News, deep dives, and analysis — every Utah story, newest first.
As Utah’s Babylon Fire nears full containment, incident teams say drones helped locate hot spots, monitor rough terrain, and confirm a fresh lightning strike before it could start another blaze.
Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have three stories for you this week. First up, the FAA adds a new DHS authorization path for World Cup NOTAMs. A firefighting helicopter in Utah dodges an unauthorized drone. And AirData UAV and LeoSight are teaming up to bring live drone data to DFR programs. Let’s…
A firefighting helicopter working a brush fire near Moab, Utah encountered an unauthorized drone over the active fire area, and state fire managers responded by publishing photos of what past drone strikes have done to aircraft. The warning lands 17 months after a DJI Mini punched a hole in a Super Scooper over the Palisades…
The FAA has switched on more than 100 drone-only Temporary Flight Restrictions for FIFA World Cup 2026 team hotels and training camps, and a large share of them sit in cities that are not hosting a single match. Boise, Idaho. Louisville, Kentucky. Indianapolis. Sandy, Utah. None of these places appears on the list of 11…
YouTuber Jeven Dovey flew both the DJI Avata 360 and the Antigravity A1 back to back and came away without a clean winner. His comparison video, published this week, pits the two 360-degree drones against each other on flight handling, camera output, controllers, software, and price. The takeaway is not the one most buyers expect:…
DRONERESPONDERS and the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) have scheduled their next Search and Rescue (SAR) Working Group virtual roundtable for May 19, 2026. The session focuses on training — specifically how to become a more efficient small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) SAR pilot — and is open to anyone who works in or cares about…
A surveying drone flying directly above a LifeFlight helicopter at Primary Children’s Hospital in Lehi, Utah forced all air operations to halt while a child in critical care waited for emergency transport to another facility. The Lehi City Police Department shared video of the incident, filmed by the South Jordan Fire Department, showing the drone…
The Pentagon’s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 has taken an early step toward creating an online marketplace for counter drone technology with its first acquisition under the Replicator 2 effort, as Air and Space Forces reports. The task force, which was established last fall, has purchased two DroneHunter F700 counter drone systems. The Pentagon says…
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