Kyle Nordfors in a red Weber County Search and Rescue shirt and sunglasses holds a DJI Matrice 30T overhead with one arm against a blue sky, propellers spinning, with a second man in a dark jacket watching from behind.

5 min read · Search & Rescue DOCKET 26-189 · October 2, 2026

Utah Rescue Captain Tells DC the FCC Drone Ban Will Cost Lives

Kyle Nordfors takes the FCC drone ban fight to The Hill: 25 to 30 lives saved, searches cut from 4.5 hours to under one, no US drone that matches.

Haye Kesteloo Editor-in-Chief October 2, 2026

The Wire · All Breaking

Time Beat Headline Reporter

12:42 ETOct 2

SAR

Utah Rescue Captain Tells DC the FCC Drone Ban Will Cost Lives

H. Kesteloo

11:12 ETOct 2

DLVR

Amazon Asks Westborough to Delay Drone Pad Vote as Board Says No

H. Kesteloo

10:46 ETOct 2

DLVR

Castle Rock Froze Walmart's Drone Hub 7-0. Its Clock Runs Out Jan 21

H. Kesteloo

09:05 ETOct 2

Regulation

DSPA Calls Congress Over Blue UAS Report as 15 States Sue FAA and Skydio Unveils the MegaDock

G. Reverdiau

20:51 ETOct 1

MIL

Hegseth Orders Four-Star Drone Command, Congress Has To Build It

H. Kesteloo

20:16 ETOct 1

DLVR

Amazon Already Raised Its Texas Drones. 'Drone Warriors' Want Higher

H. Kesteloo

10:20 ETOct 1

PUB

DHS Left DJI's Scores Out of Its Blue UAS Report. Here They Are

H. Kesteloo

21:35 ETSep 30

DLVR

Hillsborough Blood Drones Launch in October, Flown From Sarasota

H. Kesteloo

16:38 ETSep 30

MIL

Neros Wins $100M Pentagon Order, Plus 800 Drones Rivals Didn't Deliver

H. Kesteloo

16:11 ETSep 30

MIL

Amprius Gets $75M Pentagon Drone Battery Grant, Mostly Unfunded

H. Kesteloo

14:58 ETSep 30

DJI

DJI Avata 360 Can't Fly Acro. An FPV Pilot Still Calls It Enough

H. Kesteloo

14:53 ETSep 30

DLVR

DoorDash Air Drone Lands Chipotle and Popeyes, but No Payload Number

H. Kesteloo

DJI Rumors and News Live Tracker

Deep Dive · DOCKET 26-189

Utah Rescue Captain Tells DC the FCC Drone Ban Will Cost Lives

Kyle Nordfors takes the FCC drone ban fight to The Hill: 25 to 30 lives saved, searches cut from 4.5 hours to under one, no US drone that matches.

Haye Kesteloo · Oct 2 · 5 min read

Pilot Institute News Update week 385 thumbnail covering Blue UAS report, FAA lawsuit, DJI leak, and Skydio drone

Blue sUAS

DSPA Calls Congress Over Blue UAS Report as 15 States Sue FAA and Skydio Unveils the MegaDock

Greg Reverdiau · Oct 2

A gray DJI Matrice 4 series drone with a multi-sensor camera payload hovers in front of a glass office facade.

DHS addendum

DHS Left DJI's Scores Out of Its Blue UAS Report. Here They Are

Haye Kesteloo · Oct 1

DJI Avata 360 drone held up for review with reviewer Kai Vertigoh in the background

DJI

DJI Avata 360 Can't Fly Acro. An FPV Pilot Still Calls It Enough

Haye Kesteloo · Sep 30

Drones for Good

All Drones for Good →

Hillsborough Blood Drones Launch in October, Flown From Sarasota

Haye Kesteloo Sep 30

WHOLE BLOOD

Manna Pitches Tulsa Fire Drone AEDs, an Idea Dublin Never Launched

Haye Kesteloo Sep 27

Manna Aero

Paris Study: AED Drones Reach 95% of Cardiac Arrests in Five Minutes

Haye Kesteloo Sep 26

Drones for Good

Pilot Institute

Blue sUAS

DSPA Calls Congress Over Blue UAS Report as 15 States Sue FAA and Skydio Unveils the MegaDock

Greg Reverdiau · Oct 2

FCC Filing

FCC Targets DJI Chips as Amazon Drones Swarm a Texas Suburb

Greg Reverdiau · Sep 25

DJI

DJI Avata 360 After 3 Months: The Best and Worst of Flying 360

Greg Reverdiau · Sep 19

Drone Policy, FAA, FCCPart 107 · Remote ID · TRUST · LAANC

All FAA →

Utah Rescue Captain Tells DC the FCC Drone Ban Will Cost Lives

Haye Kesteloo Oct 2

DOCKET 26-189

DSPA Calls Congress Over Blue UAS Report as 15 States Sue FAA and Skydio Unveils the MegaDock

Greg Reverdiau Oct 2

Blue sUAS

Amazon Already Raised Its Texas Drones. 'Drone Warriors' Want Higher

Haye Kesteloo Oct 1

Amazon

Air Photography

DJI

DJI Neo 2 After One Year: The Drone I Fly More Than Any Other

Shawn Air Photography · Sep 7

DJI

DJI Lito X1 vs. Mini 5 Pro: Which Drone Should Beginners Buy?

Shawn Air Photography · Jul 25

Air Photography

GoPro Wireless Mic Overview And Audio Tests: What Shawn Found

Shawn Air Photography · Jul 14

Drone Delivery

All Drone Delivery →

Amazon Asks Westborough to Delay Drone Pad Vote as Board Says No

Haye Kesteloo Oct 2

Amazon

Castle Rock Froze Walmart's Drone Hub 7-0. Its Clock Runs Out Jan 21

Haye Kesteloo Oct 2

Drone Delivery

DSPA Calls Congress Over Blue UAS Report as 15 States Sue FAA and Skydio Unveils the MegaDock

Greg Reverdiau Oct 2

Blue sUAS

51 Drones

Industry

Drone Tariffs Hit September 3. Here's Why Prices Won't Jump 25% Overnight

Russ 51 Drones · Sep 1

US Government

I Used To Call The Trump Jr. DJI Theory A Conspiracy. The Tariffs Changed My Mind

Russ 51 Drones · Aug 16

DJI

Top 11 Tips for New Drone Pilots After 8 Years of Flying

Russ 51 Drones · Aug 3

Police, DFRDFR · Patrol · Evidence

All Police →

DSPA Breaks Charter to Take DHS Blue UAS Report to Congress

Haye Kesteloo Sep 28

DSPA

Manna Pitches Tulsa Fire Drone AEDs, an Idea Dublin Never Launched

Haye Kesteloo Sep 27

Manna Aero

DHS Lab Grounds 3 of 5 Blue UAS in NYC, Withholds Chinese Drone Scores

Haye Kesteloo Sep 25

DHS report

Jake Sloan

Insta360

Insta360 Luna Pro Review: 8K Gimbal Camera Tested in Alaska Wind

Jake Sloan · Sep 22

DJI

DJI Osmo 360 II Review: 1-Inch Sensors, 8K60 and User-Replaceable Lenses Put to the Test

Jake Sloan · Sep 15

DJI

DJI Osmo Nano vs Action 6 vs Osmo 360: My Buyer's Guide to DJI's Action Cameras

Jake Sloan · Aug 28

Counter Drone

All Counter-Drone →

Russia's Geran-4 Runs On A $25,000 Hobby Jet, Texas Instruments Chips

Haye Kesteloo Sep 28

Russia

Space Force Adds Lasers at Cape Canaveral After 500 Port Drone Flights

Haye Kesteloo Sep 26

Counter-Drone

France and Italy Deny CIA Warned of Russian Ship-Launched Drones

Haye Kesteloo Sep 24

Counter-Drone

DC Rainmaker

Insta360

Insta360 X6 In-Depth Review: What's Actually New — and Where It Falls Short

Ray DC Rainmaker · Aug 21

Insta360

Insta360 Luna Ultra Vs. DJI Pocket 4: My Complete Footage Comparison

Ray DC Rainmaker · Jun 10

DJI

GoPro Mission 1 Pro Review: 61 Things You Need to Know After Two Months of Shooting

Ray DC Rainmaker · Jun 1

Conflict Watch Ukraine · Russia · Battlefield UAS

Overhead view of a dark delta-wing Russian Geran-4 Seeker attack drone lying on asphalt with its turbojet engine at the rear, a journalist standing beside it and a removed component on the ground, from RFE/RL's September 2026 teardown video

Deep Dive · Russia

Russia's Geran-4 Runs On A $25,000 Hobby Jet, Texas Instruments Chips

RFE/RL took apart a Geran-4 Seeker: a $25,000 Chinese hobby turbojet, two SIM cards, a mesh modem, Texas Instruments chips. Russia builds 3,000 a month.

Haye Kesteloo · Sep 28 · 4 min read

Ukrainian soldiers loading a machine-gun ammunition belt into a tracked unmanned ground vehicle

Ukraine

Ukraine Air-Drops Kamikaze Robots 12 Miles Behind Russian Lines

Haye Kesteloo · Sep 27

Lineup of AI-generated military robots including a humanoid, quadrupeds, a tracked snake robot and gun carts in a foggy field

Ukraine

Fedorov Wants A Humanoid Robot Killing Russians Within Six Months

Haye Kesteloo · Sep 26

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, seen across the water with a steam cloud billowing beside the pad

Counter-Drone

Space Force Adds Lasers at Cape Canaveral After 500 Port Drone Flights

Haye Kesteloo · Sep 26

FPV

All FPV →

Neros Wins $100M Pentagon Order, Plus 800 Drones Rivals Didn't Deliver

Haye Kesteloo Sep 30

Department of Defense

DJI Avata 360 Can't Fly Acro. An FPV Pilot Still Calls It Enough

Haye Kesteloo Sep 30

DJI

Pentagon Opens $450M Attack-Drone Round With A 400-Drone Deadline

Haye Kesteloo Sep 29

Department of Defense

Mihail Svilenov

Drone Supremacy

Stop Color Grading Your DJI Pocket 4P Footage Wrong

Mihail Svilenov · Aug 28

Video

I Used The Antigravity A1 To Preserve A 1,000-Year-Old Bulgarian Fortress In 3D

Mihail Svilenov · Aug 24

Insta360

These Insta360 Luna Ultra Settings Made My Footage Look More Cinematic

Mihail Svilenov · Jul 21

Drone Technology

All Technology →

Hegseth Orders Four-Star Drone Command, Congress Has To Build It

Haye Kesteloo Oct 1

Department of Defense

Russia's Geran-4 Runs On A $25,000 Hobby Jet, Texas Instruments Chips

Haye Kesteloo Sep 28

Russia

Fedorov Wants A Humanoid Robot Killing Russians Within Six Months

Haye Kesteloo Sep 26

Ukraine

Wild Life, Nature

Wildlife

Drone Captures Humpback Whale Birth In a World First

Rafael Suárez · Aug 4

Drone Research

UH Drones Tag 22 Humpback Whales Off Maui Without Boats

Rafael Suárez · Aug 4

DJI

DJI Matrice 4 Series Drones Multiply German Fawn Rescues Twentyfold Before Mowing Season

Haye Kesteloo · Jul 1

Drone Industry, Research

All Industry →

Hegseth Orders Four-Star Drone Command, Congress Has To Build It

Haye Kesteloo Oct 1

Department of Defense

Redfin Just Handed Drone Pilots a Client Checklist. Use It

Haye Kesteloo Sep 27

Industry

Tekever Hits $6.4 Billion as University of California Backs AI Drones

Haye Kesteloo Sep 23

Industry

From the Newsroom

All articles →

Residents holding blue No Commercial Drones signs outside Mill Pond School in Westborough, Massachusetts, before the Select Board meeting on Amazon Prime Air

Amazon Asks Westborough to Delay Drone Pad Vote as Board Says No

Amazon wants its Westborough drone pad hearing pushed to Nov. 10, the town agenda shows, after telling residents it hoped to fly by late October.

Haye Kesteloo Oct 2 7 min

Amazon

A white and yellow Wing delivery drone on a display stand in a fenced-off section of a Walmart parking lot, with parked cars behind the barrier.

Castle Rock Froze Walmart's Drone Hub 7-0. Its Clock Runs Out Jan 21

Castle Rock, Colorado banned drone delivery hub applications 7-0 in July after Walmart asked for an 18-drone port. Westborough residents now want the same.

Haye Kesteloo Oct 2 5 min

Drone Delivery

DSPA Calls Congress Over Blue UAS Report as 15 States Sue FAA and Skydio Unveils the MegaDock

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have four stories for you this week: DSPA asks Congress to look at the DHS Blue UAS report, 15 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.

Greg Reverdiau Oct 2 4 min

Blue sUAS

Pete Hegseth in a navy suit gesturing with clasped hands in front of a red, white and blue striped backdrop, lectern with the Department of War seal at left

Hegseth Orders Four-Star Drone Command, Congress Has To Build It

Hegseth ordered a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command for Oct. 1, 2027. The memo names no commander, no budget, and needs a law Congress hasn't passed.

Haye Kesteloo Oct 1 7 min

Department of Defense

The drone industry moves fast. Stay ahead of it.