Self-made motion picture pilot; Rule changes delayed


VOL 5, ISSUE 5	March 2, 2021

Top Stories

Self-made motion picture pilot

Fred North flies helicopters for Hollywood movies, expertly executing carefully planned maneuvers with no room for error. He has no fear of losing his job to a drone. (Photo by Daniel Smith Photography, courtesy of Fred North.) Read more >

Training and Safety

Get ready for night flights, no waiver required

Completing the new FAA Part 107 recurrent course renews remote pilot certificate currency, and also allows night flights without a waiver as of March 16. (The regulation's effective date was delayed.)

What's wrong with this picture?

A Miami news helicopter dispatched to document a car crash turned its camera on a drone spotted far too close to the helicopter as it hovered 800 feet above the scene, 3.3 miles from the nearest airport. Watch the video >

Drone committee meets under new leadership

The FAA's Drone Advisory Committee welcomed new members at its first meeting during the tenure of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, continuing discussions on advanced operations and safety. Watch the meeting >

FAA seeks TRUST administrator

The FAA seeks qualified administrators to proctor The Recreational UAS Safety Test, TRUST, that will give noncommercial drone pilots a chance to demonstrate they have the knowledge to share the sky in safety. Read more >

Lifestyle

Air-to-air grab for the sake of good TV

Camera operators from the set of Cherry (an Apple TV+ production) revealed some of the techniques used to capture the compelling footage. Read more >

Spooked shark

A California photographer was shocked to see a great white shark bolt away from his flying camera like it was being chased; experts suggested that the shark might actually be scared of drones. Read more >

Powered flight on Mars will be a first

NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars, and crews are now preparing an autonomous helicopter named Ingenuity for history's first extraterrestrial aircraft flight. See the drone >

Baseball coach tapped to fly sprayer drone

Texas Rangers bench coach Don Wakamatsu had farm experience that made him the natural choice for a mission to sanitize the stadium with drones. Read more >

Methane craters spark cause for flight

Aerial photography and 3D mapping capabilities are allowing researchers to study mysterious craters in the Siberian tundra. Read more >

News

DJI take on first-person

DJI's first first-person-view drone is expected to arrive March 2, and critics wonder if it will have the speed, customizability, or price to appeal to race pilots.

Searching for defects

North Carolina's Department of Transportation conducted its first bridge inspection from the air, utilizing a Skydio 2 to get up close to those difficult spots. Read more >

Air Force invests in THOR

It is no Marvel superhero, but the U.S. Air Force is testing its new Tactical High Power Operational Responder, THOR, focused on hammering unwanted drones. Read more >

Finding unplugged oil

Millions of uncapped and unplugged oil wells leak methane into the atmosphere, and drone pilots have a role to play in stopping that. Read more >