Drone News: WA State Drone Fees, DJI Still Dominates, FCC Tightens Certification, SiFly Raises $20M

<p>Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, have 4 stories for you this week: Washington state jacks up commercial drone fees, an industry survey shows DJI still dominates, the FCC tells certification labs to tighten their screening, and SiFly raises $20,000,000. Let&#39;s get to it.</p><p>Starting January 1st, 2027, commercial drone operators in Washington state will pay $150 a year per aircraft to register. Right now it&#39;s $15. That&#39;s a ten times increase. Here&#39;s where it came from. Washington repealed a luxury tax on private jets before it ever took effect. To make up that lost revenue, lawmakers added a new $120 excise tax on commercial drones, plus doubled the existing registration fee to $30. Ninety percent of that money goes to a sustainable aviation fuel account. Not to airports. Not to drone programs. To jet fuel research. The drone fee got exactly one hearing, buried inside a bigger transportation bill, and no drone operators showed up to testify. For comparison, Minnesota charges $25 a year. Utah charges $5. A DJI Mini flown for real estate photos in Washington will now cost the same to register as a Cessna 172. This takes effect in 2027. If you fly commercially in Washington, start budgeting now.The Associated Builders and Contractors, a major construction trade group, asked its members what drones they fly. DJI came out on top with 97.1 percent. Autel took the rest. Skydio, the only American brand on the list, got zero percent. This survey happened months after the FCC&#39;s ban on new DJI models hit the market. And it shows the ban hasn&#39;t pushed contractors toward American alternatives. It&#39;s just frozen them on the hardware they already own. Almost 20 percent of these fleets use thermal cameras and about the same use lidar. Both of those payload types are part of a new FCC proposal that could pull them from shelves entirely. The trade group is asking lawmakers to simplify compliance, and based on the results of their survey, I understand why! The FCC just told a company called HOVERAir to stop selling its VERSA flying camera immediately, calling it a violation of US law. Here&#39;s the twist. A certification lab had already approved that camera for sale. The FCC says that approval was granted in error, and it&#39;s now been pulled. The FCC is sending new guidance to every certification body it accredits. If you’re unfamiliar, these are private companies, paid by manufacturers, that actually decide whether a device gets appro