Bruce Crumley

Get. Ready. To. Bawl. Professional drone pilot Douglas Thron has dedicated his skills to locating and rescuing animal victims of natural disasters – then returning them whenever possible to their human friends. Now the world can be thrilled (and moved to shameless blubbering) by Thron’s big-hearted work in a new six-part documentary.

The Federal Aviation Committee (FAA) is creating a new committee to work up rules to allow routine beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations. The development was announced at the virtual FAA Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Symposium.

The US military has come up with a new, highly effective weapon for zapping enemy drones out of the skies. Pardon the wonky, technical terminology, but what the Mobile Force Protection (MFP) system does is hock a big loogie of plastic pink stuff that looks suspiciously like Silly String at targeted craft, and down goes Frazier.

Counter drone systems specialist Citadel Defense is vastly enlarging its San Diego presence. The company has unveiled a large array of new facilities – including its headquarters building – as a means of keeping pace with booming demand.

A modified drone design is about to make the hard, dangerous work of harvesting coconuts a whole lot easier. At least for those who actually pick the delicious one-seeded drupes for a living.

Chinese autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) company EHang says it has completed its first pilotless trial flight in Japan, where it hopes to begin passenger service by 2023.

New York’s Syracuse hospital and its drone industry partners have successfully completed a year-long trial of unmanned aerial vehicle medical deliveries, yet doubts remain about when those operations may become reality.

Japan is ramping up its promotion of Urban Air Mobility (UAM), announcing new government initiatives in the development and deployment of a wide array of small craft across the nation’s cities.

If you’re going to think new, think new really big. That’s the attitude of New York startup Kelekona, which plans to produce an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) craft capable of transporting 40 people, or 10,000 lbs. of cargo.

Drones have captured rare footage of migrating humpback whales off Australia, including unprecedented shots of them “bubble-net feeding” so far north.

Malaysia has announced it has begun deploying drones to detect signs of COVID-19 infection among its population – the most recent nation to use the craft in the global anti-pandemic effort.

A British jet carrying a UK delegation returning from Brussels had what pilots described as an “extremely close” call with a craft they believe was a drone, according to an official report on the incident.

Know how people who get their marriage proposals beamed on the big screens of packed sports stadiums seem to take potentially shattering risks in doing that? (Where do you rapidly escape to if the answer is “No”?) Well, how about having the ring flown in on a drone as you pop the question beside… a cliff?

Spanish researchers are turning to drones packing Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors in their management of the nation’s forests facing the annual summer scourge of massive wildfires.

France’s Val Thorens is reputedly the largest and highest ski resort in Europe. It’s also one of the most advanced in the world in using drones to ensure its runs and infrastructure are as safe – and clients protected – as possible.

Officials across the globe have used drones in the fight against the pandemic’s spread. South Korea is adding a new weapon to that anti-coronavirus arsenal from above: detecting people with COVID-19-indicating fevers at beaches this summer.

Unbridled passions are part and parcel of elite international soccer, but seldom do those become so inflamed they claim innocent victims – as they did in South America this week. Rest in piece(s), noble drone felled by that burst of fútbol fury.

There seems to be no end to the expanding capacities being put to use by drones from above. Their performance underwater, however, has been kept, literally, on a tight leash: the tether required to communicate data to and from the surface. That may now change.

Last month we told you about a seriously amped-up drone that performed amazing feats while eluding – and ultimately escaping – pursuing law enforcement helicopters over Tucson, Arizona. New information is now in about the mysterious flight, though both the craft and pilot remains a mystery.

Less than a month after we reported on Sony’s patent application for noise-cancelling drones to create havens of quiet in otherwise loud areas, GoPro has now obtained a patent for its own for racket-suppression tech.

Researchers in Europe are looking for new ways to build better drones. One of the most promising techniques in doing so, it turns out, is to make them as much like birds as possible.