Drone News Update

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, have four stories for you this week: DJI Neo 3 video leaks, Sky Elements sets Guinness record, the FAA hands out 12 million dollars to drone test sites, and the FBI doubles its counter drone school. Let's get to it.
First up, a 49-second unboxing video of the DJI Neo 3 Fly More Combo has leaked. DroneXL's Jasper Ellens posted it Tuesday. He says it first appeared on TikTok.This time, the drone comes out of the box. As you can see, it has spoked prop cages on all four propellers, a RC Mini controller with a screen, a charging hub, and three batteries. The drone also appears to have a small screen on its nose, but it’s unclear what it does yet. A production listing puts the weight at 192.7 grams. The RC Mini has FCC approval, while the rumored Neo 3 does not. It doesn’t look like we’ll get this one here in the US. Next up, Sky Elements has set two Guinness World Records in Blue Ridge, Texas. Working with Damoda America, they flew 71,207 drones during shows from September 27th through the 29th. The old record was 55,939.Six shows used more than 10,000 drones each, with the finale using 11,000. The company says that's the largest drone show ever flown in the US. Crews had to recharge, reset, and relaunch the fleet between shows, which I’m sure was a ton of work. The CEO says shows this big have mostly happened in Asia and the Middle East. Sky Elements now wants to sell these large shows to sports leagues, cities, and brands. Now to the FAA. On Monday, it announced $12 million for 19 drone research projects. Each project is paired with one of the nine FAA UAS test sites.The projects cover detect and avoid, command and control, traffic management, and drone identification. As always with these grants, the FAA wants real world data it can use in future rulemaking. This isn't new money. Congress ordered $6 million a year in the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act. Companies awarded must also match the funding at least one to one. Word is that this data should inform is Part 108, the BVLOS rule thas sat at OIRA since July 10th. That's 87 days. An unnamed FAA official said last month it's at the 10-yard line and he hopes it publishes by year end. We’ll have to wait and see. Finally, the FBI is doubling its counter drone school. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward toured the National Counter-UAS Training Center in Huntsville, Alabama on October 1st, and stated capacity will more than double in year two. Woodward said that every host city for the World Cup attended and that over 700 drones were taken down. He also noted that none of the aircraft mitigated carried ordnance. If you’re unfamiliar, since July 1st, it's the only place a state or local officer can earn authority to take a drone down under the Safer Skies Act. When the rule published, only 61 officers nationwide held that certificate. The first class last October had just 12.Woodward didn't say the current capacity, so the doubling has no public baseline. The FBI plans to graduate 250 more officers next fiscal year.According to this information and other publicly available info, those 700 drones weren't threats. They were pilots who flew into restricted airspace without approval. It’s a good reminder to check for TFRs, every time.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!Sourceshttps://dronexl.co/2026/10/06/dji-neo-3-unboxing-video-leak-battery-slots/https://dronedj.com/2026/10/05/drone-show-record-sky-elements/https://dronexl.co/2026/10/05/faa-12-million-drone-test-sites-part-108-unsigned/https://dronexl.co/2026/10/05/fbi-counter-drone-school-double-capacity-woodward/

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, have four stories for you this week: DSPA asks Congress to look at Blue UAS Report, Fifteen states sue the FAA over drone delivery, DJI's next enterprise drone leaks in China, And Skydio unveils a fixed wing drone and a robotic dock. Let's get to it.
The Drone Service Providers Alliance is asking every drone pilot and first responder in the country to call Congress. This is a group that normally lobbies for commercial drone operators. Its CEO, Vic Moss, says this issue is big enough to step outside that lane.If you haven’t seen the report, DHS tested six Blue UAS listed drones and two Chinese drones in New York City. From the Blue drones, three of them could not hold position, one had a flyaway, and another failed to pair with its controller for up to 15 minutes. The results for the Chinese drones were not released. Of the six tested, the Skydio X10 came out with the best overall score with a 3.7 out of 5 total. The only other aircraft that was able to be tested in the complex urban environment was the Parrot Anafi USA Gov, which got a 2.4 out of 5. Problems with these aircraft included latency, connection issues, and slow boot up and connection times. Based on the results from this report, DSPA wants Congress to name an agency and test every manufacturer’s security the same way as the usability was tested, regardless of country of origin.Fifteen states and Harris County, Texas are suing the FAA. New York's Attorney General filed the case on September 28th. The target is a nationwide environmental clearance the FAA issued in July. That clearance lets the FAA approve new drone delivery markets without an environmental review for each one. The states say the FAA barely addressed lithium battery fire risk, even after an Amazon drone battery burned near a home in Arizona last October. No stay has been requested yet, so deliveries keep flying for now. The DJI Matrice 5D has leaked in China. It's listed at just over three kilograms, about 750 grams heavier than the current Matrice 4TD. These specs come from a leaker, not DJI, so treat it as unconfirmed for now. But the leaker has a good track record with DJI specs. The extra weight likely means built in LiDAR and a built in RTK antenna. This is unfortunately not one we’ll see in the US, as DJI aircraft can’t get approval from the FCC, but it goes to show that DJI is going to continue to innovate.Skydio show off the F10 Lightrunner again, with quite a bit more detail and refinement than the initial announcement. Skydio says it can hit 100 miles per hour, cover a 30 mile radius, and stay on mission for up to two hours. It launches and lands from something called the MegaDock, using a robotic arm that grabs the aircraft out of the air. No runway. No person standing there to catch it. Skydio also announced new software called Asset Command for utility inspections, and Security Command for autonomous property patrols. The pitch is fewer pilots watching individual drones, and more autonomous systems covering entire counties or utility corridors. Skydio says the F10 won't actually reach customers until 2027, and pricing wasn’t released. Based on the infrastructure required for the MegaDock, It’s likely in the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. 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/2026/09/28/dspa-vic-moss-dhs-blue-uas-report-congress-ask/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/29/15-states-sue-faa-drone-delivery-environmental-review/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/27/dji-matrice-5td-china-registration-leak-750g-heavier-matrice-4td/https://dronedj.com/2026/09/25/skydio-new-drone-f10-megadock/https://dronexl.co/2026/10/01/dhs-addendum-dji-matrice-scores-blue-uas-hudson-yards/

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, have 3 stories for you this week: SkyeBrowse rolls out new pricing tiers, The FCC moves to block DJI and Autel chips, and Amazon's delivery drones are overwhelming a Texas suburb.
SkyeBrowse just overhauled its pricing for drone 3D mapping. If you're not familiar, SkyeBrowse turns drone video into 3D models and maps. It's used for construction, inspections, insurance claims, and even crime scene documentation. The commercial teir starts at about 20 dollars a model, for basic capture and sharing. Pro adds exports and AI tools, like automatic floor plans and site plans. And a Public Safety and Enterprise tier costs 199 dollars a model per year, and adds things like CJIS compliance and Axon Evidence integration for law enforcement. Existing subscribers keep their old plans. And of course, the “Freemium” option is still available for those who want to try before you buy. Next, Starting October 13th, the FCC will block a brand new type of application. If a drone contains a circuit board made by DJI or Autel, it can't get a new FCC authorization. And here's the twist. It doesn't matter where the drone was built. Even a drone assembled entirely in the US, one that qualifies as Buy America or Blue UAS approved, can still get rejected if just one internal chip traces back to DJI. Pending applications filed before October 13th are grandfathered in. But if you change even one part on that application, the grandfathering goes away. If you're a US manufacturer with an application in the pipeline, now is the time to file, and to ask your suppliers exactly who made every board inside your aircraft. Last up, one resident in Richardson, Texas tracked 52 Prime Air drones flying overhead in a single day. Some flew as low as 150 feet. Amazon's permit allows up to a thousand flights a day from that hub. A local homeowners association leader told the Times the FAA has failed the city. Part of the frustration comes from the FAA's own ruling. Back on July 28th, the agency decided drone delivery noise does not count as a significant environmental impact nationwide. That decision also ended local comment periods for new hubs. There's also a mixed message on cameras. Richardson's city website tells residents the drones don't record video. Amazon told the Times its drones do record footage near delivery points. Speaking of Amazon…They’re now asking the FAA for up to a thousand drone flights a day out of a new hub in North Haven, Connecticut. That’s up to 365,000 flights a year, covering a 7.5 mile radius that reaches into New Haven, Hamden, and Wallingford. This is the first Prime Air hub in the Northeast to get a public comment window. Connecticut's environmental agency opened that window on September 16th. It closes October 1st. That thousand-flight number is nothing special. It's the same ceiling Amazon files in almost every city. What's unresolved is how much scrutiny this specific hub will get, since the FAA's new national noise ruling may let it skip a full local review altogether. If you live near New Haven, this is your window to speak up before it closes.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://dronedj.com/2026/09/22/skyebrowse-price-drone-3d-model/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/21/fcc-logic-bearing-components-drones-october-13/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/21/amazon-drones-richardson-nyt-faa-signed-off/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/20/amazon-prime-air-north-haven-connecticut-1000-flights/

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, we have 4 stories for you this week: a Boston police drone crashes, DJI Neo 3 leaks, Wingcopter unveils a new recon drone, and a search and rescue team in Canada uses drones to save a stranded climber. Let's get to it.
First up, a Boston Police drone crashed onto a parked car just days after the department launched its new Drone as First Responder program. The crash happened last Thursday around 1:30 in the afternoon. The falling drone landed on a Mazda 3, smashing the rear windshield and trunk and destroying the aircraft. The owner wasn't home at the time, he came back to a windshield note and a wrecked car. Boston Police recently partnered with Motorola Solutions and BRINC on this program, launching it publicly on August 28th. The pitch was speed and safety, with drones reaching emergency scenes in as little as one minute, but this crash occurred less than 7 days after the program officially launched. The Boston Police Patrolmen's Association is not impressed, with Union president Larry Calderone calling the program invasive surveillance technology, and said the department should be hiring more officers instead. Under FAA Part 107, any drone accident causing more than 500 dollars in damage must be reported to the FAA within 10 days. It's also unclear if the drone was equipped with a parachute recovery system, which would have likely been required in this type of operation.Next, a leaked retail box may have just told us more about DJI's plans than DJI wanted. The box is for the DJI Neo 3, and it showed up online on September 15th. It's a beginner-friendly drone with fully enclosed propellers and a gimbal camera. The box lists a DJI RC Mini, a remote with its own built in screen. That controller matches a device that already has FCC approval here in the US, granted back in December 2025. The approval came through just three days before the FCC's Covered List cutoff blocked new authorizations for foreign made drones. The problem is the drone itself never got approval. Without it, the Neo 3 can't be sold in the US. The Wingcopter 262 was unveiled on September 14th, and it’s a reconnaissance drone. This is a tilt rotor aircraft that takes off and lands vertically, then flies like a fixed wing plane. Wingcopter says it can stay airborne for up to six hours, fly up to 93 miles, and it carries a swappable payload including thermal cameras with 80 times zoom. It's built for military and border security customers, and it's the first product from Wingcopter's new Security and Defense division. No independent flight testing has been published yet, and there's no price, customer, or delivery date. It’s unclear at this time if future payloads will include LiDAR or Mapping cameras. And finally, some good news. A drone helped save a stranded climber in British Columbia. It happened the night of September 10th at Stawamus Chief, near Squamish. A climber got stuck on a 10 inch ledge, 250 feet up, with no rope left to get down. Squamish Search and Rescue sent up two drones. One lit up the cliff face. The other flew a pilot line up to the climber, who used it to pull up a jacket and a headlamp. Rescuers then used a second drone to carry up 300 feet of lightweight rope. The climber was able to grab the rope out of the air, tied it into his harness, and rappelled safely to the ground.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://hoodline.com/2026/09/brighton-man-s-mazda-damaged-by-boston-police-drone-days-after-safety-pitch/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/15/dji-neo-3-leak-rc-mini-fcc/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/15/wingcopter-262-reconnaissance-drone-six-hours/https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/climber-drone-rescue-stawamus-chief/

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, we have four stories for you this week: Zipline Drone Mishap, Part 108 Progress Update, and the FCC got over 3800 comments. Let’s get to it.
First up, a Zipline drone near Houston Texas experienced a mishap this week. According to Zipline the aircraft was on its way to pick up an order when it experienced a “mid-flight issue” and deployed its parachute. The aircraft descended under the parachute, coming to rest in a road. No property was damaged and no one was hurt as a result of this mishap. This isn’t the first drone delivery mishap we’ve seen this year, but it is the first that has come down under a parachute. Back in February we talked about an Amazon drone that hit an apartment building in Richardson Texas, and nearly a year ago, two Amazon drones hit a crane in Tolleson, Arizona. There’s currently no word on what the issue was with this Zipline aircraft, but we’ll keep you updated as we see more. Next, TSA is planning some closed door talks about security, and the meetings will happen AFTER Part 108 final ruling is released. Requests to participate are due October 19th. What this actually suggests is that the security portion of Part 108 isn’t ready and won’t be ready until after the FAA publishes their portion. The format of these meetings appears to be round table style discussions, with individual views rather than a group recommendation. In addition, there is no public comment period for this. Currently, Part 108 states with OIRA, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. OIRA has meets booked through September 16th, so publication before then is unlikely. If you’re unfamiliar, OIRA’s job is to review major draft rules to ensure it helps the public more than the cost to run, keeps paperwork low, and ensures that the new rule doesn’t conflict with other agencies rules. Currently, it’s unclear if the TSA rule will be included in Part 108 or come as a separate rule. We’re following this closely, and we’ll update when we see more.Last up, the FCC’s Military definition notice got 3829 comments, and we read them all. I’ll give you some quick facts and then I’d recommend you go and check out our full video on the proposal. 98.6% of filings oppose the proposal as written, 1575 out of 1584 that engaged the definition of military grade called it over broad, only 30 agree the security risk is as acute as the commission described, and only 1 out of 3829 agreed the economic impact would be minor and contained. 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, and be sure to check out the full breakdown of the responses on the FCC’s Notice! https://dronexl.co/2026/09/05/zipline-drone-parachute-highway-6-houston-cypress/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/04/tsa-part-108-bvlos-security-roundtables-closed-door/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/03/fcc-drone-ban-comments-3770-against-16-for/