Testing
Amazon.com Inc. has been awarded an experimental airworthiness certificate to use drones, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Under the contract, Amazon's logistics unit will be allowed to use drones for research, development and crew training. All flight operations of unmanned aircraft must be conducted
Regulations
An intelligence agency employee whose drone crashed on the White House lawn earlier this year won't face criminal charges, the U.S. attorney's office in Washington announced. Shawn Usman, who works for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, was piloting the borrowed drone in downtown Washington early
Regulations
A man has been charged with 17 offences related to allegedly flying a drone over landmarks including the Houses of Parliament, the Queen Victoria memorial outside Buckingham Palace and several football stadiums. Nigel Wilson, 42, is due to appear at Westminster magistrates court on 16 April over alleged offences under
In the late 1960s and early ’70s, the CIA embarked on a programme to build an unmanned version of America’s most iconic spy plane—one that could reach deep into the heart of Chinese territory to pry out the nuclear secrets at supersonic speeds and at little risk to
Accidents
George Morse’s company, Failure Analysis Service Technology, based in Prescott, Ariz., specializes in the analysis of aviation mishaps, foreign-object damage in particular. Morse himself has done more than 4000 engine investigations, most the result of ingestion of nuts or bolts or other runway detritus rather than birds.So
A new drone-building series called Airheads is due to air on Sunday nights on BBC2 in the key Top Gear slot at 8pm. The corporation may be hoping to recapture some of the success of the popular technology show Robot Wars with the launch of the new drone-based
Regulations
The Indian government said on Monday that the aviation regulator is in the process of developing an interim operations guideline for civil use of drones or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma told the Lok Sabha during question hour that the Directorate General of
Business
The Cottonwood Euro Technology Fund, the American-based seed and early-stage fund who opened its first European fund in Enschede, is investing 1.6 million Euros in Clear Flight Solutions, a robotics drone spin-off company from the University of Twente. With this investment Clear Flight Solutions will focus
Testing
A company in Chile is hoping to use drones to save lives. Drones fitted with a float, camera, microphone and speaker are being tested on the beaches of Algarrobo to help lifeguards rescue distressed swimmers. "It works really well for us because during the trial the drone got there
Military
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI),has announced that its Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper RPA fleet has achieved a historic milestone of one million cumulative flight hours, with almost 90-percent of all missions flown in combat. Additionally, GA-ASI announced that its Predator/Gray Eagle-series aircraft
Business
According to CB Insights data, investment in 2014 to the nascent drone industry topped $108M across 29 deals. Year-over-year funding increased 104% as venture firms including Lightspeed Venture Partners, GGV Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers among others jumped into the drone space with sizable bets. Between
Commercial
Agents with the Office of Air and Marine (OAM) for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and interagency partners disrupted two separate drug smuggling attempts off the coast of El Salvador, resulting in the disruption of more than $178 million in contraband. Both events were part of Operation Martillo. On