Canada selects a national drone management system, BlueBird Aero Systems wins a large UAS order, North Texas aims to educate new drone flyers, Freedom of Information Act produces mystery drone emails, flying over (and into) the Golden Gate Bridge, and drones that monitor environmental changes.
NAV Canada has selected Unifly to provide a national system with digital services for safely operating and managing drones in Canadian airspace. The system has an intuitive user interface and Canadian drone pilots can use the web and mobile apps to identify safe and legal airspace. Requests for authorization to fly in controlled airspace can be made and drone flights planned. See also the Unifly YouTube channel.
BlueBird Aero Systems received an order for more than 150 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAS of various categories. A European military customer has ordered the WanderB-VTOL Mini UAV and ThunderB-VTOL Tactical UAV. These will be operated by infantry soldiers, armored units, artillery corps, and special forces. The order is worth “tens of millions of euros.”
The North Texas UAS Safety and Integration Task Force is working to provide new drone flyers with a free “Know Before You Fly” training workshop. They are working with sponsors including Women and Drones, AUVSI Lonestar, and drone industry solution providers. The Task Force, under the North Central Texas Council of Governments, wants to help mitigate reckless UAS operations and promote the safe integration of UAS technology into the DFW regional airspace.
There has been no serious explanation of the mystery drones that were spotted in several states. However, a volunteer researcher operating in affiliation with the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies recently obtained emails through the Freedom of Information Act that include internal communications of the public affairs office at F.E. Warren Air Force Base and the 90th Security Forces Group. The heavily redacted emails indicate that the military took the sightings seriously.
