The following airworthiness criteria were just released for the following models. 3DRobitics Model 3DR-GS H520-G Airworthiness Criteria 3DRobotics Government Services (3DR) applied to the FAA on May 1, 2019, for a special class type certificate under Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) 21.17(b) for the Model 3DR-GS H520-G UAS. The Model 3DR-GS H520-G consists of an unmanned aircraft ... Read More »

This question from a pilot came in through my ReportDroneAccident.com website. You can ask me questions here or here. The Question Hey Steve, Just came across your website. It is very important to share this knowledge in the way you do. Thank you! I was wondering if you have any info regarding the Matrice 300 RTK recently launched. I own ... Read More »

I received the following question from a drone pilot and I thought I’d take the time to share this great question with everyone. If you have a question you’d like to ask, click here. Drone Battery Question “Hi, I don’t have a new problem to report and am still waiting on DJI for a report/assessment on the stuck Battery percentage ... Read More »

The Federal Aviation Administration has announced its policy for the type certification of certain unmanned aircraft systems as a special class of aircraft. This is obviously the first toe in the water and the FAA even says so in the announcement. “The FAA’s part 107 rulemaking on small UAS was only the first step in the FAA’s plan to integrate ... Read More »

This post is a safety alert I issued over here. Recently I’ve been receiving emails from public safety drone pilots with concerns over the quality of drone repairs or manufacturing. While these messages have centered around DJI issues, this is not exclusively a DJI problem and more reports will come in regarding DJI issues since to date they hold a ... Read More »

The recent crash of a Matrice 200 aircraft presents training opportunities we can all learn from to be better pilots. See the accident report and my analysis and training suggestions over at DJI Matrice 200 – Accident – 2020-09-10 – Fatal Component. Read More »

An Alaska pilot convicted of lying to federal investigators after a fatal 2014 crash was sentenced to a 12-month prison term. Drone pilots have to abide by the same rules and regulations so beware, lying to investigators can send you to jail. According to the Anchorage Daily News, “Federal prosecutors said that Kirst lied to investigators by misleading them about ... Read More »

Critical Safety Alert I have now received reports from two experienced pilots from different agencies that were flying a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual or a Matrice 210 that developed a battery warning issue. My concern is that in a busy incident scene the conflicting displayed information regarding the battery may lead to a crash. I would urge you to ... Read More »

TBVLOS Messaging is Misleading If you are a public safety UAS pilot and read all of the exciting headlines coming out that the FAA is now allowing Tactical Beyond Visual Line of Sight (TBVLOS) operations, you need to land for a moment. The reality is the exciting news is really operations less than what you’ve been doing already. Here are ... Read More »

The Federal Communications Commission fined HobbyKing $2,861,128 for marketing drone transmitters which did not comply with FCC licensing rules. HobbyKing markets devices that provide a video link between transmitters mounted on unmanned aircraft systems and users flying drones. An FCC investigation found that dozens of devices marketed by the company transmitted in unauthorized radio frequency bands and, in some cases, ... Read More »