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Wildfire
Okanagan Lake DJI Drone Pilot Fined CAD $5,000 After Helicopter Pilot Broke Off Firefighting to Chase Him
A British Columbia court has ordered Kelowna realtor Derek Leippi to pay a CAD $5,000 fine (roughly USD $3,600) for flying a DJI drone from a boat on Okanagan Lake during the 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire, an incident that pulledโฆ

Harvard Students Build Fixed-Wing VTOL Drone to Track Sperm Whales in Dominica
Two Harvard mechanical engineering seniors have built a fixed-wing VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) drone from scratch to help marine biologists locate sperm whales tagged with VHF (very high frequency) transmitters off the coast of Dominica, according to a projectโฆ

Oregon Tells FCC: Build Drone Test Sites in Mountains, Not Just Labs
The Oregon Department of Aviation (ODAV) has drafted an eight-point response to the Federal Communications Commission’s April 1 public notice on “Unleashing American Drone Dominance” (GN Docket No. 26-74), and it reads less like a bureaucratic comment filing and moreโฆ

ACLU releases major drone surveillance report, House passes ACERO Act, and South Carolina considers restrictive drone bill
Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have three stories for you this week. The ACLU releases a major report on drone surveillance and airspace restriction. The House passes the ACERO Act for wildfire drone operations. And a questionableโฆ

Japan Deploys Drones for Nighttime Wildfire Mapping
When a wildfire tore through Mount Ogi in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, ground crews couldn’t reach it and helicopters stopped flying at dark. That’s when the drones went to work. Blue Innovation Co., Ltd. conducted nighttime aerial imaging flights over theโฆ
House Passes ACERO Act Unanimously, Sending Drone Wildfire Bill to Senate
The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 390, the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) Act, by a unanimous vote on February 24, 2026, sending the bipartisan wildfire drone bill to the Senate. Sponsored by Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA-20)โฆ

Seneca’s Aspen Firefighting Drones Face the Real Test: Can They Suppress a Fire Before Humans Arrive?
Seneca‘s autonomous firefighting drones are heading to Aspen, Colorado this fire season, and the question fire chiefs have been asking for years is finally getting a field answer: can drones actually suppress a blaze before a human crew reaches theโฆ

Drones Light the Fire at Pisgah National Forest
The U.S. Forest Service used a modified Freefly Alta X carrying Drone Amplified’s IGNIS aerial ignition system to conduct prescribed burns at the Wilson Ridge unit in Pisgah National Forest last weekend, treating 290 acres of hazardous fuel in terrainโฆ
SWEPCO Sends Skydio X10 Drones to Scout Power Lines in East Texas
East Texas utility SWEPCO has a new way to find the branches that will kill your power before they actually do it. The drones are already flying. The Problem With Trees and Power Lines Vegetation management is the unglamorous backboneโฆ
Parallel Flight Firefly Clears FAA Hurdle, Heads to Market
California’s Parallel Flight Technologies just received the regulatory green light that changes everything for the company. The FAA has granted the Firefly heavy-lift drone a Section 44807 exemption, authorizing commercial operations in U.S. airspace, as UAVHQ reported. This is notโฆ

FAA 2025 Enforcement Report: Drone Pilots Fined Up to $36,770, Certificates Suspended and Revoked
Drone pilots are losing their certificates and being fined up to $36,770. And one pilot just had their certificate permanently revoked. We know this because the FAA just released its 2025 enforcement report. They fined 18 operations, suspended or revokedโฆ
Your Weekend Drone Flight Might Be Worth More Than You Think
In 1858, a French photographer tied a camera to a hot air balloon and took the first known aerial photograph just outside Paris. It was art. It was novelty. Nobody had any idea what they had just started. One hundredโฆ