Drone News: UAS Bill BB199, Drone Surveillance Update, New Wing Drone, New DJI MIC, and Mesh Editor

First up this week is St Louis Bill BB199, which has some
concerning text for recreational UAS operators… Line 19, 20, and
21 state “Any person who operates a drone or any UA in the City
of St. Louis shall have a valid Remote Pilot Certificate from the
FAA and shall be in compliance with all standards set forth under
the FAA’s Small UAs Rule (Part 107).” There is no exemption for
recreational or 44809 operations… The bill has other concerning
text for any UAS operators, with restrictions on operating drones
within 1500’ of other aircraft (Including City of St. Louis
Drones), No fly zones to be established by the city, required
stand back distances from public safety vehicles, and publicly
owned buildings.The rule is of course not applicable to any city
department or city agency. We’ll leave a link in the description
to the bill’s text. And speaking of St Louis, here is an update
on the plan to use drones for surveillance. After push back from
the city, the company isn’t backing down and instead sent the
city a letter threatening a lawsuit if permits for operators were
required. Instead they will offer a free trial at a different
time and location. They are also asking for operators to join him
and fly. All you have to do is pay $99 and they'll let you fly
with them! Currently, a gofundme for the plan sits at just $20
out of a goal of $10,000. And if you think there's a link between
the two St Louis stories, there certainly could be. When we say:
don't ruin it for the rest of us, this certainly applies here.
Next up this week is Wing, who has unveiled a new drone with
double the payload capacity of their current flagship drone! The
new drone has a 5lb payload capacity, while maintaining the 12
mile round trip range. Wing says the new drone will be deployed
within the next 12 months to all sites where Wing operates.The
company also said that about 70% of deliveries are completed
using one drone, while 30% use multiple drones to deliver, this
would reduce the required number of trips to deliver the same
goods. Fourth up this week is the DJI Mics 2! DJI has released
the new Mics 2 with an 8GB internal storage, 14 hours of internal
recording, 820’ range, Ai Noise Canceling, 32 bit float
recording, All in one stage case, and compatibility with USB-C,
Lightning, and 3.5mm TRS analog output.The cost of the new mics
comes in at 349 for two mics and a transmitter, a mic and
transmitter for 219, or 99 per mic. Check out our video on the
new mics! And the final story this week is another DJI release,
this time from DJI Enterprise. DJI released “Modify”, which
appears to be a mesh-editing tool that pairs with DJI Terra to
provide modification to 3D models. On release, Modify is only
compatible with DJI Terra models. Models can then be exported as
.ply and .obj for third party or online sharing. The yearly cost
of Modify is $1580 plus taxes and you can a 6 month free trial.
And here’s a quick pilot institute update, our new course app is
now ready! We’re released our new app for offline viewing of the
courses available on both android and apple devices! Head over
and download it to start watching!
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/17/24040030/wing-delivery-larger-drone-payload-capacity-alphabet
https://dronexl.co/2024/01/17/dji-mic-2-new-era-pro-audio-recording/
https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/city-laws/upload/legislative/boardbills/introduced/BB199%20Combined1.pdf
https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/aldermen/representation/profile.cfm?id=1561