Drone News Roundup: Can an HOA Stop You from Flying, AirVuz Video of the Year, and More!
BY Zacc Dukowitz
13 April 2026This week we’re covering whether an HOA can stop you from flying your drone.
We’re also covering AirVuz’s 2025 Drone Video of the Year, FAA Drone Safety Day, an effort to create a regional DFR program in Coachella Valley, and an ACLU white paper on drone access and inequality.
Now on to the links!
Can an HOA Stop You from Flying Your Drone?
Can an HOA (homeowners association) actually stop you from flying your drone? The answer isn’t always straightforward. While the FAA controls airspace, HOAs can still regulate how you use property they manage, which can indirectly affect where and how you take off and land. In the video, we break down where federal authority ends and local rules come into play, giving you a practical look at how pilots should approach flying in HOA-managed communities.
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AirVuz’s 2025 Drone Video of the Year
AirVuz recently named this video from Muhamad AbuShakra its 2025 Drone Video of the Year. AirVuz’s annual winner is drawn from videos uploaded to its platform over the course of the year, with weekly and monthly winners feeding into the final selection.
With its huge open landscapes, strong visual contrasts, and terrain that changes dramatically from one location to the next, Namibia is a drone pilot’s dream. The winning video is called “Namibia | Land of Contrasts” and it was shot over a 14-day, 1,900 mile journey across the country. It moves through sweeping shots of huge sand dunes, wildlife encounters, and the Atlantic coast, with beautiful footage of the Namib Desert meeting the sea and the shipwrecked Zella in Henties Bay.
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FAA Drone Safety Day Is Next Week
FAA Drone Safety Day is coming up next Saturday, April 25. The FAA is encouraging drone pilots and aviation groups to host in-person, virtual, and hybrid events focused on safe and responsible flying. This year’s theme is “FlySafe, FlySmart, FlyReady,” and the agency is framing the event as a one-day campaign to help pilots prepare before takeoff, understand the rules, and make safety a priority every time they fly.
Want to participate? Follow the link below for a list of major Drone Safety Day events. Want to host your own? Visit the FAA’s official page for information on how.
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Coachella Valley Is Building a Regional DFR Program
Credit: Skydio
Coachella Valley is working to centralize DFR (Drone as First Responder) operations through the Coachella Valley Real-time Intelligence Center. The Center is a regional hub launched in December, which brings several municipalities under one roof: Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Indio, and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The project’s goal is to pool dispatching and monitoring resources across agencies, allowing drones to be deployed faster and more efficiently across the area. It’s an ambitious model for scaling DFR beyond a single police department, and into a shared regional system.
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ACLU White Paper Warns of Unequal Access to the Skies
A new ACLU white paper argues that U.S. drone policy is increasingly giving government agencies and corporations greater access to drone technology, while making it harder for the public to use drones for journalism, oversight, and accountability. The paper points to several problem areas, including broad security measures, costly import restrictions, surveillance concerns, and a lack of transparency around who is flying drones over communities.
More specifically, the ACLU says the people getting squeezed out include journalists, activists, and ordinary community members who use drones to document things like police activity, ICE operations, and other public-interest events. It also warns that rising costs, tighter restrictions, and expanded government authority could make that kind of watchdog use harder over time. It’s a different take on drone policy than we often see, focusing less on industry growth and more on who gets access to the skies—and who gets left out.
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