This week’s news roundup features eVTOL aircraft testing organ transport, how drones could aid in active shooter crises, and ZenaTech latest acquisition that puts them in the oil and gas sector.

Organ Transport Tested with eVTOL Aircraft

The FAA recently marked a major milestone for Advanced Air Mobility when BETA Technologies and United Therapeutics completed a multi-leg electric aircraft flight simulating organ transport as part of the FAA's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). Using BETA's ALIA aircraft, the test carried an animal organ from Virginia Tech Montgomery Executive Airport through Charlottesville, then handed off to a second aircraft that continued through Frederick, Maryland, before ending at Martin State Airport near Baltimore. The FAA emphasized that the flight was meant to test operational reliability across multiple airports and aircraft rather than perform an actual clinical transplant, giving regulators real-world data on how eVTOLs might handle time-sensitive medical logistics.

This flight is one of eight eIPP projects announced by the Department of Transportation in March 2026, spanning 26 states and covering use cases like passenger transport, emergency response, and cargo delivery. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford framed the program as a way to gain hands-on experience integrating new aircraft types into the national airspace, drawing a parallel to how the agency previously approached drone integration, gathering operational data before expanding commercial use. Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation and other eIPP partners plan further test flights throughout the year, with the FAA using the resulting data to refine procedures, inform future policy, and lay the groundwork for broader commercial AAM operations.

Drones Tested for Active Shooter Responses

Campus Guardian Angel, an Austin-based company, demonstrated its drone-based active shooter response system Thursday at the Proventus ARROW Center training facility in Jonesboro. The system uses remotely piloted, non-lethal drones stationed on-site at schools or other locations, allowing trained pilots, who can be operating offsite, to intervene within about 15 seconds of a situation starting. CEO Justin Marston emphasized the urgency behind the technology, noting that most shootings are over within 120 seconds, often before traditional law enforcement can arrive.

Company officials stressed that the drones aren't meant to replace police but to buy time and provide real-time intelligence while officers respond. Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott said this kind of information can be critical in helping officers locate a threat faster. The demonstration carries particular resonance in Jonesboro, coming almost 30 years after the 1998 Westside Middle School shooting; Marston noted that community members who lived through that tragedy believe technology like this could have made a life-saving difference had it existed at the time.

ZenaTech Acquires Velocity Geomatics Inc.

ZenaTech announced it has completed the acquisition of Velocity Geomatics (operating as Velocity Group), a Grande Prairie, Alberta-based company providing drone surveying, geomatics, and environmental/regulatory compliance services to Western Canadian oil and gas producers. The deal marks ZenaTech's entry into the oil and gas drone inspection market, a sector the company says is valued around $2.3 billion and growing roughly 28.5% annually, and represents its 25th acquisition since January 2025, fulfilling a goal CEO Shaun Passley had set to complete 25 acquisitions by mid-2026 in support of the company's Drone as a Service (DaaS) business. Velocity Group operates from a head office in Grande Prairie plus three regional offices across Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, with about 80% of its current projects already relying on drone-based workflows.

Passley said the acquisition gives ZenaTech an established customer base and regional expertise in a major North American energy market, and that the company sees an opportunity to layer AI-powered drone technology onto Velocity's existing surveying, mapping, and infrastructure monitoring services. The move fits ZenaTech's broader strategy of acquiring profitable, drone-ready service companies to build out a global DaaS network spanning surveying, inspection, maintenance, and other on-demand drone services, with the company indicating it plans to continue expanding both its acquisitions and its service offerings going forward.