A 160 g five-inch quad, a controversial FPV flight at Kinzua Bridge, the US Army and the FCC: here is this week’s FPV news roundup.
Quadmovr flies a 160-gram 5-inch quad with no camera or GPS
Builder quadmovr has posted a video of a 5-inch quad weighing 160 g with battery (117 g dry), flown line of sight in acro mode with no camera or VTX. It runs his own movr200cp1 frame, four ITS-1604.5 KV3650 motors (co-developed by T-Hobby and IT’S FPV), HQProp J33 4.9×3.3″ tri-blades, a T-Hobby F7 AIO with a 35 A 4-in-1 ESC and a 3S 550 mAh pack.
The power-to-weight ratio is the story: the maker rates those motors at 599 g of thrust each on 4S and recommends them for 250–350 g quads. It comes two weeks after his 3D-printed impeller video passed 1.6 million views, and proves a full 5-inch can sit well below the 250 g line.
Kinzua Bridge: a stunning FPV flight and an unexplained permit
Pilot Parker Sheppard posted a 5-inch freestyle flight (DeepSpace SEEKER5 with a DJI O4 Air Unit and a GoPro MISSION 1 PRO) around the Kinzua Bridge viaduct in Pennsylvania on October 1. The catch: it is a state park where drones are not allowed, and the park authority (DCNR) only permits flying at designated sites in six parks, none of them Kinzua.
Sheppard says on camera that the state granted him special permission, but doesn’t say who or how. The lesson applies everywhere: if you fly in a protected area, get the authorization in writing, and check your gear before take-off (he cut an antenna cable with a prop earlier on the same trip).
Defense: US 2d Cavalry Regiment carries out its first live FPV drone strike
On September 30, soldiers from the 2d Cavalry Regiment conducted their first live-fire strike at Grafenwoehr, Germany, using the PBAS (Purpose-Built Attritable System), the US Army’s family of low-cost FPV drones. According to 2026 budget documents, the baseline kit includes FPV goggles, a controller, two 10-inch and four 5-inch aircraft, with at least 2 km of range and 15 minutes of endurance.
Meanwhile, US maker Neros announced a 14,000-drone order worth over $100 million under the Pentagon’s Gauntlet II program. Military FPV keeps scaling up fast, and it is pulling the whole component supply chain with it.
FCC to vote on October 29 to open the 800 MHz band to drones
The US FCC will vote on October 29 on an order that lifts, for drones only, a 1991 ban designed for mobile phones on airplanes. It would open 50 MHz of cellular spectrum (824–849 and 869–894 MHz), backed by AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Zipline and Skydio.
It does not touch the 2.4 and 5.8 GHz links we use for FPV: it targets BVLOS operations over mobile networks (inspection, agriculture, delivery). Still, it confirms the shift towards 4G/5G-connected drones.
Summary
A week of contrasts: builders are pushing the 5-inch to record-low weights and regulators keep shaping where and how we can fly, while military FPV and telecoms move at massive scale. If you feel like building your own lightweight quad, check out our drone frames and FPV equipment.