 70 percent, but ambulances typically take eight to ten minutes to arrive. That gap is the perfect opportunity for a drone. This program actually delivered its first real-world AED back in November 2025, and it's now running as standard procedure on live calls. If the results hold up, this could become normal across the country.And the conversation continues on Post flight where we discuss these stories uncensored in the Premium Community, link is in the description. We'll see you for the live Q&A on Monday. Have a good weekend!https://dronexl.co/2026/07/14/duke-health-drone-aed-911-calls/https://dronexl.co/2026/07/14/fcc-fines-dji-front-companies-25000/https://dronexl.co/2026/07/14/brinc-motorola-911-drone-police/https://dronexl.co/2026/07/13/sfpd-skydio-drone-feed-live-internet/

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, have three stories for you this week: the FBI seizes over 600 drones at World Cup venues, DJI releases M400 Parachute, and Boom Supersonic offers a $100,000 prize for a Mach 1 RC airplane. Let's get to it.

First up, the FBI has seized more than 600 drones flying in restricted airspace around FIFA World Cup 2026 venues. This is a massive number, and confiscations have been recorded in all 11 U.S. host cities since the tournament opened on June 11th. Miami leads the pack with 99 seized drones, followed by Atlanta with 77, and Dallas with 63. Operators caught inside an active World Cup Temporary Flight Restriction, or TFR, face civil fines up to $75,000, criminal fines up to $100,000, up to a year in prison, and the total loss of their aircraft. At least three men in Texas are already facing federal charges. A reminder, flight restrictions surround each stadium with a ring of 3 nautical miles up to 3,000 feet. These are active from three hours before kickoff until three hours after the match ends. There are also 1-nautical-mile rings up to 1,000 feet around fan festivals. And there are continuous restrictions over team hotels and training camps that run all the way through July 21st. Reportedly, plenty of these violators actually hold Part 107 certificates. As always, please don't be that guy who ignores the rules. Every confiscated drone becomes an exhibit for lawmakers pushing for stricter counter-drone legislation. If you are flying anywhere in the country right now, check tfr.faa.gov BEFORE you fly. Next up, DJI has released the AP100 parachute for the Matrice 400! This is a 935g parachute that mounts on the back of the M400, and slows the descent rate below 5m/s or 11mph. This allows the M400 to be C5 or C6 in EASA and UK5 or UK6 in the United Kingdom… However… The AP100 will NOT be released to the US at this time. The parachute is self contained, contains a 1 hour charge using capacitors, and has a built-in flight termination system. In addition, automatic deployment can be programmed in DJI Flight Hub in the event the aircraft breaches a geofence. The parachute will broadcast an alarm and flashing lights to assist with locating the aircraft. This is pretty cool tech, it’s unfortunate that it isn’t coming to the US. Finally, Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl has announced a $100,000 prize for the first amateur-built RC airplane to exceed Mach 1. The prize includes $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in Boom stock. Scholl posted this challenge after a college student went viral claiming his 5-kilogram carbon-fiber dorm-built jet drone could hit 500 miles per hour. But Mach 1 is a very long way from 500 miles per hour. Mach 1 at sea level is roughly 761 miles per hour. For context, the current verified record for a jet-powered RC aircraft is 465 miles per hour. Hitting Mach 1 means dealing with extreme drag and control issues and some massive regulatory hurdles. Under Part 107, we are capped at 100 miles per hour, and the AMA turbine program caps at 200 miles per hour. A legitimate attempt at this prize would require cleared airspace, and lots of approvals. It is awesome to see a major aerospace CEO channel viral engineering talent into a legitimate challenge for the hobbyist community. And the conversation continues on Post flight where we discuss these stories uncensored in the Premium Community, link is in the description. We’ll see you for the live Q&A on Monday. Have a good weekend!https://dronexl.co/2026/07/05/fbi-600-drones-seized-fifa-world-cup-2026/https://dronexl.co/2026/07/02/boom-ceo-100k-prize-mach-1-amateur-rc-airplane/https://dronexl.co/2026/07/02/dji-enterprise-teaser-priceless-below-matrice-30-successor/

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update. We have four stories for you this week. First, the EFF warns about armed police drones, a JetBlue pilot reports a drone strike at 3,000 feet over JFK, another JFK “drone sighting” turns out to be normal operations, and lastly, we gotta talk about those World Cup TFR violations.

First up this week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF, is warning that lawmakers have precious little time to stop armed police drones. This comes after Skydio's CEO recently walked back the company's previous pledge to never weaponize their drones. On top of that, a company called Campus Guardian Angel is rolling out "suppression drones" in Georgia and Florida high schools this fall. These drones are designed to deploy pepper gel, strobe lights, and even kinetic strikes against active shooters. While the idea of stopping a threat sounds good, the EFF points out there are currently no federal laws governing when police or security drones can use force. EFF said in their article “We cannot continue to rely solely on the good will of companies that make their money selling technology to police departments to protect us from dangerous police technology.”. We’ll be watching to see how and where this one goes. Next up, a JetBlue pilot reported striking a drone at 3,000 feet while on final approach to JFK airport in New York. Flight 948, an Airbus A321, landed safely, and a post-flight inspection revealed absolutely NO damage to the aircraft. The FAA is currently investigating the incident. Now, we've seen this story play out many times before in the drone industry. A pilot sees something flash by the windscreen at approach speeds, reports a drone, and later reports say it was just a bird or a balloon. A drone at 3,000 feet is unusual, but NOT impossible. And while anyone flying illegally in controlled airspace deserves to be prosecuted, we need to wait for the facts. 
A Bell 407 helicopter pilot reported a near miss with a large red-and-white RC airplane at about 500 feet. The catch? The helicopter was flying at roughly 300 feet directly over an RC Field. This is a sanctioned National Park Service field that has hosted a model airplane club for decades. The pilot even told air traffic control that he saw more RC planes on the ground ready to launch. The FAA is reportedly not investigating this because this one isn't a mystery.And the last story this week is about the TFR violations around the World Cup. We reported the number of drone incursions over 300 last week and this number has gone up significantly again this week. With several more weeks of World Cup games still to go, this is not looking good. What's also not looking good is that the initial feedback we are getting is that a lot of these infractions are from Part 107 certificated remote pilots. As an industry, we have to do better. And I want to hear from you on this. Let me know in the comments how we, as an industry, can improve communications to drone pilots about these limitations. Why are part 107 pilots getting caught flying when they are supposed to be educated on how to find TFRs? We have seen overreaction to drone events in the past, whether they were real or perceived, and it never ended well for our industry. Let's make sure a few bad actors don't make it harder for the rest of us to do what we love.And the conversation continues on Post Flight, where we discuss these stories uncensored in the Premium Community, link is in the description. We’ll see you for the live Q&A on Monday. Have a good weekend!https://dronexl.co/2026/06/29/jetblue-drone-strike-jfk-3000-feet/https://dronexl.co/2026/06/30/jfk-helicopter-rc-airplane-not-a-drone/https://dronexl.co/2026/06/29/eff-armed-police-drones-skydio-legal-gap/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/lawmakers-must-act-now-prevent-armed-police-drones

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update. We have three stories for you this week, Skydio's CEO walks back their no-weapons pledge, a Sacramento Sheriff uses a DJI Avata 2 to disarm a suspect, and the FBI seizes over 300 drones at World Cup stadiums. Let's get to it.

First up this week, Skydio CEO Adam Bry recently went on The Verge's Decoder podcast and made a statement distancing the company from their published 2020 principles, which stated they would not put weapons on their drones. Bry confirmed the U.S. Army has already run experiments mounting grenade droppers on Skydio drones, and he argued that drawing ethical red lines is “dangerously misguided”. Bry also said that elected leaders are better positioned to make the call about what the system should be used for, saying “It’s not our place to tell them what they can and can’t do,”. This is obviously a pretty big switch from their 2020 blog post titled “Skydio Engagement and Responsible Use Principles”. At the time of this recording, the blog post still contains the statement: “We will not put weapons on our drones and will oppose fully autonomous lethal weapons systems. Our development process is focused on providing full automation, but we believe lethal weapons should not be fully automated.”. Next up, we have an interesting use of a DJI Avata… And one could argue it’s armed. A Sacramento County Sheriff's Office pilot used an Avata 2 to disarm a barricaded suspect holding a knife. Instead of sending deputies into a dangerous garage, the pilot attached a powerful magnet to the drone, flew it inside, and literally pulled the knife right out of the suspect's hand. The suspect appeared to be unconscious, but this is a win nevertheless. It ensured a safe outcome for both officers and the suspect. Last up, the FBI has intercepted more than 300 unauthorized drones at FIFA World Cup 2026 venues across the U.S. in just the first ten days of the tournament. To give you some exact figures, that includes 34 drones around SoFi Stadium in LA, 39 across Dallas, and 42 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philly. If you fly inside an active World Cup Temporary Flight Restriction, or TFR, you face up to $100,000 in criminal fines, possible prison time, and the confiscation of your aircraft. Remember, the FAA's stadium rings run three nautical miles wide and up to 3,000 feet high on match days. Remember, a Part 107 certificate or a LAANC authorization means absolutely nothing inside an active TFR. Check for TFRs BEFORE you fly. The enforcement is real, and the FBI is not messing around. If you have legitimate commercial work, the FAA did create a Department of Homeland Security authorization path, but you have to apply well in advance. TFR.FAA.GOV, and don’t be that guy. https://dronexl.co/2026/06/18/skydio-bry-decoder-weapons-red-lines/https://dronexl.co/2026/06/22/sacramento-sheriff-dji-avata-2-disarm-suspect/https://dronexl.co/2026/06/22/fbi-300-world-cup-drone-seizuresD/https://www.skydio.com/blog/skydio-engagement-and-responsible-use-principles