Drone News: Walmart drone deliveries. Remote ID letter by the AMA. Flying BVLOS in ND.

This week in drone news: Walmart enters the Drone Delivery game with a partnership with Zipline. A joint letter from the AMA, AOPA, EAA, and Wing asking the FAA to reconsider its Remote ID proposal. BVLOS network in North Dakota. Teal Colors launches its reconnaissance Golden Eagle drone.

00:00 Introduction
00:48 Walmart enters the Drone delivery world
03:45 An AMA letter against Remote ID
08:45 Flying BVLOS in North Dakota
10:27 Teal Colors launches Golden Eagle Drone

Script/Notes
Walmart enters the Drone Delivery world
Walmart announced that they would partner with drone delivery company Zipline.
Zipline operates the world’s largest drone delivery network and were first to implement broadly, having delivered more than 200,000 medical products.
They will be able to service a 50-mile radius with deliveries under an hour.
Operations are likely to begin early next year.
Interesting approach for Walmart who decided to use a third party rather than get their own approval.
Walmart also announced they would run a pilot program with delivery company Flytrex in North Carolina, one of the hot bed for drone delivery testing (UPS, Amazon, and CVS all tested in NC).
It will be interesting to see how many jobs will be created out of this? and what kind of qualifications will be required.

Too little too late? A letter against remote ID
This week I received an email from the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) explaining that they partnered with AOPA, EAA, and Alphabet Wing to tell the FAA that Remote ID needs to be changed.
The letter tells the FAA that “the proposed rule will make it nearly impossible for everyday hobbyists to share the skies,” 
They also point a lot of the same point we echoed back in March during the comment period:
1. Expensive process to retrofit, if even possible for hobbyists
2. Being confined to a FAA Recognized Identified Area (FRIA) if you’re not equipped with Remote ID.
3. No option to add new FRIA sites after the first wave of approval is over.
They recommend that hobbyists are allowed to use smartphone app to let the FAA know where they will be flying (similar to LAANC now).

I appreciate the effort but isn’t it too little too late? Jay Merkel from the FAA announced at the FAA Symposium that they are reviewing the final ruling and that it was pretty much done…
The final ruling is expected to be released in December 2020, along with new regulation for flying over people and flying at night, and the Hobbyist exam.

BVLOS Network in North Dakota
North Dakota is creating a statewide BVLOS network.
ND has been a hotspot of drone innovation for a while now and they are hoping to expand.
They plan to establish a physical infrastructure that would make it easier to fly BVLOS.
They will work with Volansi and its VOLY C10 UAS to test the safety and reliability of the network.

Teal Colors releases Golden Eagle Drone
We talked about Teal a few weeks ago when they became one of the 5 companies approved by the Defense Department under the Blue sUAS Project.
The Golden Eagle is geared towards the surveillance and short-range reconnaissance.

List of features
Computer vision and AI detection of people and vehicles
AES 256 encryption for data security
Swappable payload: 4K sensor and high sensitivity FLIR thermal sensor
Front sensing obstacle avoidance and AI for autonomous flight
Low acoustic signature and up to 50 min flight time
30MPH wind resistance and operates in -32° to 110° F

Pilot Institute news
1 million views!
50,000 course enrollments!

[BC-ywtw]

As always well thought out and presented updates. Thanks.

[WilzDezignPhotography]

Congrats on the 1 million views and 50k in the courses! I would also be interested in the embroidered shirt!

[johnk]

Greg, good report and congratulations on the two milestones, big things ahead.

[ScottGeorgeson]

Good Job Greg. Love your weekly updates..

[jackgunnette]

Do you think you will give classes for the hobbyists to help pass what ever type of test the FAA plan to give? I’m afraid they may have created a problem which will cause a lot of Drone hobbyists to fly without registering.

[pwagner]

Also think the letter from the AMA is a day late and a dollar short. After DJI's well crafted letter did not appear to have much impact, don't see this as having any either. Not saying anything new, but suspect being able to setup and program automated drone operations will be where the money is. Great video, and thanks for doing the work!!!

[gadamwoll]

How this gonna work because have no line site and range only gonna be like less then a mile.

[Lord_Vada]

Here is more information about the Teal Golden Eagle, apparently it is available for sale. I'm not sure what hoops you have to jump through to get it.

[jalpa]

Good for the AMA hope it helps....! Probably won't but worth a

[jetmartin]

Congrats. WRT to the RemoteID...while I think the AMA's letter is too late I'm all in favor of anything that might help galvanize Drone Pilots against the terribly flawed RemoteID proposal. I'm hoping that the AMA will band together with some of these other groups to hit the FAA with a massive class action lawsuit once the RemoteID abomination is finalized and published by the FAA. Personally I will NOT comply with the FAA's RemoteId ruling and I would suggest others not to comply with it either...even if that means that I'm only able to fly "legacy" drones. That's the least we should do...I'm hoping that someone will deliver a class action lawsuit as a XMAS present for the FAA.

[jamescaron]

The AMA should have published that missive in March....

[scottgivens]

The FAA has made up their mind and if they are going to propose rules that are not hobbyists accommodating, then I and many others have made up our mind not to comply.

I've only heard how remote ID benefits companies that do NOT have to comply with the safety premise of Visual Line Of Sight VLOS. The FAA has already lost credibility with me with their contradictory rules. I will Fly and I'm a better pilot than the majority of Amazon pilots who for the most part don't even exist, but are going to get licensed to break safety rules and common sense

[chrischiccino]

Saw the AMA letter coming for a long time now! Man...

[davidm]

Are those dislikes goofsters from the FAA? ;P I appreciate and look forward to your weekly info videos!

[billheiser]

Hopefully Pilot Institute baseball caps are coming too! I've been watching Amazon. :)

[TravelbyDiego]

Greg, could you go over Florida State parks and the Florida law. Is it possible to fly near state parks or over state parks with out taking off or landing in state parks?

[louisatu-tetuh]

Hi I was looking to buy my first drone for hobbyist use. With the remote ID coming, what can you advise?

[MikeKinney]

Like #9 I think those same 2 people don't like me either 😁😅