Haye Kesteloo is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at DroneDJ, where he covers all drone-related news and writes product reviews. He also contributes to the other sites in the 9to5Mac group such as; 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, and Electrek.
Haye can be reached at haye@dronedj.com or @hayekesteloo
Last week, the first part of New York’s 50-mile drone corridor received approval from the Federal Aviation Authority for beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone test flights.
Billy Kyle explains in a video on YouTube the DJI Mavic Mini firmware update with example photos and video footage. Billy noted that the photos looked much better with fewer blown-out highlights. And it seems that DJI indeed made the Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon) more stable right after take-off. I haven’t had a chance to check out the firmware update myself but check out Billy’s video as he does a great job comparing the drone’s performance before and after the update.
Rick from Drone Valley explains in this short video how you can (and should) calibrate your IMU and Compass on your DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon). The video contains an excellent and very detailed explanation of what an IMU is. What is does, why it is important. And why you should calibrate your Mavic Mini. So, get a cup of coffee and watch Rick’s 10-minute video.
Florida Power and Light use a DJI Phantom 4 drone for powerline maintenance and repairs as the unmanned aircraft can provide a 360-degree view that is difficult to achieve otherwise. “Drones offer a huge advantage,” according to the utility’s technology manager, Eric Schwartz.
Iris Automation successfully completed a Beyond-Visual-Line-Of-Sight BVLOS drone flight that was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Kansas. The flight is seen as an important step towards making commercial drone flights routine across the country. The onboard drone collision-avoidance system has been created by Iris Automation. The company said that routine flights may start taking place in a matter of months.
Last Friday, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Chris Anderson for his well-known Drone Trainer Podcast. In the interview, we spoke a bit about how we got started with DroneDJ but mostly about flying the DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon) and what my experience had been so far. If you haven’t heard of Chris’ podcast, you should totally check him out. He has been interviewing drone pilots and other people from the drone industry for some time and is up to episode 104 already. You will find the transcription below as well as a YouTube version of the podcast itself.
Before we get into the DJI Mavic 3 Pro and Inspire 3 rumors, let’s take a step back and reflect a little on what has happened with DJI in 2019. Over the last few weeks, a lot of attention has been given to the DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon), and rightfully so, as this new sub-250-gram can surely hold its own among the other DJI Mavic drones. But why is it that this capable mini-drone is all we got from DJI in 2019? What happened to all the other DJI drones that were rumored to be released, such as the DJI Phantom 5, the DJI Spark 2, the DJI Inspire 3 and even the temporary return of the DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2.0? Where are they? And, maybe more importantly, what does this mean for 2020? What can we expect from DJI next year?
Before you fly the DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon) do this first. I know when you receive the new mini-drone from DJI, you really only want to unbox it as fast as you can, charge the batteries and start flying. But, before you do that, do these things first, which includes a firmware update.
With the first DJI Mavic Minis (from DJI or Amazon) arriving in the hands of drone enthusiasts yesterday, many of you were wondering when the DJI Fly app up would become available. According to DJI the Fly app would not be released until November 11th, however, earlier this morning, we were able to confirm that the DJI flight app has become available both in the Google Play Store for Android devices as well as on the Apple App Store for iOS devices. I was able to download the app earlier today and it seems to work just fine.
UPS Flight Forward recently was awarded their Part 135 certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, which allows them to make deliveries by drone throughout the U.S. This week, UPS in partnership with CVS made their first residential delivery by drone by dropping off prescription drugs from a CVS pharmacy directly to a consumer’s home.
Retired Fire Chief, Wayne Baker joins DJI as the new Director of Public Safety Integration. If that leaves you wondering where Romeo Durscher went. Well, don’t worry, Romeo has earned himself a well-deserved promotion and he is now DJI’s Senior Director of Public Safety Integration. Congratulations to both Wayne and Romeo!
An article in the Financial Times yesterday said that drone maker DJI plays ‘textbook’ lobbying game in Washington by attaching itself closely to parts of the government and quickly responding to any political concerns. Especially since the trade tensions between the U.S. and China continued to increase, DJI has come into the spotlight.
The NYT published a great and lengthy article on drones used in crime and the fact that local law enforcement is almost powerless in fighting these crimes. Below are some of the highlights of the article. If you have a minute I would suggest reading the entire piece.
On the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, tests are underway to fight malaria with the DJI Argas drone for the first time. The unmanned aircraft are used to spray silicone-based liquid on rice paddies to prevent the malaria-carrying mosquitos from laying their eggs.
Drone footage helps scientists from the University of British Columbia study killer whale behavior as the unmanned aircraft provide a rare glimps into the underwater world off the coast of B.C. The video footage was released last Monday and represents the first time that drones have been used to study the behavior of the killer whales.
In recent years LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology has played a crucial role in discovering ancient settlements and mapping historic sites around the world. In this most recent story, The Guardian reports that LIDAR-equipped drones reveal an ancient settlement off the coast of Florida. The archaeological findings and remains date from 900 to 1200 CE.
Check out these amazing drone photos of the USSR’s nuclear detection system. These aerial photos from Arkadiusz Podniesiński, a Polish photographer and filmmaker, not only look amazing but the story behind the photos is quire cool too.
Right, the DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon) long-distance range test. This mini-drone reaches 2.4 miles on WiFi, which is incredible. I was hoping for a day with less wind and I was also thinking of another location, but I went hiking today with my daughter at Breakneck mountain in New York along the Hudson River. This is a beautiful spot and is very popular with hikers. It’s a little north of Coldspring, New York. I took the DJI Mavic Mini with me to try out some of the quick shots with two fully charged batteries. However, when we got to this vantage point and were looking down on the Hudson River and Pollepel Island there on the right-hand side, I figured why not give it a try and see how far we can fly this mini-drone. So this hiking trip turned into a long-distance drone flight for the DJI Mavic Mini.
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After the first test flight today in which the DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon) battled high winds, some people had commented on YouTube that I should fly the drone further and at a much higher elevation. I thought that was a good point, and figured I might give it a try when I got back home this afternoon. And so I did. I hope you enjoy this video of the DJI Mavic Mini performance test in which it is fighting high winds at high elevation. Expect more videos and tests to come over the coming days.
The DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon) fights strong headwinds of 20-25 mph, literally! Yesterday late afternoon, I received one of the DJI Mavic Mini review samples and after charging the batteries and the controller, I was curious to see how the little drone would do in the strong winds we have here on the Hudson River today. To be honest, I was surprised that it didn’t simply get blown away in the 20-25 mph winds.
Yesterday, DJI launched the all-new DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon), a drone can fly for up to 30 minutes and weighs less than 250 grams. And because of that ultralight-weight, it does not have to be registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) when flown recreationally. My overall impression after initially flying the Mini is that it’s a great little drone. And Mini makes drone flying much more accessible for consumers in the United States, but even more so around the world where this drone runs into even fewer restrictions. It is starting to sound like the ideal travel drone, right? Well, there is one catch… And that is that the DJI Mavic Mini only shoots 2.7K video at a bitrate of 40Mbps, not 4K video at 100Mpbs like the DJI Osmo Pocket. Why, oh why, DJI?
On Wednesday, the same day that DJI launched the DJI Mavic Mini, the US Department of the Interior announced that all DJI drones and other Chinese-made unmanned aircraft or UAVs that contain Chinese-made parts in its fleet are to be grounded as part of a review of the department’s drone program. This is the latest threat to DJI’s drone business in the United States.
Here are the best video reviews of the DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon) we found on YoutTube. We watched them all so you don’t have to! If you don’t have a lot of time (who does nowadays?) and you only want to watch one video. Watch the one from Faruk on his iPhonedo Youtube channel. As always his videos are entertaining and chuck full of information. This one about the DJI Mavic Mini is not different. so give yourself a break. Get a cup of coffee and watch at least this one video.
At DJI’s media event in Brooklyn where the ultra-light DJI Mavic Mini (from DJI or Amazon) was first introduced to a larger audience, we had the chance to fly the little drone ourselves. And even though my flight time was limited to maybe 10-15 minutes, I will share my first impressions and hands-on experience with the everyday Flycam, as DJI calls the DJI Mavic Mini.
