Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have three stories for you this week. The FCC moves to block DJI and Autel chips on any drone. We have Amazon delivery drones that are overwhelming a Texas suburb. And then lastly, SkyeBrowse is rolling out new pricing. Let’s get to it.
The FCC Will Reject Drones With a Single DJI or Autel Circuit Board
First up, starting October 13th, the FCC will block a brand new type of application. If a drone contains a circuit board that is made by DJI or Autel, then it cannot get approval from the FCC.
And here’s a little bit of a twist. It doesn’t really matter where the drone is built. Even a drone that’s assembled entirely in the United States, one that qualifies as Buy America or has Blue UAS approval, is going to get rejected if one of its internal component chips is traced back to DJI.
Pending applications filed before October 13th are going to be grandfathered in, which is kind of mind-boggling if you think about it, because this is about security, right? But if you change even one part of that application, the grandfathering is going to go away.
So if you are a U.S. manufacturer right now with an application in the pipeline, now is the time to file, and to ask your supplier exactly who made every single board that is inside of your aircraft.
52 Amazon Drones in a Single Day Over Richardson, Texas
Next up, one resident in Richardson, Texas, tracked 52 Prime Air drones flying overhead in a single day. According to him, some of them flew as low as 150 feet. Amazon’s permit allows it to fly up to a thousand flights every single day from that hub.
A local homeowners association leader told the Times that the FAA has failed the city. Part of the frustration here comes from the FAA’s own ruling. Back on July 28th, the agency decided that 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 bit of a mixed message here on cameras. Richardson’s city website told residents that the drones do not record any video. Amazon told the Times that its drones actually do record footage near the delivery area.
Amazon Wants 1,000 Daily Flights Out of North Haven, Connecticut
Speaking of Amazon, it is now asking the FAA for up to a thousand flights a day out of the new hub it’s trying to put 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, if you are familiar with the area. I’m not.
This is the first Prime Air hub in the Northeast that is going to get a public comment window. Connecticut’s environmental agency opened that window on September 16th, and it’s going to close on October 1st.
Interestingly, the thousand-flight number is not really the problem here. It’s actually the same ceiling that Amazon files in almost every city it goes into. The issue is how much scrutiny this specific hub is going to 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 of time to speak up before it closes.
SkyeBrowse Overhauls Its Drone 3D Mapping Pricing
And the last story is that SkyeBrowse just overhauled its pricing for drone 3D mapping. If you’re not familiar, SkyeBrowse turns drone videos into 3D models and into different maps. It’s used for construction, inspections, insurance claims, and even crime scene documentation.
The Commercial tier now starts at $20 a model, which is actually a really good deal for basic capture and sharing. Pro adds exports and AI tools like automatic floor plans and site plans.
Then the Public Safety and Enterprise tier costs $199 per model, and it adds things like CJIS compliance and Axon Evidence integration for the law enforcement agencies that use it. Existing subscribers can also keep their old plans. And of course, the Freemium option that we’ve talked about before is still available for those who just want to try it out before they buy.
That conversation is going to continue on Post Flight, where we’re going to talk about all of these stories uncensored in the premium community. There’s a link in the description. And we’re also going to see you on Monday for the live Q&A. It was pretty lively this Monday. So, have a great weekend. We’ll see you then.
This article is based on a video from our YouTube partner Greg Reverdiau. Watch the full weekly UAS news update on the Pilot Institute YouTube channel, and find more of Greg’s work on his DroneXL author page.
