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Airspace Link Inc., an FAA-Approved UAS (Drone) Service Supplier and Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) provider, has been approved to provide the FAA’s B4UFLY service, says a company press release. B4UFLY is a joint effort between the FAA and industry leaders like Airspace Link. The initiative aims to ensure the safety of drone […]
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It was quite a week in the realm of B4UFly. Aloft’s partnership with the FAA formally ended. The FAA then effectively replaced Aloft with four, new approved service providers. And to round it out, Aloft on Friday dropped a mega Air Aware update.
What’s kind of incredible about the new Air Aware update? It includes all B4UFLY required data sets. That’s all despite not actually being one of the four, officially FAA-endorsed, B4UFly service providers.
Aloft, the San Francisco-based drone software startup that powered the FAA’s B4UFly app between 2019 and early 2024. But in early 2024, Aloft announced its contract with the FAA was up. Instead, it would launch a new app called Air Aware in partnership with Pilot Institute. The Air Aware app offers real-time insights before, during, and after drone operations.
And on February 2, 2024 — a day after the FAA announced its new B4UFly service providers — Aloft announced a fresh update to the Air Aware app. The update is pretty impressive.
B4UFly data: Perhaps most central to the update is the integration of all FAA-required B4UFLY data layers. That means app users receive detailed information on Military Training Routes and Recreational Fixed Sites. And, Aloft promises that the information comes from official FAA sources and will always be up to date.
FRIA data: The app also has a list of FAA Recognized Identification Areas (FRIA) integrated into its maps.
FRIAS are areas where the FAA does not require you to fly using Remote ID capability (in short, you won’t have to broadcast your drone’s flying information, and you won’t need an expensive Remote ID module). There are about 2,000 FRIAs across the U.S., and more are expected to come. Aloft says it’ll continuously update its app to display them.
The FAA’s B4UFLY service is critically in clearing spelling out where recreational flyers can and cannot fly drones. While the FAA at one point tried building such a service itself, it wasn’t as robust as what private companies could do — which is why Aloft began powering the service in 2019.
The partnership lasted five years. And now, that partnership is over, thus Aloft has parted ways with the FAA as an official B4UFly provider. Yet, it is still building a separate app that offers B4UFly data.
“As many have noted to us, we haven’t just built the replacement for B4UFLY, but the next generation of situational awareness,” according to a blog post from Aloft.
Aloft said that, during the five years it powered the FAA’s B4UFly app, it served millions of unique drone pilots across a collective 33 million airspace searches.
“While we’ve moved on to this new platform that will enable us to offer more complete and robust solutions, we’re bringing all of that knowledge, experience, scale, and security to Air Aware,” according to Aloft’s blog post about the Air Aware update.
You can download Aloft’s Air Aware app here.
Aloft previously powered B4UFly.
“As our 5-year unpaid contract (including two extensions) came to expiration, Aloft was a proponent of expanding the program,” Aloft CEO Jon Hegranes told The Drone Girl.
But the FAA’s approach — which was opening up the new approved service providers to those that are already approved to offer LAANC services — wasn’t exactly what Aloft wanted.
“The shortfall of the new solution is that it is a small subset of all USS’s. A superset of new communities would have been a far more impactful approach. What if the AMA, FPVFC, or even Drone Girl had their own “B4UFLY” apps? That is the way to expand awareness and start to solve the recreational compliance challenges.”
Those USS’s, which also offer LAANC services, are:
The FAA also is not paying the four B4UFly service providers, meaning they are self-funded. While the FAA stipulates that the actual B4UFly component must be free for drone pilots to use, many monetize their apps in other ways. For example, AutoPylot also sells insurance through its same B4UFly app, while UAS Sidekick heavily leans into a more advanced subscription offering.
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AeroX aims to develop Advanced Air Mobility system in North Carolina By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill Advances in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle technology coupled with the development of new regulations regarding advanced air mobility (AAM) systems will likely pave the way for a new generation of vertiports to spring up around […]
The post DRONELIFE Exclusive: Non-Profit AeroX on Developing Advanced Air Mobility in North Carolina appeared first on DRONELIFE.
Teri Bristol Joins ANRA Technologies Board of Directors ANRA Technologies, a prominent player in the global uncrewed traffic management and operation solutions arena, proudly announces the addition of Ms. Teri Bristol to its Board of Directors. Ms. Bristol, with a wealth of executive experience garnered from her illustrious career spanning aerospace, technology, and government, is […]
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Aviation Pioneers Kevin Morris and Huy Tran on the 2023 Highlights in Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Advanced Air Mobility: from the Dawn of Drones interview. By: Akshata 2023 has been an important year for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), in terms of significant progress. In this exclusive year-in-review with industry experts […]
The post Navigating the Skies: FAA and NASA Unveil Top 3 Breakthroughs in UAS and AAM for 2023 appeared first on DRONELIFE.
The U.S. Senate has passed a three-month extension of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) authority, extending it until March 8, 2024. This move came just before the Senate wrapped up the majority of its business for the year, with lawmakers departing for the Christmas break. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that Sen. Michael […]
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FAA Approval Empowers Wing to Expand BVLOS Operations Across Dallas, Major US Cities, Furthering Momentum in the Drone Delivery Landscape As the year draws to a close, drone delivery service Wing has announced a significant development. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted Wing an exemption that allows it to operate Beyond Visual Line of […]
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Censys Technologies Achieves 30-Mile BVLOS Flight Milestone with Sentaero 5 Censys Technologies conducted a 30-mile beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operation on November 17th, successfully flying the Sentaero 5 over a cellular network in South Florida adjacent to Lake Okeechobee. This milestone was achieved by leveraging a performance-based, non-geo constrained shielded operations waiver, marking […]
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The U.S. Senate today confirmed President Biden’s pick for a new FAA Administrator, Mike Whitaker, in a unanimous bipartisan vote of 98-0. In welcome news for the aviation industry, Mike Whitaker has been confirmed as the next FAA Administrator. After a unanimous vote to invoke cloture (moving directly to a vote, without debate) Whitaker was […]
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