Drone News: Drone Pilot Faces Charges, Possible Ban on Drone Imports, NPPA Pushes Back on 2209

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, have 3 stories for you this week: a Colorado drone pilot facing federal charges after grounding wildfire aircraft, a possible US ban on imports of some “military-grade” drones, and the National Press Photographers Association pushing back on the FAA's Section 2209 rule. Let's get to it.

This week Pilot Institute is in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for EAA AirVenture. If you've never been it's a really cool event with thousands of aircraft on display, air shows, workshops, and Pilot Institute. Greg and the team will be there through Sunday, July 26th, and would love to see you in person. If you're in the area stop by the big pink tent and meet the team. And when you meet Pilot Institute, you don't just leave with memories, no. You'll also be leaving with free Pilot Institute gear and giveaways. Plus, I hear there are fantastic cheese curds and double-fried French fries close by. I have sent a request to Greg to have a BVLOS french fried drone delivery sent all the way back to Arizona, but I am still waiting on that response.Alright, in our first story, A drone pilot in southern Colorado is facing federal charges. On Friday, July 17th, someone flew a drone into the temporary flight restriction over the Aspen Acres Fire near Rye. That fire has burned more than 100,000 acres. It's the largest wildfire currently active in Colorado.In case you don't know, once a drone is detected, every helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft on the fire has to stop flying. However, investigators didn't have to work hard on this one. The pilot posted the flight on social media and The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office used that footage to identify the suspect. Civil penalties can exceed 75,000 dollars. Next up, The FCC announced 2 drone supply chain actions, but the one that matters most for equipment is a new request for public comment. The Commission is asking whether it should prohibit the import, marketing, or sale of certain “military-grade” foreign-made drones already on its Covered List. The categories under consideration include swarming drones, drones designed to carry defense articles, thermal imaging drones, drones with LiDAR sensing, drones capable of dispensing aerosols classified as economic poison under FAA rules, drone docking stations, and any drone weighing 55 pounds or more. Several things would be excluded from any such ban: equipment not on the Covered List, equipment sold for federal government use or for commercial testing and product development, and any drones people already own. Separately, the FCC extended its exceptions for trusted drones, with the Blue UAS and Buy America carve-outs now running through January 1, 2028, and Conditional Approval products losing their expiration date entirely. Comments on the proposed prohibition are due 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register.The National Press Photographers Association just filed comments on the FAA's proposed Section 2209 rule. This is the rule that lets critical infrastructure sites apply for permanent drone flight restrictions, called UAFRs. The FAA has identified about 125,000 candidate facilities total, and they're expecting around 9,000 applications over the next five years. The NPPA's complaint is simple. As written, these restrictions could last forever, with no expiration date, no public record of why they exist, and no way to challenge one. The comment deadline is August 5th, 2026. Be sure to check out our full discussion of the proposed rule.No post flight this week, but we'll still have a Monday live Q&A with our guest host, Vic Moss. Hope we see you there. Have a good weekend!https://dronexl.co/2026/07/21/drone-pilot-charges-aspen-acres-fire/https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-takes-action-secure-drone-supply-chainhttps://dronexl.co/2026/07/20/nppa-faa-section-2209-drone-rule-press/