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Product Update
AirData launches cloud recording and 10-minute rewind for drone live streaming
September 10, 2026
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x min read
AirData has launched Stream Recording and Rewind for AirData Live Streaming, giving drone programs more control over live video during an operation and after the flight.
The update includes three new capabilities:
- 10-minute Rewind: Jump back through up to the previous 10 minutes while the stream remains live.
- Stream Recording: Save live streams to your AirData account for playback and review later.
- Capture what happened before recording started: Start a recording after an event occurs and include up to the previous 10 minutes.
Together, these features help teams recover moments they missed, save live video for later review and preserve a copy of the stream independently of the aircraft.
As drone programs expand into Drone as First Responder (DFR), dock-based inspections and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, the pilot, aircraft and person making decisions may all be in different places. The person who needs to see the video may not be watching at the exact moment something important happens.
In a live operation, the most important moment does not wait for the right person to start recording. Especially on longer ops, the operator is not recording the whole time, so a key moment can go uncaptured. That's the problem we built this to solve. Teams can look back while the mission is still unfolding, preserve a second copy off the aircraft, and do it across any drone brand, dock, or flight app they already use.
- Eran Steiner, Founder and CEO, AirData
Go back without leaving the live stream
With 10-minute Rewind, authorized viewers can move back through an active stream, review what the drone already saw and then return to live.
For a public safety program, that could mean an analyst or commander joining after the drone has already reached the scene. Instead of relying on someone else to recap what happened, they can rewind the original footage and catch up while the incident is still underway.
The Huntsville Police Department has already been using the new capabilities as part of its drone operations.
We have been using AirData Live Streaming for years, and Record and Rewind has given us a tremendous new tool to capture events as they unfold. Our analysts are now not only able to watch the live feeds, but can pause, rewind, zoom and capture critical details that may have been missed as events unfold. This gives the analyst more control over the data as it comes in.
- Chad Tillman, UAS Coordinator, Huntsville Police Department, Huntsville, Alabama
The same challenge appears in remote inspection workflows. If an engineer joins after the aircraft has already passed an area of interest, they can look back at the footage immediately instead of asking the pilot to reposition the drone or waiting until after the flight to review onboard video.
Start recording after the important moment happens
Not every stream needs to be recorded from beginning to end. But sometimes the event worth saving happens before anyone realizes a recording is needed.
AirData can start a recording that includes up to the previous 10 minutes of the stream. That means the recording can preserve the lead-up to an incident, anomaly or other important event instead of beginning only when someone presses record.
Programs that prefer to record every stream can also enable automatic recording whenever a stream goes live. Pilots can start and stop recordings from the AirData mobile app, while administrators manage recording settings at the account level.
Preserve a second copy off the aircraft
Because Stream Recording writes video to AirData as it streams, the saved copy is not dependent on recovering the aircraft or its onboard storage.
If a drone is lost or damaged, or an SD card fails or is unavailable, the streamed recording remains in the AirData account.
Recordings are stored in the account's configured AirData region, including regional infrastructure outside the United States. Administrators can set retention periods so recordings are automatically removed according to the organization's policy.
Recordings can also be shared with controlled access using a PIN, expiration date and QR code.
Record streams from docks, encoders and third-party flight apps
Stream Recording is not limited to video sent from the AirData mobile app.
AirData can record incoming RTMP, RTSP and SRT streams, including feeds from dock-based systems and third-party encoders. Organizations can use the same recording and rewind workflow across different aircraft, flight applications and remote operations without requiring a specific drone ecosystem.
For teams operating mixed fleets or expanding dock-based programs, the recording workflow follows the stream rather than the aircraft brand.
Supporting the next phase of BVLOS operations
The FAA's proposed Part 108 framework for routine BVLOS operations would place greater responsibility on the operating organization and calls for detailed records covering flights, aircraft, personnel, maintenance and training.
As drone operations become more remote, cloud recording provides additional redundancy by preserving mission video independently of the aircraft and its onboard storage.
Stream Recording keeps mission video alongside AirData's existing flight, aircraft and personnel data. Recorded streams can support post-incident review, internal investigations, training and stakeholder briefings without relying solely on media that remained onboard the aircraft.
Try Stream Recording and Rewind
Stream Recording and Rewind is available for AirData Live Streaming customers.
Existing Live Streaming customers can request a trial directly through the AirData web app.
Blog
AirData surpasses 65 million drone flights as the FAA's BVLOS rule awaits publication
August 25, 2026
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x min read
AirData has passed 65 million drone flights, covering more than 850,000 drones and 470,000 pilots worldwide. The milestone comes as the FAA's final Part 108 rule for routine beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations sits with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where it has been under review since July 10 and where it takes its last major step before publication.
The pace has picked up. AirData passed 50 million flights in May 2025 and has added 15 million in the fifteen months since, a million flights a month. Some of that comes from existing programs getting larger. Some comes from organizations that now run drones as routine infrastructure instead of as pilot projects.
Those organizations are the ones Part 108 would govern. The rule moves accountability for a flight from the individual remote pilot to the operating organization, which becomes responsible for showing that its personnel are qualified, its aircraft are airworthy, and its operations follow approved procedures. It requires the organization to maintain a flight data collection system, keep qualification and training records for its people, and show that the person overseeing a flight is current on the aircraft being flown. Flights, personnel, maintenance, and incidents are the categories the rule names, and they are the categories AirData has captured for a decade.
Scale is also what makes the analysis possible.
Sixty five million flights is not a vanity number for us. It is why we can tell an operator that one battery is aging differently from the other nineteen packs of the same model on the same duty cycle. No single fleet is large enough to produce that comparison on its own. - Eran Steiner, Founder and CEO, AirData
Those flights come from 180+ drone types and 60 flight apps, so they reflect mixed fleets rather than a single vendor's ecosystem. AirData analyzes every battery cell after every flight and recognizes more than 880 pilot certificate types worldwide for currency tracking.
Pacific Gas and Electric flies across a 70,000-square-mile service area in California under a BVLOS waiver, and uses AirData to automate the flight, personnel, and maintenance evidence that waiver requires. Its program is an early example of the organization-level documentation Part 108 would apply more broadly.
Implementing AirData has centralized our flight logging, compliance reporting, and maintenance tracking in an automated and proactive manner. This allows our pilots, technicians, and administrators to focus on their respective missions with confidence that regulations are being followed. - Kellen Kirk, Manager of UAS and Fixed Wing Operations, Pacific Gas and Electric
AirData is a member of the Commercial Drone Alliance and has published a business readiness guide for the rule, The AirData Blueprint: Operational readiness for the Part 108 era. AirData will exhibit at Commercial UAV Expo, booth #914, September 1 to 3 at Caesars Forum, Las Vegas.
Blog
AirData Enterprise
August 3, 2026
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x min read
The data and operations layer for commercial drone programs
Pilots, aircraft, missions, and compliance in one system, across the complete flight.
View instant interactive demo
What AirData does: Across any mix of hardware, AirData Enterprise captures the plan, the flight itself, and the analysis that follows. When a client or an auditor asks about a flight from last quarter, nobody has to go digging for it.
From flight plan to final report
1 - Before the flight
A manager assigns the crew, aircraft, and airspace before anyone leaves for the site. Pilots open the mission on their phone already knowing the plan, and an expiring credential gets flagged before someone flies on it.
- Mission planning → with airspace authorization
- Ok to Fly checks → weather and conditions
- Certification tracking → 550+ types worldwide
2 - In the air
A supervisor in the office, or a client at their desk, can watch what the pilot sees. Several flights can run side by side in one view, so one person keeps track of a whole team without leaving the office.
- Live streaming → sub-second, add-on
- Browser-based viewing → PIN protected, no account needed
- Multiview dashboard → feeds appear as pilots go live
3 - After landing
The pilot packs up and the analysis is already running. Weeks later, when an insurer or a client asks for records across a date range, you filter and export instead of rebuilding the file by hand.
- No manual data entry → logs sync or upload directly
- Fault and threshold alerts → as each flight syncs
- Compliance reports → for authorities in any region
Why programs choose AirData
Fewer aircraft lost to problems you could have caught
Battery and mechanical faults show up in the flight data as they develop, so an aircraft can be grounded before a problem becomes a loss. Airframe hours and battery cycles are tracked per asset, so service is scheduled ahead of a failure.
Hours back every month
Timestamp, location, pilot, aircraft, and mission type are captured without anyone typing them in, so a report that used to mean an afternoon in spreadsheets comes out in seconds.
Compliance ready before anyone asks
Certifications, waivers, and registrations are flagged before they lapse, and the evidence behind every flight is already assembled. Built for the Part 108 era in the US and the equivalent frameworks emerging with civil aviation authorities elsewhere.
Keep flying the drones you already own
180+ drone models, 40 manufacturers, 35+ flight apps. No hardware changes, no change to how your pilots fly, and no lock-in when you add or replace aircraft.
"Implementing AirData has centralized our flight logging, compliance reporting, and maintenance tracking."
— Kellen Kirk, Manager of UAS and Fixed Wing Operations, PG&E
Add-ons
See the full Enterprise feature list
See what your program looks like in AirData
Programs use AirData to fly safer, prove compliance, reduce risk, and scale. Walk through it yourself, or tell us how your program runs.
Talk to our team
View instant interactive demo
Not running a multi-pilot program yet? Browse all plans
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Blog
FAA Part 108 Explained: Everything Drone Operators Need to Know in 2026
July 20, 2026
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x min read
FAA Part 108 is the most significant proposed change to drone regulation since Part 107 came out in 2016. It sets up a formal framework for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, something that has been legally possible through waivers but practically difficult to scale. This post covers what the rule proposes, who it affects, what the industry is pushing back on, and what operators should be doing right now.
What Is FAA Part 108?
FAA Part 108 is a proposed rule focused on highly automated drone operations. The goal is to replace the current system of individual waivers and exemptions with a standardized, scalable framework that lets operators plan and run routine BVLOS flights. Operators would still need approval for each operation, much like in crewed aviation, but without going through the arduous waiver process each time.
Right now, BVLOS flight is legal under Part 107 only with an FAA granted waiver. Getting one takes time, the scope is limited, and other operators can’t easily build repeatable programs around them. Part 108 is designed to fix that. It covers a wide range of use cases: long-range delivery, infrastructure inspection, precision agriculture, public safety, surveying, and more.
BVLOS Today — Part 107 Waivers
1. Apply for a waiver
2. Wait through case-by-case FAA review
3. Receive a narrow, one-off approval
4. Repeat for every new operation
BVLOS Under Part 108
1. Qualify once for a permit or certificate
2. Get streamlined per-operation approval
3. Run routine, repeatable BVLOS missions at scale
The proposed rule runs more than 600 pages and is the most substantial update to commercial drone regulation since Part 107 was introduced in 2016.
Why Does Part 108 Exist? A Brief Timeline
• 2021 — BVLOS Rulemaking Committee Formed
The FAA formed the BVLOS Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) to address the need for updated regulations enabling more complex drone operations.
• 2022 — ARC Report Released
The BVLOS ARC delivered a 381-page report with 70 detailed recommendations for the new Part 108 rule.
• 2024 — FAA Reauthorization Act
Congress mandated the creation of a Part 108 rule to address BVLOS operations, reflecting urgency to establish standardized regulations across the industry.
• June 6, 2025 — “Unleashing American Drone Dominance” Executive Order
President Trump signed Executive Order No. 14307, directing the FAA to issue a proposed rule enabling routine BVLOS operations and finalize within 240 days.
• August 7, 2025 — NPRM Published
The Part 108 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was officially published in the Federal Register (90 FR 38212, Docket FAA-2025-1908), opening a 60-day public comment period.
• October 6, 2025 — Comment Period Closed
Nearly 3,100 comments were submitted. More than half addressed the proposed right-of-way rules.
• January 28, 2026 — Limited Comment Period Reopened
The FAA reopened comments on the proposed right-of-way and electronic conspicuity requirements, the most contested issues in the proposal. The reopened window closed February 11, 2026.
• July 10, 2026 — Rule Sent to OIRA for Final Review
The final rule reached the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review, its last major stop before publication. OIRA targets a July 2026 release and its review of significant rules can run up to 90 days, so timing beyond that window is still to be confirmed.
• Next — OIRA Sign-Off and Final Rule
Once OIRA completes its review, the rule can publish in the Federal Register, followed by an effective date (typically 30 to 60 days out) and staggered compliance dates. Allowing for the OIRA review window, a published final rule is most likely in late 2026 or into 2027, with full implementation expected a year or so after that.
Part 107 vs. Part 108: What’s the Difference?
| Part 107 | Part 108 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it's for | Individual remote pilots | Organizations / operators |
| Line of sight | Visual line of sight required | Allows for BVLOS flight |
| Max drone weight | 55 lbs | Up to 1,320 lbs |
| Authorization | Per-flight waivers for BVLOS | Operating permit or certificate |
| Responsibility | Individual pilot | The operating organization |
| Automation | Pilot manually-controlled | Supports highly automated flight |
The Two Authorization Levels Under Part 108
The proposed rule requires operators to obtain one of two authorizations before conducting BVLOS flights:
Operating Permit
For lower-risk, limited-scale operations:
• Package delivery
• Agriculture monitoring
• Rural infrastructure inspection
• Training and recreational BVLOS
Operating Certificate
For higher-risk or complex operations:
• Larger aircraft or fleets
• Operations over populated areas
• High complexity highly automated missions
• Requires Safety Management System (SMS)
New Roles: Who Does What Under Part 108?
One of Part 108’s core changes is moving compliance responsibility from individual pilots to the operating organization. Two new roles are required under the proposed framework:
Operations Supervisor: Responsible for the overall safety and logistics of every flight operation. This person is the final authority on safe and secure operation of all unmanned aircraft. Qualified through training, experience, or demonstrated expertise.
Flight Coordinator: Handles tactical oversight of individual aircraft during live operations, monitoring flights in real time and intervening when needed. Each flight coordinator can oversee multiple aircraft simultaneously.
Technical Requirements: What Drones Need to Fly Under Part 108
Part 108 sets performance-based standards rather than prescriptive rules. Key technical requirements include:
Electronic Conspicuity: Electronic conspicuity refers to technologies that allow aircraft to digitally broadcast their position and identity so other airspace users can detect them. Routine BVLOS operations require that all aircraft and traffic management systems understand who is operating nearby, maintain safe separation, and document compliance with emerging right-of-way and detect-and-avoid requirements.
Remote ID: Drones must broadcast their identity and location at all times while operating. This is the most common form of drone electronic conspicuity.
Detect-and-Avoid (DAA): Drones must yield right of way to crewed aircraft broadcasting via ADS-B (another form of electronic conspicuity), using onboard or ground-based detection systems.
Redundant Systems: No single power or propulsion failure can result in loss of flight control.
Conformance Monitoring: The aircraft must continuously compare its actual position and behavior against its declared operational intent. When deviations are detected, the system must alert the operator and, where applicable, other aircraft in the area.
Cybersecurity Protection: Systems must resist electronic interference and unauthorized access.
Anti-Collision Lighting: Must be visible from 3 statute miles.
Airworthiness Acceptance: Manufacturers are responsible for demonstrating airworthiness rather than the FAA issuing a type certificate.
What Should Drone Operators Do Right Now?
1 - Audit your current operations. Figure out which missions would fall under Part 108 rather than Part 107. Long-range inspections, delivery routes, dock-based missions, and anything highly automated should be your starting point.
2 - Review your documentation practices. Part 108 has broad requirements covering pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight records. Your logs, checklists, and maintenance history need to be complete and easy to produce on request.
3 - Check your fleet’s technical readiness. Does your current hardware support Remote ID, ADS-B detection, and the redundancy requirements in the proposed rule? Better to find gaps now than during a compliance review.
4 - Think through personnel roles. Who in your organization could qualify as an Operations Supervisor or Flight Coordinator? What training would they need? These aren’t roles you want to staff reactively.
5 - Get your compliance infrastructure in order. Part 108 will require maintenance records, pilot currency tracking, operational safety management, operational histories, and documented risk management procedures. AirData’s platform covers all of this today. Operators who have it organized before the final rule publishes will be in a much better position to move quickly.
AirData Is Already Built for What Part 108 Requires
AirData is a comprehensive system of record for the flight, maintenance, and compliance data a drone program depends on. It keeps one authoritative source of truth across your operation, so records stay complete, audits are easy to support, and conflicting information never slows you down. Without a single trusted record, a growing drone program is flying blind. Part 108 will require operators to maintain detailed, auditable records for safety, maintenance, training, and more, and AirData gives you the structure to handle that volume as your program scales.
The platform automates the work Part 108 will demand: compliance documentation creates itself, digital checklists and flight logs are captured automatically, pilot currency and maintenance records stay current, and fleet-wide analytics give program managers clear visibility into operational risk. Part 108 changes more than what you can fly. It changes how your entire operation is documented, managed, and proven compliant. Operators who build that record now will have a real advantage when the rule takes effect.
AirData is trusted by more than 460,000 pilots across 232 countries and territories, with 64M+ flights and roughly 10 trillion data points behind it, the largest known dataset in commercial drone operations. As a member of the Commercial Drone Alliance, we’re helping shape the standards coming out of the BVLOS rulemaking process.
Start an enterprise trial at app.airdata.com/enterprise
Build the record Part 108 will require, before the rule lands: Download the Part 108 Guide
Blog
AirData UAV Marks Growth Milestone in Energy and Utilities as Sector Enters New Phase of Drone Adoption
June 17, 2026
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x min read
AirData UAV, the drone fleet management platform behind serious drone programs worldwide, today announced it will exhibit and participate in a panel discussion at the 10th Annual Energy Drone & Robotics Summit (EDR Summit), taking place June 22–24, 2026 at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott in Houston, Texas.
The announcement comes at a pivotal moment for the energy drone industry. The inspection drone market reached $11.64 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow to $25.82 billion by 2030, with the energy and power segment expected to account for the largest share of the utility drone market in 2026. Energy and utility operators are scaling drone programs across transmission lines, pipelines, emissions monitoring sites, and critical infrastructure, and the operational and documentation demands of those programs are growing in step.
AirData has supported that growth firsthand. The platform is now used by more than 120 energy and utility organizations worldwide, spanning electric utilities, oil and gas operators, and utility service providers. With 63 million flights logged and 457,000 active pilots across 232 countries and territories, AirData has become the operational backbone for programs running inspections, surveys, and emergency response across critical infrastructure at scale.
"The energy sector has been one of the most operationally complex verticals we serve. These programs operate under strict regulatory requirements, manage complex multi-site fleets, and need documentation that holds up to scrutiny. What we've built at AirData is a platform designed for exactly that level of detail. As BVLOS operations become more standardized and programs continue to scale, AirData is engineered to scale with them — even the most complex, multi-site deployments in the industry."
— Eran Steiner, CEO and Founder, AirData UAV
A Pivotal Moment for Regulation
The timing also aligns with significant regulatory change on the horizon. The FAA's proposed Part 108 rule, released as an NPRM in August 2025, represents the most significant development in commercial drone regulation since Part 107 was introduced in 2016. Part 108 is designed to replace the current individual waiver system with a standardized, scalable framework for BVLOS operations — a shift that will directly impact how energy operators document, manage, and report on their drone programs. AirData's platform is built around the compliance and documentation workflows that operators will need to meet the demands of this new regulatory environment.
Panel: The Data Driven Drone Program
AirData will bring that perspective to the Summit stage. On Wednesday, June 24 at 10:15 AM, the company will host a panel titled "The Data Driven Drone Program: Compliant, Audit-Ready, and Built to Scale," exploring how leading energy and industrial operators use verifiable flight data to meet regulatory requirements, conform to IS-BAO and FAA Part 5 safety standards, and scale confidently into BVLOS and other complex missions.
PANEL SPEAKERS
Dustin Schocken — Regulatory & Compliance, AirData UAV
Josh Hill — UAS Operations Supervisor, Aviation Services, PG&E
Richard Turner — Specialty Services Manager, CAN-USA
"AirData has helped us manage our drone operations with the structure and oversight expected in a professional aviation environment. The platform gives our team precise insight into aircraft performance, battery health, maintenance status, and pilot activity, while tools like the 3D Player provide the unmanned equivalent of a 'black box' flight recorder that adds critical operational transparency and credibility for offshore oil and gas operations."
— Richard Turner, Specialty Services Manager, CAN-USA
Visit AirData at Booth 709
AirData will be exhibiting at Booth 709 throughout the EDR Summit. Attendees interested in scheduling a meeting or learning more about AirData's energy and utility solutions are encouraged to stop by or connect with the team directly.
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News
Blog
AirData UAV and LeoSight Integrate to Bring Real-Time Drone Data into Public Safety Drone Programs
June 9, 2026
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x min read
LeoSight and AirData UAV are connecting real-time drone intelligence directly to the people who need it most: dispatchers, command staff, and field teams, all in one place.
Public safety agencies are flying more drones than ever. Patrol support, search and rescue, Drone as a First Responder (DFR) programs are becoming standard tools in the field. But a drone capturing footage a thousand feet up is only as useful as the team's ability to act on what it sees.
That's what LeoSight and AirData UAV are solving together.
LeoSight has integrated AirData UAV's platform into LeoCommand, so live drone data now sits right alongside dispatch and command workflows. Teams can see what’s happening in the air in real time, without jumping between tools.
AirData gives drone teams the visibility and intelligence to run safe, efficient operations at scale. Our integration with LeoSight brings two strong platforms together — AirData's flight data and analytics alongside LeoCommand's coordination tools. For our mutual customers, that means sharper situational awareness and tighter coordination across pilots, teams, and decision-makers, without changing how they fly.
— Eran Steiner, CEO & Founder, AirData UAV
Information into action
The challenge in modern public safety isn't a lack of data. Agencies are collecting more than ever: CAD feeds, ALPR reads, body camera footage, and now real-time drone telemetry. Each source is valuable. Together, they give teams a much clearer picture of what's happening on the ground.
LeoCommand brings these streams into a single operational view. The AirData integration means aerial intelligence is now part of that picture, visible to dispatchers, supervisors, and partner agencies the moment a drone is airborne.
By putting that information in front of dispatchers, command staff, and field personnel, teams can communicate more effectively and coordinate a faster response when it matters most.
— Mark Wood, CEO, LeoSight
What's available now
Mutual customers of LeoSight and AirData UAV can begin streaming drone telemetry and flight data directly into LeoCommand today. The integration adds to LeoSight's growing ecosystem of real-time data connections, including automated license plate recognition and other live operational sources, giving agencies a more complete picture without adding complexity to their workflows.
If your agency runs a drone or DFR program and wants aerial data working alongside your dispatch and command workflows, click here to learn more.
About
LeoSight
Unified command software helping law enforcement, fire, EMS, and emergency management communicate and respond as one team. LeoSight.com
AirData UAV
The world's most deployed commercial drone operations platform, with 62M+ flights logged across 200+ countries. AirData.com
Product Update
What's New in AirData's Mobile App
May 12, 2026
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x min read
AirData's updated mobile UI includes a redesigned navigation bar, a new quick actions menu, improvements to Ok To Fly, a dedicated Equipment tab, better support for tablets and landscape use, an updated manual flight logging experience, and a new profile menu for quick access to your account.
1. Redesigned Bottom Navigation
The bottom navigation bar now has four sections: Ok To Fly, Data, Missions, and Equipment. In the center is a new button that opens a quick actions menu. If this is your first time opening the app after updating, a short guided tour will run once to highlight where things moved.
✈ Why it matters: The previous navigation mixed features in ways that weren't always obvious. Four distinct sections gives you a clearer mental model of the app.
2. Ok To Fly Redesign
Airspace and Conditions are now two tabs under a single map, so you can check both without leaving the screen or losing your place. On supported devices, voice search lets you find a location hands-free.
✈ Why it matters: Keeping airspace and conditions on the same map view makes it easier to assess both together instead of switching back and forth.
3. Quick Actions Menu
The center button in the main navigation opens shortcuts to four common tasks: start a manual flight log, open a checklist, start a live stream, or scan a QR code.
✈ Why it matters: Tasks like starting a manual log used to require navigating to the right section first. This removes that extra step.
4. Equipment Tab
A new dedicated tab for viewing your drones and batteries, with filtering by equipment type. We'll be expanding what you can do here in future updates.
✈ Why it matters: Equipment was previously only accessible through the flight logging flow. A standalone tab makes it easier to review outside of that context.
5. Manual Flight Logging
The drone and battery picker in manual flight logging has been updated to make selection faster and clearer.
✈ Why it matters: A clearer picker reduces the chance of logging the wrong equipment, especially when you're moving quickly between flights.
6. Landscape and Tablet Support
Landscape layouts have been improved throughout the app on both platforms. Screens now make better use of the full display, with content filling the wider layout rather than leaving unused space on the sides.
✈ Why it matters: If you regularly use a tablet or fly with a larger screen device, the updated layouts should feel noticeably more natural to navigate.
7. Profile Menu
Tapping your avatar now opens a profile menu with quick access to your plan details, org info, Alerts, Certificates, Settings, and Logout.
✈ Why it matters: Account info was buried in Settings before. Now it's one tap from anywhere in the main navigation.
Update to the latest Android and iOS to get these changes. If you have questions, contact our support team.
News
Blog
AirData UAV Joins the Commercial Drone Alliance Ahead of Historic Part 108 Rule
May 6, 2026
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x min read
The U.S. commercial drone industry is at an inflection point. After years of incremental progress, the FAA's landmark Part 108 Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) rule is expected to takeeffect later this year, unlocking a new era of scaled commercial drone operations across delivery, infrastructureinspection, public safety, perimeter protection and beyond. It's a pivotal moment for drone operators to getahead of the most significant regulatory shift the commercial drone industry has seen.
Today, AirData UAV announced it is joining the Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA), bringing its operationalplatform into the industry's broadest coalition for drone policy and progress. We are excited to activelycontribute to the policies and standards that will define the next chapter of the U.S. drone economy through theCDA.
Part 108 introduces sweeping new operational requirements across pre-, during and post-flight documentation,personnel roles, risk-categorized operational areas, and mandatory continuous data reporting, and AirData'splatform is already built to meet them.
"We are at a critical moment for the drone economy, as the industry moves toward broader BVLOS operations and frameworks like Part 108, access to scalable, reliable operational data such as that which AirData provides will help tosafely unlock the full potential of the drone economy."
— Lisa Ellman, Chief Executive Officer of the Commercial Drone Alliance
AirData's platform delivers the tools operators will need to meet Part 108's requirements, including: checklists,automated compliance documentation, flight logging across every mission, and fleet-wide analytics that giveprogram managers visibility into operational risk. With more than 61 million flights across 450,000 pilots and850,000 drones globally, AirData has been building the compliance infrastructure the industry now needs.
As the industry's leading policy advocate, the CDA has been central to advancing the regulatory frameworks.AirData looks forward to working alongside the CDA and its members — including leading drone operators,manufacturers, and technology providers — to help shape the policies and operational standards that will definethe BVLOS era.
We are excited to join the CDA and work alongside its members, who represent many of the world's premier drone operators, to help accelerate the growth of the U.S. drone economy. We have long served as the intelligence backbone for drone operations, and we look forward to leveraging our data, insights, and experience to enable scalable, compliant, and mission-critical drone programs, particularly as frameworks like Part 108 unlock the next phase of scaled BVLOS operations in the United States.
— Eran Steiner, CEO and Founder of AirData UAV
AirData's platform is available today, giving public safety agencies, enterprise operators, and drone programs ofevery size the maintenance documentation, pilot currency tracking, asset management, checklist discipline, andoperational data history that regulators will expect when Part 108 takes effect.
Case Study
Blog
Menlo Park Fire Protection District: Elevating Public Safety Operations with AirData
April 24, 2026
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x min read
Background & Objectives
Menlo Park Fire Protection District (MPFPD), located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California, has operated a UAS program since 2014. Over time, the program has evolved from manually deployed aircraft to include Drone as First Responder (DFR) operations.
The goal is straightforward: deliver timely, relevant aerial intelligence to support decision-making for incoming crews and incident command.
The program is led by Tom Owen, a Senior Management Analyst who has been with the district for over six years. With a background in the private sector, he has focused on building an operationally grounded program that prioritizes real-world usability, accountability, and measurable outcomes.
Today, MPFPD operates a fleet of over 15 aircraft supported by 14 trained pilots, along with three dock-based DFR systems deployed across the district.
Key operational priorities include:
- Ensuring the right people can access the right live video feed at the right time without confusion
- Maintaining fleet safety and aircraft reliability across a growing inventory of pilots, aircraft, and batteries
- Building a data-driven program that can demonstrate
Challenges & Solutions
Challenge: Managing Live Aerial Feeds
As the program expanded, managing live video feeds became increasingly complex. UAS operations are pilot-driven, meaning the active video stream depends on who is flying at any given time. Previously, this required command staff to know which pilot was operating and select the corresponding video link.
While the number of simultaneous flights is typically limited, the uncertainty of which pilot is airborne required incident command to identify and select the correct feed during active incidents, adding unnecessary steps in a time-compressed environment.
At the same time, the expansion from one to three DFR docks introduced three persistent, location-based video feeds. Tablet Command plays a critical role in delivering these feeds to crews and command staff, but screen space and available bookmark slots are finite.
As the number of potential video sources increased, presenting those feeds in a clear, consistent, and limited format became essential.
Solution
AirData’s Multiview Player provides a single access point for UAS video feeds, removing the need to identify which pilot is operating. Regardless of who is flying, command staff can access UAS video through a consistent entry point.
This allows Tablet Command to maintain a simplified interface, presenting a limited and predictable set of video options, including the three DFR feeds and a single Multiview entry point for UAS operations.
By reducing the number of selectable channels and removing pilot-specific ambiguity, Multiview minimizes confusion and eliminates the need to search for the correct feed during active incidents. The result is faster, more reliable access to aerial intelligence for incident command.
Challenge: Fleet Safety and Battery Reliability
With well over 100 batteries across the fleet, tracking the health and reliability of each battery is a significant operational concern. A single compromised battery can result in in-flight failure, and without consistent data capture across every mission, there is no reliable way to identify patterns before an issue occurs in the field.
Solution
AirData’s automatic flight logging and battery tracking provide the data needed to proactively manage fleet safety. Following a battery-related incident, the team used historical data to identify the anomaly and audit the rest of the fleet for similar warning signs, removing potentially compromised batteries from service.
As Tom put it, “You don’t know you have a problem until you get one. But the fact that the data exists about the battery, the flight, and the aircraft, that is the proactive safety net.”
Challenge: Demonstrating Program Value
As the program expanded, there was a need to consistently capture and present operational data in a way that aligns with how the fire service evaluates performance. The fire service is inherently metrics-driven, and new capabilities need to demonstrate value within that same framework.
To be effective, the UAS and DFR program needed to deliver clear, reliable data that reflects how these tools contribute to operations, not as a standalone capability, but as part of the overall response.
Solution
AirData’s keyword tagging and reporting capabilities provide the foundation for documenting and categorizing every flight. Immediately after each mission, flights are tagged by mission type and call category while still at the console.
This structured dataset allows the program to proactively generate operational metrics and present them in a format that aligns with existing performance measures. Rather than reacting to requests for information, the program consistently delivers data that supports command staff and Board-level visibility into how these tools are being used.
As Tom described it, “It’s one thing to show what these tools can do. It’s another to provide the data that proves the value. That’s what makes the difference.”
Results
The use of AirData in support of Air Operations objectives enables MPFPD to deliver several operational improvements:
- Simplified live feed management: A structured streaming approach reduced confusion and improved access to live video during incidents
- Proactive fleet safety: Battery tracking enabled the identification and removal of at-risk batteries before additional incidents occurred
- Program accountability: Structured flight data provides leadership with clear insight into program activity and supports continued investment
With a background working with these tools in the private sector, Tom emphasizes the importance of accountability in building a sustainable program: “If you're going to stand up a program and present it to leadership, you need a system that supports accountability. It shows you’ve thought through implementation, training, and operational risk, and that you have the data to back it up. That’s when the data starts working for you.”
View our recent AirTime webinar with Tom here: https://vimeo.com/1187858965?fl=ip&fe=ec
News
Product Update
AirData Integrates with BRINC to Bring Automated Flight Records to Public Safety Drone Programs
April 22, 2026
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x min read
Public safety drone programs are scaling quickly, and with that growth comes a need for better visibility, documentation, and oversight. That is what makes AirData’s new integration with BRINC especially valuable for law enforcement, fire, and emergency response agencies.
BRINC's Role in Public Safety Drone Operations
BRINC developes drones specifically for public safety use cases, with systems designed for both tactical response and rapid deployment to emergency calls.
- The Lemur 2 is built for indoor operations, allowing teams to safely gain visibility inside structures during high-risk incidents.
- The Responder supports Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs, enabling agencies to autonomously deploy drones directly to 911 calls with real-time video, thermal imaging, and remote operation.
These systems are already in use across public safety agencies and are designed to improve response times, increase situational awareness, and reduce risk to personnel, while generating critical operational data with every flight.
BRINC and AirData Integration
That mission is a natural fit for AirData. AirData’s Public Safety Program is designed to help agencies keep flight documentation organized, maintain visibility across their fleet, and support workflows without adding complexity for pilots.
Now, BRINC systems can connect with AirData to bring essential flight data into one place, giving teams a clear and reliable record of their operations without adding extra steps for pilots.
Flights are automatically captured and organized, making it easier for agencies to review activity, support reporting, and maintain visibility across their program. Built to work with BRINC's proprietary systems, the integration captures a complete, searchable record of every mission — including equipment, maintenance, and pilot activity — directly from the platform, ensuring documentation happens seamlessly in the background.
Public safety agencies rely on a connected ecosystem of tools. Integrating with platforms like AirData ensures flight data is automatically captured and accessible, without adding friction to critical operations.
— David Benowitz, VP of Strategy & Marketing Communications at BRINC
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Atlas of Surveillance, more than 1,500 law enforcement agencies across the U.S. now operate drone programs. In 2025, adoption accelerated sharply, with some jurisdictions reporting that drones resolve up to 20–25% of calls without requiring a ground unit response. As programs expand, agencies are placing greater emphasis on documentation, transparency, and operational visibility to support these efforts.
BRINC builds drones that perform in the most demanding environments. With more than 60 million flights on our platform, we have a clear view into how leading programs operate. Connecting that hardware into AirData gives agencies more than flight logs. It gives them a system of record that captures pilot activity, equipment health, and program-wide trends automatically.
— Eran Steiner, AirData CEO
Learn More
You can find step-by-step instructions for connecting BRINC and AirData here:
https://app.airdata.com/wiki/Help/BRINC
Product Update
Blog
Introducing Wind 3.0 in AirData’s 3D Flight Player
April 20, 2026
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x min read
Wind has always been one of the harder variables to understand in drone operations. You can feel it while flying, but reviewing how it actually affected a mission afterward has mostly been guesswork.
Wind 3.0 changes that inside AirData’s 3D Flight Player. This update improves how wind is calculated and visualized, using more data and higher resolution to show what the drone experienced throughout the flight.
What's new in Wind3.0
At a high level, the biggest shift is accuracy. Wind calculations now update at one-second intervals and only require a brief moment of stable flight to generate reliable data. With significantly more data points behind each flight, the system can better determine how the drone should behave at any given moment, and compare that to what actually happened in the air.
That’s where the 3D aerodynamic modeling comes in. Instead of treating wind as a flat estimate, Wind 3.0 evaluates how the aircraft moves through space, factoring in speed, direction, and orientation. The result is a much clearer picture of how wind is interacting with the drone during the flight, not just what the general conditions were.
With an Enterprise account, you can also download your flight data as a CSV which will now include the detailed wind information.
How it works
This is different from tools that pull data from nearby weather stations or forecasts. AirData derives wind conditions from actual flight behavior.
With over 60 million flights logged on the platform, AirData has something no weather API can replicate: real flight behavior across thousands of aircraft types, environments, and conditions. That's what makes this level of modeling possible, and why no other platform offers it.
Use cases
Wind 3.0 is most useful when you're reviewing a flight and trying to understand what happened. If a mission drifted off its planned path or came back with unexpected battery drain, Wind 3.0 can show whether wind was the cause and where in the flight it happened. For teams, that becomes useful for training and building consistency across pilots operating in different conditions. It also helps when reviewing an incident and trying to determine whether environmental factors played a role.
Get Started
Wind 3.0 is available now on all HD360 paid plans and for Enterprise customers.
If you want access to the full platform, including advanced analytics, fleet management, and compliance tools, you can also start a 15-day Enterprise trial at no cost before making a decision.
Blog
Managing Public Safety Drone Programs: How AirData Simplifies Operations
March 9, 2026
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x min read
Drone programs run by law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and emergency response teams are growing fast. More agencies are adding drones for patrol, search and rescue, tactical response, fire assessment, and community transparency. And Drone as First Responder deployments are expanding into communities of all sizes.
But with that growth comes real operational pressure: staying on top of regional aviation compliance, ensuring fleets are ready to fly, justifying budgets, and demonstrating accountability to the communities agencies serve. The administrative side of running a drone program can be just as demanding as the missions themselves.
That’s exactly what AirData’s Public Safety Program is built to address.
A Program Built Around Public Safety Operations
AirData is the world’s leading drone flight data and fleet management platform, trusted by more than 444,000 pilots across 232 countries with over 60,000,000 flights logged. The new Public Safety Program brings that infrastructure together as a dedicated initiative, with active public safety pilots already spanning 60 regions worldwide.
The Chula Vista Police Department, which launched the first Drone as First Responder program in the United States, relies on AirData’s Public Portal to give residents searchable access to its flight records. Sacramento PD, Huntsville PD, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and the Ohio Department of Transportation are among the agencies already using the platform for fleet management, compliance, and live streaming.
“Implementing AirData’s Public Portal into our UAS program has revolutionized the way we share our drone operations with the community. It’s transparent, user-friendly, and bridges the gap between technology and public trust.”
— Steven Oscar, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Trusted by 11,000+ Public Safety Pilots Worldwide
Get Up and Running in Minutes
Getting started doesn’t require a lengthy implementation process. A new guided, self-serve onboarding experience lets program managers configure and activate their account in a single session, selecting their number of pilots, aircraft, and add-ons like Live Streaming and Asset Management. Agencies can launch a full enterprise account or start a free trial right away.
Everything Your Drone Program Needs, in One Platform
AirData automatically captures the operational record behind every flight, including flight paths, timestamps, pilot data, battery cycles, and mission details, without requiring pilots to change the apps or hardware they already use. The platform supports 178 drone models and flight applications, more than any other solution on the market.
For compliance, AirData generates customizable reports that export in seconds, maintains a tamper-resistant audit trail, tracks government waivers and registration expirations, and automates documentation required under Part 107, COA, and equivalent programs around the world. No more manual log entry, and no scrambling when it’s time to renew a grant or justify the program’s budget.
For real-time mission visibility, AirData delivers one-second latency Live Streaming to stakeholders from any phone, tablet, or smart controller, with no additional hardware required and compatible with any flight app including native apps from DJI and Autel. Sharing access with neighboring departments for joint operations is as simple as scanning a QR code. The platform integrates with FUSUS and Milestone, supports dock-based DFR deployments, and includes a Multiview Player for monitoring multiple active feeds at once.
And for community transparency, the AirData Public Portal gives residents a searchable, public-facing record of flight activity, with customizable data delay windows and confidentiality controls to balance transparency with operational security.
Launch Your Program Today
AirData’s Public Safety Program is available now. Learn more and start your free trial.
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Blog
AirData 2026: A Look Back at the Year
January 6, 2026
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As we head into the new year, we want to say thank you.
2025 marked AirData’s 10-year anniversary, and along the way we passed a major milestone:more than 57,000,000 flight logs uploaded. We’re grateful to the pilots, operators, and teams aroundthe world who rely on AirData every day and continue to trust us as part of their operations.
Below is a look back at some of the updates and themes that shaped the platform last year.
Showing Up for the Community
In 2025, we continued spending time with operators across industries, learning how AirData fits into real-worldworkflows.
We attended events across public safety, energy, and commercial drone operations, including gatherings likeCommercial UAV, AUVSI Xponential, the Energy Drone and Robotics Summit, LEDA conferences, and TEXCON.These events give us direct insight into how organizations operate at scale and where software needs to keep improving.
We also worked closely with customers on real deployments. One example is our recent PG&E case study, which highlights how AirData supports automated BVLOS compliance in complex energy operations.
We also hosted AirTime sessions, where we walked through many of the features released in 2025 andtalked through the details with customers, including real-world workflows, challenges, and feedback.If you haven’t joined an AirTime session yet, consider making it a simple goal for the new year to attend one.You can learn more about AirTime and upcoming sessionshere.
Expanding Flight Log Support
Supporting a wide range of aircraft and flight applications continues to be a core focus for AirData.
Throughout 2025, we added flight log support for new aircraft and platforms across multiple manufacturers.This reflects our long-standing, brand-agnostic approach and our goal of letting customers manage mixed fleets in one place.
For a full and current list of supported aircraft and flight applications, you can always visit this page.
Live Streaming Updates
Live Streaming continued to mature in 2025, with improvements focused on collaboration, access control, and scale.
In 2025, we introduced features like the Dynamic Multiview Player, which allows multiple live streams to be viewed on asingle dashboard so Command Centers can monitor active operations from one screen. We also added multi-room support,cross-department sharing, QR code-based stream access, regional server expansion, notifications, and an improved mobileviewing experience.
We recently published a dedicated blog that covers Live Streaming updates in more detail.
Live Streaming is available as an Enterprise add-on.
Asset Management
Asset Management saw steady growth in 2025 as program managers looked for better ways to track equipment readiness,not just aircraft.
New capabilities included item tracking and assignment, kit creation, checkout visibility in reports, and continued improvements to QR-based workflows.These features help groups understand what equipment is available, where it is, and who is using it.
Asset Management is designed to support growing and distributed drone programs and is available as an Enterprise add-on.
Organization-Level Improvements
As organizations grow, access and visibility become more important.
In 2025, we introduced a new Organizations tab,expanded organization admin permissions, and added more granular flight access controls.These changes help administrators manage access more clearly while keeping information available to the right users.
Additional Platform Updates in 2025
Alongside these larger updates, we continued making improvements across the platform:
- Added the ability to view missions on mobile.
- Added custom mission type support.
- Mobile app UI refinements.
- Enhanced flight checklist auto assignment.
- Added new features to flight auto grouping.
- Multilingual support in the mobile app.
We also launched a dedicated Product Updates page,which provides a single place to see what’s new as features are released.
Looking Ahead
As we head into 2026, our focus remains on reliability, scalability, and building features that reflect how fleetsoperate in real-world environments.
Thank you for being part of AirData’s first ten years. We look forward to continuing to work with you on what comesnext, and we’re grateful for your ongoing feedback, trust, and support.
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts.Wishing you safe flying and a Happy New Year!
— The AirData Team
Focus on the current flight and grow your operation.
Use the drones and flight apps you already have, with no new tool for pilots to learn before AirData starts adding value.
