In this week's drone news; DraganFly has released a drone with a 66lb payload and a 55-minute endurance, Wing is creating a fleet of larger drones to carry different items, DJI is lobbying against the American Security Drone Act, a man was caught trying to fly contraband into a prison, and one year of Pilot Institute's Free stickers!
\nDraganFly has introduced a cargo drone with a payload of 66lbs and a range of 19 miles.
\nThe heavy lift drone uses LTE for fully autonomous flights with an up to 55-minute endurance.
\nIn addition to package delivery, the heavy lift can be equipped with a new long-range LIDAR unit to map large areas.
\nhttps://dronexl.co/2022/07/13/draganfly-heavy-lift-cargo-drone/
\nOn the topic of larger drones, Alphabet\u2019s Wing is expanding the size of its drones.
\n\u201cJust as the ideal vehicle for carrying a ton of gravel would be a dump truck rather than a sedan, the ideal aircraft to carry a bottle of medication is not the same as the best one to deliver a gallon of milk, and neither is suited to deliver a refrigerator,\u201d Wing CEO Adam Woodworth.
\nhttps://dronexl.co/2022/07/19/contraband-heavy-duty-drone-texas-prison/
\nDJI has hired lobbying firms in an attempt to persuade congress not to back the American Security Drone Act.
\nThis would prohibit the government from buying drones made by Chinese firms or other companies that could be a national security risk
\nDJI is already on the Entity list and on the Chinese Military-industrial complex list.
\n\nA Texas man was arrested in Houston after trying to use a heavy lift drone to drop a bag of contraband into a prison.
\nThe contraband included wire cutters, money, smartphones, and tobacco.
\nCharges agains the man included two counts of improperly flying and aircraft, each carrying up to 3 years in prison.
\nhttps://dronexl.co/2022/07/19/contraband-heavy-duty-drone-texas-prison/