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Alphabet’s Wing Initiates Drone Delivery Service in Texas

by Patrick J. Paul On April 7, 2022, Alphabet’s Wing launched commercial drone delivery service in two suburban towns north of Dallas, Texas – Frisco and Little Elm – where Wing had been testing its service over the last year following experiments in Christiansburg, Virginia; Helsinki, Finland; and Canberra and Logan, Australia. Like Waymo, which […]

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Experimental Air Taxi Crashes in California

by Patrick J. Paul On February 16, 2022, Joby Aviation, a California-based company developing all-electric aircraft for commercial passenger service, reported that one of its prototype experimental unmanned aerial taxis crashed in flight in South Monterey County, California. Although no injuries were reported, damage to the aircraft itself was substantial. The Joby prototype was one […]

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Phoenix City Council Approves Police Drone Purchase

by Patrick J. Paul On February 16, 2022, less than a week after nine Phoenix police officers were injured in a fatal standoff in South Phoenix, the City Council by a 6-3 vote, approved more than $500,000 in expenditures on behalf of the Phoenix Police Department to purchase drones and to develop a program to […]

Arizona-Based Airline Enters Delivery Drone Space

by Patrick J. Paul On October 21, 2021, Phoenix, Arizona-based Mesa Air and Reno, NV-based Flirtey  announced an agreement under which Mesa will purchase four delivery drones with options to purchase an additional 500 over the next four years in an effort to expand drone delivery service in the U.S. Initially, Mesa and Flirtey will […]

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NASA Flies First Drone Ever on Another Planet

By Patrick J. Paul On April 19, 2021, America’s civil space program – the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) made history when its Mars Ingenuity helicopter made the first ever powered, controlled flight on another planet.  With it, the once comical world of the Jetsons becomes increasingly real. The solar-powered helicopter first became airborne […]

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FAA Approves Fully Automated Commercial Drone Flights

By Patrick J. Paul On January 14, the Federal Aviation Administration approved the first fully automated commercial drone flights by granting Massachusetts-based American Robotics, Inc. permission to operate drones without hands-on piloting and “beyond-visual-line-of-site” (BVLOS) through January 31, 2023. Weighing less than 20 pounds, American Robotics’ Scout drones utilize acoustic technology to detect and avoid […]

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FAA Issues Emergency Waiver Allowing Drone Delivery of Medical Supplies

by Patrick J. Paul Having recently been granted an emergency Part 107 waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration, Novant Health, Inc., a not-for-profit, integrated healthcare system headquartered in North Carolina, in partnership with San Francisco-based drone delivery company, Zipline, has commenced medical drone delivery for the first time in the United States.  Novant announced the […]

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FAA Issues Drone Guidance for COVID-19 Response

by Patrick Paul As the case for drone use to help respond to the coronavirus pandemic, whether to enforce social distancing guidelines, announce current developments, or deliver needed medical and food supplies, grows internationally, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on April 14, 2020, announced the enabling of drone use for COVID-19 response efforts within the […]

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