Bruce Crumley

Leading autonomous air vehicle (AAV) maker EHang stepped up its business development in Japan with a pair of notable deals, including securing the first order for its VT-30 long-range craft and deepening its work preparing the nation for looming urban air mobility (UAM) operations.

A large Japanese cleaning company has adapted its use of vacuum technology – as well as drones – to develop an efficient tool for the dangerous and occasionally deadly work of breaking up wasp nests.

The Embraer group’s urban air mobility (UAM) unit, Eve, has signed another deal to sell its future electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles to a US passenger airline, and will also examine the craft’s development for potential defense and security clients through a partnership with the UK’s BAE.

Bird watchers in the UK were outraged at seeing a drone fly in and break up a recurring mass flight phenomenon by starlings known as murmurations. The interruption last week near Brighton’s pier was also denounced for the dangers that the craft’s propellers posed to the performing creatures.

The tumult in the UK over drones live-streaming horse races to provide an advantage to clients in betting rings has reached a new pitch, with clearly displeased and disapproving politicians joining the debate. Their earnest outrage notwithstanding, the desire to thwart the lucrative practice continues to be undermined by a confounding consideration: The activity isn’t illegal under existing laws.

Israel is nearing the halfway mark of its national drone initiative – an ambitious pilot program seeking to test and prepare operational capacities for UAV use in daily life and business, and place participating companies at the forefront of rapidly approaching aerial services.

A century-old unit of the UK’s Royal Navy may be getting an aerial makeover. At least that’s what officials hope in examining whether drones can be used to assist the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) transport supplies to large naval ships around the globe.

The end of 2021 is proving a busy time for Embraer’s urban air mobility unit (UAM) Eve, which in the space of a few hours announced the securing of two major electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft orders, as well as its plans to join the rising number of sector companies introducing their stocks on Wall Street.

Custodians of the Seaford Head coastal cliffs in southeast England know loss of their archeologically important site to erosion and rising sea levels is a question of when, not if, and as a result are using drones and other digital technology to thoroughly map and model the area before it’s gone.

Led by World Wildlife Foundation Australia, a team of concerned organizations is mounting a drone-powered effort to create a “koala corridor” of trees and foliage to restore the marsupial’s habitat wiped out by recent fires, and reverse its population decline.

The organizer of the Second International Drone Show Competition, SPH Engineering, has announced the winning teams and individuals in the henceforth annual event. In addition to awards in the six designated categories, judges also decided to acknowledge 10 outstanding participants for their aerial work.

Less than three weeks after revealing it had received the requisite Special Airworthiness Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct testing of its Maker electronic vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, Archer Aviation successfully completed the plane’s first hover flight.

In a certain sign of a maturing sector, the heavy investment into manufacturers of all types of drones over the past decade is slowly but perceptibly shifting towards companies developing security systems to detect, identify, and if need be, neutralize the very UAVs earlier funding helped proliferate.

An English air ambulance aircraft near Leicester was forced to abruptly drop altitude to avoid hitting a drone head-on, a near-miss situation UK inspectors placed in their highest category of collision risk. The case is one of several recent incidents in the country involving UAVs dangerously crossing paths with large craft.

Fans of aerial artistry have gotten a nice range of spectacular UAV piloting footage over the past year or so, including some seemingly impossible high-speed flights through sports venues and shopping malls. Now, one of the magicians responsible for many of those films is offering a we-dare-you-not-to-flinch video of his drone whizzing through Dallas Baptist University’s baseball facilities while a full crew of players works out.

DroneDJ readers are familiar with stories about prisoners working with outside UAV pilots to stage aerial drops of prohibited matter into jails around the world. Now there’s a case of penitentiary guards themselves using drones to deliver not just the usual contraband phones, tobacco, and drugs to their prison, but also orders of hamburgers, fried rice, and booze.

In recent months UAVs have been deployed in many new types of critical missions around the globe – from ferrying medical equipment and treatments to remote destinations to flying vital organs to hospitals for immediate transplanting. Now, several municipalities in the UK have found another urgent use for drones: helping police spot and crack down on people illegally dumping their trash and unwanted junk in public places.

A friendly warning to DroneDJ readers: It isn’t clear whether the proposal by an African startup to build a passenger-transporting aircraft that looks and flies like a bird (it has a passing resemblance to Transformer toys kids love) is stunning in its vision and ambition, or an elaborate gag to see how many people will be fished into believing the mind-blowing venture is actually on the level. Either way, the Phractyl Macrobat electric near vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eNVTOL – no kidding) is worth checking out.

Drone logistics company Swoop Aero has made some pretty impressive inroads in commercial services this year, but of late has turned heads in once again expanding its version of Ziplines’ “drones for good” in making medical deliveries across Africa.

Another player in the bustling advanced air mobility sector has staked out a corner of Wall Street, with London-based electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) plane manufacturer Vertical Aerospace completing its $300 million New York Stock Exchange floatation today.

Italian industrial UAV specialist FlyingBasket says it has successfully completed its first heavy-lift cargo drone flights in a major urban area.