Progress is being made on the FAA Reauthorization Bill. Stay tuned for more updates, as it includes significant material relating to UAS!
Monthly Archives: March 2016
XPONENTIAL 2016
The biggest Unmanned Systems Conference of the year is coming up – XPONENTIAL 2016, by AUVSI. It is the first week in May and is in the Big Easy this year. I enjoyed reporting from Atlanta last year and this year’s conference is expected to be great too! Stay tuned for updated from AUVSI on what to expect.
Tigers, Music, and Baseball
An odd combination, but a few stories that I found attention-grabbing today. There is a more serious post in the making as well.
I’ve written about the use of UAS to prevent poaching, and two more preserves are joining the bandwagon. The Periyar and Parambikulam tiger reserves in India will be obtaining UAS to conduct surveillance of the tigers in areas which are time-consuming or inaccessible to foot-patrols. This story comes thanks to the Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota, which is also the source of the white tiger cub photo.
In other news, Enrique Iglesias hurt his hand during a concert.

According to a spokesman: “During the show a drone is used to get crowd shots and some nights Enrique grabs the drone to give the audience a Point of View shot. Something went wrong and he had an accident,” the statement read. “He decided to go on and continued playing for 30 minutes while the bleeding continued throughout the show.” This wasn’t a rogue drone, but one that was part of the presentation, he didn’t seem too hurt, and the show continued.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjwH_iWBHjc
In a not-so-sanctioned event, a drone operator was using his drone over a Phillies game this weekend.

He was confronted by both police and Phillies security. One should note that he was asked to erase the data because it contained intellectual property. This is another consideration of imaging with drones – make sure you’re not recording something that is protected IP! Citizen’s Bank Park is in a restricted Class B airspace since it is near Philadelphia International Airport, and the FAA prohibits UAS near stadiums while professional sporting events, including MLB games, are in progress.
