Maintaining a mixed drone fleet under NDAA and the Covered List
Most public-safety and utility fleets in 2026 are mixed by necessity. The DJI aircraft that still do most of the flying sit next to Skydio, Autel EVO Max, Parrot Anafi USA, Freefly or Inspired Flight platforms bought to satisfy NDAA requirements or the FCC's Covered List. The maintenance problem that creates is not technical. It is administrative.
Three things that change
Provenance becomes a record-keeping requirement. Compliance is not permanent. Suppliers change, firmware changes. A fleet record that captures serial, component lots and firmware version per aircraft is what an auditor or grant reviewer will ask for. Our service record captures all three on every visit.
Some aircraft can't be opened by anyone but the manufacturer. Skydio restricts internal repair; Zenmuse payloads and the Inspire 3 gimbal are DJI-only. A good maintenance partner doesn't pretend otherwise. We diagnose, document, ship to the manufacturer, manage the return, and put a loaner in your hands.
One process beats three vendors. A fleet manager with a DJI dealer, a Skydio contact and an Autel dealer has three intake forms, three record formats and three phone numbers. One vendor with a single record format is worth more than any badge.
What a program looks like
- Quarterly firmware and full calibration on every aircraft, with the record updated.
- Wear-part replacement on a schedule: grommets, prop mounts, latches, landing-gear covers, propellers.
- Battery cycle tracking and load testing; condemned packs disposed of through a certified recycler.
- Hot spares so a crash never grounds a job.
- A certification flight on every repaired aircraft before it returns to service.
Plans start at $149 per aircraft per month. For fleets of ten or more we stock model-specific spares at the depot and schedule on-site service days.