DEXA Secures Nationwide BVLOS, DroneDeploy’s Progress Al, Drone Pilot Finds Missing Girl

We have three stories for you this week. First, DEXA secures a nationwide BVLOS waiver for drone deliveries. DroneDeploy launches Progress AI, and a drone pilot finds a missing girl in Wisconsin. Let’s get to it.

First of all, let me acknowledge the fact that I am not Greg. It’s Ben. Greg and the team are at Oshkosh for the air show this week. So, production is hosting the news update, but Greg will return for the next one.

DEXA Secures Nationwide BVLOS Waiver

In our first story, US drone delivery company DEXA has hit a major regulatory milestone, securing a nationwide beyond visual line of sight or BVLOS waiver from the FAA. This is a huge deal because it allows the company to conduct autonomous delivery operations across the country without needing visual observers on the ground for every flight. This approval puts DEXA in an elite group alongside companies like Amazon Prime Air, Wing, and Zipline, who are all pushing the boundaries of commercial drone logistics. In addition to this new BVLOS waiver, the company already holds a Part 135 air carrier certificate, which legally allows them to run a drone airline. They also have an airworthiness certificate for their DE2020 delivery drone, meaning it can operate under Category 4, provided the flight manual allows for ops over people. What’s really impressive is that DEXA reportedly achieved all of this with just $15 million in funding, which is a fraction of what their competitors have raised. They’re using their own US-made aircraft and a direct-to-consumer app called DEXA Now, which offers unlimited deliveries for a $6 monthly subscription. This is a massive step forward for drone delivery.

On Youtube CAMTechChris had this to say: Small corrections from someone on the UAS Air Carrier certification team at AFS-740 (FAA): Drone Express, Inc. (DEXA) DOES NOT have a nationwide BVLOS waiver. They are a certificated part 135 Air Carrier for package delivery which allows them to operate BVLOS ° under 14 CFR part 135. In fact, all 7 (Drone Express was number 7) UAS part 135 Air Carriers are BVLOS. DEXA is actually Drone Express, Inc. They don’t officially have a name change ” (or DBA) with the FAA so they legall have to go by Drone Express, Inc.

DroneDeploy Launches Progress AI

Next up, DroneDeploy has just announced a new tool called Progress AI, and it’s designed to automate construction progress tracking. Instead of someone walking a site with a clipboard and manually marking up drawings, this system uses AI to analyze data from drones and 360° cameras to generate fast and reliable progress reports. DroneDeploy claims that the platform can deliver reports with 95% accuracy within minutes of the images being uploaded. One of the most notable features is its natural language interface. A project manager can literally just ask the system a question like, “How much did our drywall partner get done this week?” And the AI will pull the answer directly from visual data. This works without needing a complex building information model or BIM, which lowers the barrier to entry for a lot of companies. Early users are already reporting great results, with one project engineer saying they caught a framing issue with a door installation just by reviewing a walkthrough, saving them days of rework. Progress AI is currently in early access and is expected to be widely available in October as an add-on for DroneDeploy customers.

Drone Pilot Finds Missing Girl in Wisconsin

Next, a real-world drones for good story. A volunteer drone pilot in Milton, Wisconsin, is being called a hero after he found a missing four-year-old girl in a dense cornfield. The girl, Lou Eastston, is autistic, non-verbal, and reportedly doesn’t feel pain, which made her disappearance incredibly urgent. With sunset approaching, her family feared that she had wandered into a nearby cornfield. That’s when Rock County officials called for aerial support. The hero of the day is Steve Rogers, a volunteer with Wisco Aerial and Ground Services. He launched his DJI Matrice 30 drone and got to work quickly. In just 40 minutes, he spotted Lou deep in the cornfield and was able to guide rescue teams directly to her location. She was found safe and unharmed. This is a perfect example of why drones are such incredible tools for search and rescue. A drone can cover a massive area far more quickly than a ground team, and thermal cameras can spot heat signatures that would be impossible to see otherwise. As a father myself, I really appreciate that we have a good outcome to this story. A huge shout-out to Steve for a job well done.

The rest of the team will be back from Oshkosh next week, so no live on Monday or Post Flight this coming week, but we’ll pick those back up the following week. We’ll see you then.