Are you excited to fly your new drone? Of course you are, but first, you’ll want to ensure you have all the tools to fly safely. That includes the latest software for the drone app to control your drone and additional tools to enhance your flight experience. Today is all about the extra apps you can install to get more out of your flight experience; these are some of the best drone apps.
Effective September 16, 2022, drone Remote ID requirements are in effect to fly within the United States. All new drones must now include Remote ID hardware, you must keep Remote ID active if available on your craft, and you have until Sept. 16, 2023, to retrofit your older airframes. Before you fly, please make sure you know the drone laws in your area.
But you need to know what you hope to accomplish before or with your flight. Perhaps you are trying to keep it legal, ensuring you can fly in a specific location; there’s an app for that. Maybe you are looking for a logging service to help track your flights; there are tools for that, or perhaps you want a weather report. Your needs will also differ depending on your drone — a camera drone has different needs than a racing drone, for example.
Run down the list to get an idea of what functions a non-manufacturer app can serve you. We hope to help you find something new and helpful.
As you well know, the first thing you’re going to need to do with any drone (after registering it,) is figure out a place to fly it. Google Earth is a valuable tool for this purpose as it offers detailed aerial views and terrain information helping in pre-flight planning. By exploring 3D maps and satellite imagery, users can assess terrain, obstacles, and landscape features, ensuring safe and picturesque drone flights. In addition, if you have bough your drone for photography, the app helps you to explore potential shooting locations without physically visiting them first.
Airmap is one of those tools that does so much more than map a potential flight location or help you keep a log of your flight. With backing from companies like Microsoft and Qualcomm, not to mention drone players like Yuneec, Airmap is rapidly becoming the de-facto tool for commercial drone flight. Don’t let their drone mapping, geo-fencing, and flight logging commercial tools scare you off; utilizing the real-time traffic alerts in their mobile app is valuable enough. Check out Airmap for your basic needs or retail piloting business.
Let’s keep this super simple: the FAA is the entity that enforces drone laws in the United States, and this is their app that tells you where and when you can fly. However, B4UFly is a little overbearing sometimes, telling you that you can’t fly in some places that you can. That said, the app provides one of the most detailed airport listings around, displaying the 5-mile radius of each. If in doubt, the B4UFly app is how you go to the source for legal info on drone flights in the United States.
If your drone weighs 0.55lbs or more, you must register with the FAA and affix your registration number to the craft. The process is simple, but it will cost you $5 and you must be at least 13 years old. This registration will expose you to the FAA rules for drone flight, which we highly recommend you familiarize yourself with. Drone Rush can help too:
If you are flying for pay, or any other form of compensation, you must operate under a different set of rules and possess a commercial drone license. We call it the Part 107, it’s not too hard to get, but it will take some time to learn all the rules. We want to help you learn the rules and get your commercial license, check out our drone pilot training material.
