Events
A high-octane aerial race between motorised drones is set to take place in Grimsby this summer. The FPV Grand Prix will head to the Grimsby Town Cricket Club on July 19. The recreational use of Multi-Rotors is reportedly on the rise and users from around the world have
Commercial
Aeryon Labs Inc. is the first Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) sUAS provider to be named in statewide approvals by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for research and public safety applications. Kansas State University Salina (KSU) and the Michigan State Police (MSP) have been granted authority to use Aeryon
Commercial
Telecom provider T-Mobile will now use Aerialtronics Unmanned Aerial Systems as it becomes the first European provider to use drones to inspect 5,000 antennas in Holland.
Transport
In the latest sign of the importance of its drone program, Amazon.com Inc. has hired the former number-two executive at the Air Line Pilots Association to help with the project. Sean Cassidy, an Alaska Air Group Inc. pilot and former member of a Transportation Security Administration aviation-security
Commercial
A balloon-assisted UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) named "Phoenix-S1," developed by Kyushu University and Fukuoka University, Japan, has successfully brought back stratospheric aerosol samples from the altitude of 22 km and observed aerosol density at the altitude of 23 km in Antarctica on January 24, 2015. The
Commercial
FPS, a national parts distribution business owned by Lookers, has made UK history by delivering a car part using a drone. The drone delivered a Gates belt tensioner from the FPS distribution centre in Sheffield to motor factor Brakeline, a member of Groupauto, a few miles away, making it the
Commercial
Mark Zuckerberg announced on Facebook (where else?) on March 26th that the company had successfully completed its first test flight of its unmanned aircraft in the UK. The final design will have a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 but will weigh less than a car. It will be powered
Commercial
In some remote parts of the world, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are already being field-tested for medical uses. Drones successfully delivered small aid packages after the Haitian earthquake in 2012, and in Papua New Guinea, Doctors Without Borders used them to transport dummy TB test samples from a remote
Commercial
Swedish police are testing the use of drones, with a special emphasis on SWAT and possible search and rescue operations. It's unknown how many drones the police in Sweden plan to order, but they would be used in select cases, with testing beginning sometime this summer. Drones could
Inspections
The first Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech test flight using a fixed-wing unmanned aircraft to inspect an energy pipeline route—with a piloted chase plane following behind to ensure safety beyond the ground observers' sight line —was completed last week. The flight was a step toward
Commercial
True believers hope they're at the start of what'll be a global movement, but for now they gather in fields, beaches and even car parks for fun - which involves flying drones at night, seeing what the drone sees. Illegal if it's done in the
Transport
China's largest mail company is set to deliver more than 1,000 packages a day by drone. S.F. Express has revealed it already has a fleet of aircraft flying 500 parcels a day to remote areas, and it is now looking to double the capacity. The all-