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
Today we learned about a very close call between a passenger jet that was about to land at London Heathrow and a drone that was flying at an elevation where it wasn’t supposed to be. The drone flew so close to the passenger jet that the crew thought it must have hit the tail of the airplane after it only missed the windshield by a mere five feet.
Good morning! Today we have an interesting new rumor that tells us to expect the new Mavic Pro 2 to arrive in March already! We also put together a guide to places where you can pre-order the Mavic Air and DJI added a Fly More Combo with Goggles to their store. So grab your coffee and follow along.
Today we were surprised to find that DJI quietly has added a new DJI Mavic Air Fly More Combo with DJI Goggles to the online store. During the presentation, Michael Perry, Managing Director of DJI North America, announced the DJI Mavic Air Standard Package and the Fly More Combo. The latter includes two more batteries, extra props, 4-way charger and a shoulder bag.
No word on a DJI Mavic Air Fly More Combo with DJI Goggles.
It has only been two days since the introduction of the all-new DJI Mavic Air, and already we are receiving news of a possible release date of the new DJI Mavic Pro 2 as early as March 2018.
With the DJI Mavic Air offering so many improvements and new features at a lower price point than the DJI Mavic Pro, the sales of the latter must be hurting tremendously. In our view, it would make sense for the Chines drone manufacturer to release the new DJI Mavic Pro sooner rather than later.
A new DJI Mavic Pro 2 to be released in March already? That seems very soon. Would that even make sense for DJI? We think so. Read on.
We are getting many questions from people about where the can buy DJI latest and most modern drone, the DJI Mavic Air. If you don’t know what the Mavic Air is all about, it is the newest drone from the Chinese drone manufacturer and slots right in between the Mavic Pro and the Spark. However, make no mistake, the Mavic Air features the latest intelligent flight and obstacle avoidance technology from DJI. It also is able to make 32-megapixel panorama photos that will give you a 180-degree view of your surroundings. If you want to learn about the Mavic Air, then take a look at these articles or watch our 15-minute summary video of Michael Perry’s presentation of the Mavic Air in NYC last Tuesday.
Good morning. Today we have for you the DJI presentation of the new DJI Mavic Air in less than 15 minutes. It covers all the highlights and is great for those of you who are pressed for time and do not want to sit through the entire event.
DJI made sure to provide many YouTubers with their new DJI Mavic Air ahead of the official launch so that there would be a large number of reviews available for people to watch. We went through a lot of the reviews to find the best ones and bring them to you. So, here we go.
Good morning. Yesterday turned out to be a very exciting day for us as DJI did indeed announce the all-new DJI Mavic Air as we expected. This new member of the DJI family of products is small, light and has features that make you wonder why anybody would want to buy a Spark or Mavic Pro anymore. In the coming days we will report a lot more on the Mavic Air so stay tuned.
We thought Casey Neistat might have been at the DJI event in New York City today but no, he didn’t need to be there. He already had a DJI Mavic Air. Of course! In the video that he just posted on YouTube, Casey compares the new Mavic Air to the Spark, Mavic Pro, and the Phantom 4 Pro Obsidian.
This time Casey did not fly his drone in Manhattan. Instead, he and Peter McKinnon flew to Bermuda for some change of scenery.
Finally, the adventure unfolded! Today is the day of the official announcement of the all-new DJI Mavic Air. We now know all of the specifications of this drone that slots right in between the current DJI Mavic Pro and DJI Spark and priced at $799. As usual, many specs had already been leaked through different channels and we tried our best to gather them and present them to you. However, today is the day, so let’s get started!
Last updated at 1:54pm, EST
Good morning! Today is the big day that we have all been waiting for, the official DJI event in New Yor City. By the time you read this Seth and I will be getting ready to go into the city for the announcement of DJI’s latest foldable drone, the Mavic Air. Over the last week or so we have tried hard to collect all the details of this new adventure travel drone and today we should be able to get our hands on it and show it to you in person. We will cover the entire event live on our website, Facebook, and Twitter so you can follow along. With that, let’s get started!
DJI announced today that the Chinese drone manufacturer has become the official media partner of BMW Motorsport. To celebrate and to showcase the abilities of its products, DJI has uploaded a short film to YouTube called “Night Moves“. The video shows the launch of BMW M8 GTE at the famous French racing circuit, Paul Richard and was produced in-house by the DJI Creative Studio Europe. The resulting drone footage of the BMW racecar speeding over the dark track is quite spectacular.
Today we’ve discovered the first photos and specifications of the DJI Mavic Air drone which will be officially released tomorrow morning at a special DJI event in New York City. We will be on the scene there as well at 9AM ET so expect full coverage here on DroneDJ.
The below photos and specifications come to us from multiple tipsters who’ve been correct in the past. Also, the photos and specs seem to corroborate information we’ve already received from other sources. The new photos also show some of the features we have seen before, such as the swooping lines in the official DJI invitation and in the DJI teaser video.
One of the photos is a banner showcasing the new drone highlights some of the main features of this new unmanned aerial vehicle from DJI, such as the 4K60 video, 32-megapixel panorama mode, and 4 foldable legs.
Last updated: 12:47pm EST
Another day, another rumor! Or so it seems at least. This morning we have learned that the DJI Mavic Air will come in different colors similar to the DJI Spark (review). We don’t know if the color choices are going to be the same as the Spark color options, but we do know that the Mavic Air will be available in a variety of colors.
Update: the colors for the Mavic Air seem to be black, white and red. We have no information yet on other possible colors.
From Germany, we now shoot over to France where someone may have come up with a much more useful invention, a haptic feedback joystick that allows you to fly your drone in a new and easy way. As many drone pilots can attest, flying a drone for the first time is not so simple at all. It takes time to familiarize yourself with joystick controls and to learn how to fly a drone safely and comfortably.
The Real Life Guys, who we have seen in this video here two weeks ago, have upped their game! Now one of them took the “bathtub drone” to pick up some bread at the local bakery.
It took these guys a few months to figure out how to get a bathtub to fly ‘safely’ but in the end, they pulled it off. More powerful motors were used and after some careful re-balancing of the lift the props generate, they had their first flight inside a gym hall a couple of weeks ago.
Good morning! Today we have a couple of things for you, among which a water tank that got shot. So grab your coffee and follow along.
Little by little, we are discovering more information about the all-new DJI Mavic Air drone. Today we learned from a source who has actually seen the new drone, that the foldable unmanned aerial vehicle will indeed have backward-facing obstacle-avoidance sensors. Of course, as with all rumors, there is no guarantee that this information will 100% correct, but it comes from a very credible source and we decided to share it with you.
It seems that DJI is trying to clear their current inventory of DJI Mavic Pro’s as they are currently offering the Mavic Pro and Goggles combination at a $150 USD discount. My advice would be to wait at least until January 23rd when the new DJI Mavic Air gets released. At that point, you will at least be able to make an informed decision.
If a drone is flying around your house and you are wondering whether it is secretly recording you, there is actually a way to find out. Even if the data is encrypted. Israeli researchers from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Weizmann Institute of Science explain how this works.
The Dutch app PreFlight updated its maps to show summer glider areas after the Lange Antares 20E glider allegedly struck a drone in October last year. The glider pilot was able to safely fly back to the local airstrip but the wingtip of his airplane sustained serious damage.
Today two teenagers got in distress when they were swimming in rough seas off the shore of Lennox Head in New South Wales, Australia. The lifeguards on duty did not waste any time and deployed the Little Ripper rescue drone to fly out to the swimmers and drop a flotation device. The two boys were able to grab the device, hold on to it and swim safely back to shore where they were met by lifeguards and only appeared to show signs of fatigue.
According to Ben Franklin, parliamentary secretary for Northern New South Wales, the whole event took 70 seconds instead of the 6 minutes it normally takes a lifeguard to reach people in need.
Good morning! We are counting down the days until the unveiling of the all-new DJI Mavic Air. Since last Friday, we have been able to scrape together most of the important information about the new drone. However, there is still a lot that we don’t know. Especially when it comes to the specifications. We will keep looking and whenever we find something, you will be the first to know.
Furthermore, YouTube videos will become a more important part of our website and how we deliver news to you. We will invest in a better microphone and some soundproofing to increase the quality on that front.
We knew this was coming but now it is official. Drunk drone flying is now illegal in the state of New Jersey. This past Monday, Gov. Chris Christie signed the bill into law on his last day in office, making it officially illegal to fly a drone while being under the influence of alcohol, narcotics, or other hallucinogenics.