Facebook Inc said on Thursday it had completed a successful test flight of a solar-powered drone that it hopes will help it extend internet connectivity to every corner of the planet. Aquila, Facebook's lightweight, high-altitude aircraft, flew at a few thousand feet for 96 minutes in Yuma, Arizona, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on his Facebook page. The company ulti...
The Federal Aviation Administration released its new book of drones rules. The summary is almost a thousand words long. The full 624 page rulebook is, at roughly 170,000 words, about as long as Joseph Heller’s Catch 22. The rules are long in coming, and they have a depth that will take a while to properly explore. Here’s what we know so far. From the FAA press release: Under the...
The busy Dubai International Airport closed for over an hour after a drone flew into its airspace. The airport says the closure disrupted flights for 69 minutes on Saturday. The airport, the world's busiest for international travel, reopened at 12:45 p.m. (0845 GMT) This is not the first time a drone has disrupted flights into the airport, which is the base of the long-haul carrier Emira...
The first human-carrying drone has the green light to start testing as early as this year. The makers of EHang 184, an autonomous drone, will work with the state of Nevada on product development, flight testing and training. Huazhi Hu, founder and CEO of EHang, called the agreement a "big step" for the Chinese company. "[The partnership] will lay the foundation for its comm...
Airbus, the European aerospace giant, has a new drone named Thor. Thor is a clumsy acronym for “Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality,” and what the drone does is nowhere near is important as what it means. The drone, all 13 feet and 55 pounds of it, was 3D printed over the course of about a month. Unveiled at the 2016 International Aerospace Exhibition and Air Show in Berlin this...
One of the drone models used by Russia is to be modified to be used as a kamikaze, Russian media said. Such drones can be used to suppress enemy air defenses or to provide tactical-level air support to units in the field. “A drone which would act similar to a fire ship is being developed now. It detonates after hitting a target,” a defense source told TASS. The project is ba...
A drone was flown just 30 metres from a Boeing 757 jet near Manchester airport, according to an official near-miss report. The pilot of the airliner “expressed his surprise” after spotting the object shortly after take-off, the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) said. He was turning right at an altitude of 450 metres (1,500ft) – a “critical phase of flight” – wh...
The holding company Helicopters of Russia (affiliated with the state-run corporation Rostec) will put on display its newest remote-controlled helicopter and multicopter, as well as an upgraded convertiplane, the holding company’s press-service has told TASS. "Visitors will be able to see a remote-controlled helicopter, a multicopter and an upgraded convertiplane. All were designed by...
On May 21 the IX International Helicopter Industry Exhibition HeliRussia 2016 in will host a unique event – Drone Racing. This is a new and exciting sport for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) pilots, who compete in precision and speed. A special drone racing track will be opened at the "Crocus Expo" IEC where the expo takes place. Drone Racing can be compared to the legendary &qu...
A scale model of Russia’s prospective multipurpose tilt-rotor drone, the Frigate, is currently undergoing trials. The UAV is designed to be used for surveillance, search and rescue operations and cargo transportation purposes. The Frigate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), being developed by the St. Petersburg-based Kronshtadt Group, is expected to become part of the Russian aviation force, w...
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), flying close to Prague’s Václav Havel International Airport, forced air traffic controllers to issue an “immediate stop” message to an airliner on its takeoff roll. The incident, involving a Boeing 737-800 of Czech carrier Travel Service, occurred May 6. The aircraft was operating on behalf of SmartWings, Travel Service’s schedule...
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has completed the first deployment of the AeroVironment RQ-20A Puma AE unmanned air vehicle to the Antarctic, where it supported a US Coast Guard resupply mission. It operated onboard the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star in support of the annual operation Deep Freeze deployment, taking on the role of manned helicopters in providing...
