Welcome to your weekly UAS news update, we have 6 stories for you this week: Stefanik Anti-China Bill, FAA Reauthorization Act on President's desk, flying over people just got easier, Philly YouTuber’s troubles don’t end, New DJI H30 and H30T, and Axon to acquire Dedrone.

00:00 Introduction
00:20 Stefanik Anti-China Bill
02:18 FAA Reauthorization Act on President's desk
03:02 Flying Over People Just Got Easier
06:24 Philly YouTuber’s Troubles Don’t End
07:36 New DJI H30 and H30T
08:44 Axon to Acquire Dedrone

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Let's start with the DFR bill from NY Congresswoman Stefanik that we discussed in the last few weeks. It has now been introduced to the House.
https://files.constantcontact.com/81b...
Second story this week, the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act has passed the House of Representatives and is heading to the President's desk for signature.
https://transportation.house.gov/news...

Third story, and more info from the FAA, and this is good news! As you may already know, getting authorization to fly over people has been difficult at best. At the moment you either need a categorized drone or a waiver. And 97% of OOP waivers have been denied to date. But the fine folks at the FAA are paying attention and they are changing a few things. Let's be clear here, you will still need a waiver but... if your drone is more than 0.55 lbs and 0.88 lbs or less (399g), and you have a prop guard, anti-collision light, RID (via module or internal), a visual observer, and I'll say it again, you submit to get the waiver, you will more than likely get approved. Of course, you still need to follow the waiver prompts and apply yourself. And yes, if you do the math, this applies to the DJI Mini series, the Autel Nano, the Parrot Anafi/Anafi Thermal, the DJI Avata 2 (not the Avata 1, which is 410 grams).

If your drone is over 0.88 lbs and less than 3.5 lbs (1587 grams), you will need the waiver, prop guard, anti-collision light, RID, a visual observer but also an ASTM parachute system. This would cover the popular DJI Air and Mavic series, Autel Lite and Evo 2 series,
Anything larger than 3.5 lbs will require more special considerations.
Note that this is not a regulation change, this still requires waiver approval. Sustain flights over people will be allow under certain conditions but operations over moving vehicles are not included at the moment.
This information was shared in a DronePro webinar this week and more information will be posted on the FAA DroneZone website soon. A big kudos
Let's get to story number 4: Philly YouTuber Michael DiCiurcio is being held in Civil Contempt of Court for violating a previous order to cease flying drones in an unsafe manner.
This is a follow-up to a proposed fine by the FAA in 2020 totaling 182,000 dollars for multiple violations of Federal Aviation Regulations.
DiCiurcio received a preliminary injunction on Feb, 24th, 2024 which stated that any further violations would result in contempt of court.
Evidence of a failure to abide by the injunction was filed on April 24th, with the Contempt of Court order filed on April 25th.
It’s likely now that DiCiurcio’s drone will be seized and held by the Department of Justice.
We’ll keep you updated if we see any more about this story.
Next up DJI released new payloads with the H30 and H30T!
These new all-weather payloads are compatible with both the DJI M300 and M350.
The H30 includes a 40MP zoom camera capable of 34X optical zoom and 400X hybrid zoom, electronic dehazing, Infrared enhancement, Near IR illumination, and a laser range finder now capable of measurement up to 1.85 miles or 3km.
This sounds like quite the upgrade from the H20 and H20T, let us know what you think in the comments!
Next story, Axon is acquiring Dedrone.
Dedrone is a counter UAS company specializing in hardware and software d
https://securityjournalamericas.com/a...