Haye Kesteloo

A gang in England who used a drone equipped with fishing lines to smuggle £370,000 ($495,000 USD) worth of contraband including drugs, phones, and a Freeview box into prisons are jailed for 28 years. In total, the gang had carried out nearly 50 drone flights and ‘throw-overs’ into British jails. Among the items they delivered was drugs but also tools, phones and a TV box. Their drone deliveries came to an end after prison officers found a package containing cocaine. the eight gang members face prison time of more than 24 years.

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Is Korean-based, LG Electronics going to get involved in the drone industry? That is a question that has been on people’s minds for some time now. LG is a very competitive electronics giant and has been expanding in the automotive and VR space. Recently they partnered with Huawei to deliver 1.5Gbps connectivity to customers from 300 feet altitude using a drone. And now with this new patent, that was made public on December 14, 2017, it seems that LG is getting serious about the drones.

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Back in September, we reported on the DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone that had collided with a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter flown by Fort Bragg soldiers over Staten Island. Luckily nobody was injured and the helicopter only sustained minor damage. The accident did become the first official drone-aircraft collision in the U.S. aviation history. The military started an investigation into the incident immediately and was able to identify the drone pilot based on the serial number found on parts of the drone that were logged in the helicopter.

Now the National Transportation Safety Board has released a full report on the drone incident.

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Check out this special bundle. One of our all-time favorite drones the DJI Mavic Pro with 2 batteries for $929 at Amazon Prime. If you were to buy the same set from DJI directly you’d pay $988 USD, so Amazon gives you a $59 USD discount. It is Amazon Prime so you should be able to get it before Christmas without too much trouble. Currently, there are only 5 left in stock.

Check out our Christmas drone buying guide here to help you make the right decision.

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Good morning this Monday. I hope you have had a great weekend. Here are some of the things you may have missed over the last few days. Enjoy.

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During the final descent to Los Angeles International Airport, photographer Simon Pollock from Melbourne spotted a DJI drone flying very close to his airplane. On Facebook he wrote:

Drones, All fun and games until you’re looking out your window on approach to LAX and you spot a Phantom just out your window (yeah a few hundred feet, but imagine if it.. well..) some people are utterly stupid.

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The first time I got the DJI Spark in my hands was back in June. Since then I have flown the Spark mini-drone on numerous occasions, at many different locations, and in varying conditions. To say that I like the Mavic Pro’s smaller brother is an understatement.

I simply love the Spark. Yes, I wish it had 4K video, a real 3-axis gimbal, and a longer flight time. But the way the Spark flies when you put it in sports mode (fast and agile) and the fun that you can have with it, make up for its shortcomings. As they say, the best drone you have is the one that is with you. The Spark has joined me on many trips, where I simply would not have bothered to take the bigger and heavier Mavic Pro. As you probably can tell, the DJI Spark is one of my favorite drones!

With that out of the way, I owe you a full review of the DJI Spark mini-drone, so here we go.

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About a week ago a drone spots an enormous great white shark in Esperance, Western Australia. This is not the first time we’ve seen this. Drones are being used more and more to keep people safe. Earlier in November, we reported on drones being used to patrol the beaches in Perth Australia.  And in Queensland, Australia the Surf Lifesaving organization is using drones to patrol the beaches after crocodile attacks.

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One of the most popular YouTubers, Casey Neistat, recently flew his drone inside an Emirates airplane on his way to Dubai. It all took place during a flight from Brussels to Dubai. Neistat was invited to try out the new Emirates First Class Suite onboard a new Boeing 777.

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Good morning! Here are the headlines you may have missed. Grab a cup of coffee, get up to speed and enjoy this beautiful 4K drone video of Norway!

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This video just came across our desk. Kelly Starrett, also known from MobilityWOD, uses a Millennium Falcon drone to pull his daughter’s tooth out. As Starrett launches the drone, you can hear his daughter say: “I am not so sure!” Initially, we thought that maybe the drone would not have enough pulling power, but as you can see in the video it went surprisingly well. To both the farther’s and daughter’s surprise, the tooth got pulled out quickly and seemingly without much pain. Not sure if this will become the recommended way of pulling teeth, but as the video shows, it can be done.

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You have until December 29 to submit your photos to the DJI & SkyPixel contest. So I would suggest go through your existing aerial or drone photos and see if you have anything worth submitting. Or better yet, grab your drone and get out there to take some amazing photos.

The prices are definitely worth it. How would you like to win a Grand Prize worth about USD $15,000 worth of equipment, including DJI Inspire 2 with Zenmuse X7 DL-S 16mm F2.8 ND ASPH, an iPhone X 256G, a Nikon D850 FX-format Digital SLR Camera Body, a Lowepro Pro Runner RL x450 AW II, a Manfrotto MKBFRC4-BH Befree Carbon Fiber Tripod with Ball Head, and more.

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This morning DJI surprised us with the launch of the all-new DJI Battery Station. This latest battery-charging product from Chinese drone manufacturer DJI is aimed at industry professionals or filmmaking crews who need to be able to keep shooting throughout the day.

The new DJI Battery Station is an all-in-one battery charging solution for the Intelligent Battery TB50, which is compatible with the Ronin 2, Inspire 2 and M200 series. The Battery Station can store up to 12 TB50 Intelligent Batteries but it can only charge 8 batteries at a time. Different charging points allow users to charge other electronic devices such as certain remote controllers, WB37 Intelligent Batteries and mobile devices using the USB charge point.

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Good morning! Here are the headlines you may have missed. Grab a cup of coffee, get up to speed and enjoy this beautiful 4K drone and time-lapse video of New Zealand.

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Message from DJI to its users about issues related to using iOS 11.1 on their Apple devices. Based on the comments in the DJI Support Forum it seems that the latest updates from Apple and DJI have fixed the issue for most users, although some people still report having problems.

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DJI just released a new firmware update for the DJI Spark drone. Version: V01.00.0800

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In their December issue, the New York Magazine has published a number of amazing drone photos of iconic buildings and locations in New York City. The aerial photos, taken by Humza Deas, are all captured with the #straightdown perspective that we have come to appreciate so much.

The drone photos show the Statue of Liberty, The Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal, the Unisphere, Stuyvesant Town, Columbus Circle, Port Authority Bus Terminal and more all taken by flying the drone straight overhead. The result is amazing and shows the city in ways few of us have ever seen.

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The Brecon Mountain Rescue Team in Wales, England will start testing drones and sonar in their rescue operations after yet another record year of callouts. One of the reasons for the increase in callouts is that exploring the outdoors is getting increasingly more popular. The Brecon MRT has recruited more volunteers and they hope, that in addition to the new drone technology, this will lead to more positive outcomes when the team gets called into action.

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Drone registration has been reinstated after President Trump signed the $700 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which includes the requirement for drones weighing between 0.55 and 55 pounds to be registered with the FAA in order to be flown legally in the U.S. With the number of drone incidents steadily increasing the registration requirement does not come as a surprise.

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Good morning!

Here are the headlines you may have missed. Grab a cup of Joe, get up to speed and enjoy the 4K drone and time-lapse video of Puerto Rico.

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According to a UK Airprox Board report, a “DJI Mavic type” drone was spotted by a London City airliner right after taking off. The drone was spotted at approximately 3,000 feet elevation above Stratford, as the De Havilland Dash-8 turboprop airliner had just taken off from London City Airport.

The UK Airprox Board report is unusual as typically the type of drone is not specified. This time the “DJI Mavic type” drone was seen by the third pilot in the observer’s position. According to the same report, it was ‘endangering other aircraft’.

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