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
Drone pilot Kevin Cadby captured a video with his drone of a boat capsizing in Jupiter Inlet, Florida. A 13-year old surfer who was nearby witnessed the event and came to the unfortunate boater’s rescue.
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About two weeks ago we reported on Skyward (owned by Verizon) being the first FAA-approved vendor to begin administering the automated Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) approval process. Now, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) has approved to be the first company to actually use the Low Altitude Authorization Capability (LAANC) for automatic access to operate a drone in regulated airspace over controlled airports.
Recently DJI opened a new ‘real’ store in Orange County, then a pop-up store in San Fransisco and now they are opening a temporary pop-up store in Toronto, Canada.
Last Saturday, a Lange Antares 20E glider was soaring along the Dutch shoreline, when it was struck but a consumer drone. The incident was reported to the Aviation Safety Network as occurrence #200703. According to the report, there were no injuries or fatalities. The glider was able to make it back to the airfield safely. The aircraft sustained significant damage to the wingtip and the drone was destroyed upon impact. No word as of yet on finding the drone pilot.
Over the last few weeks, we have reported on how drones are becoming part of law enforcement’s equipment around the country, and world for that matter. Police forces in Boston, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong are using or testing drone and now we learn about the San Diego’s Sherrif’s Department saying drones are here to stay.
In January this year, Vanilla Aircraft’s VA001 set the world record for longest internal combustion drone flight in history. It flew for 56 hours straight. That record has now been broken by the same 36ft (11m) wingspan, diesel-powered unmanned aircraft that stayed in the air for 5 days, 1 hour and 24 minutes. After it flew in an orbit for more than 7,000 miles, it landed with still more than 3 days of fuel in its tanks.
SFGate reported, that yesterday a second DJI store opened in San Francisco at the Westfield mall. The store looks more like a kiosk-type setup but DJI spokesman Micheal Oldenburg said it is a permanent setup and not just a temporary set-up in time to cash in on the holiday shopping season.
Hurricane Maria caused massive damage and destruction in Puerto Rico, resulting into a major humanitarian crisis. Many people around the world have heard and read about the disaster in on the island, but few have seen any recent video footage of the area. This is not surprising as large parts of the island are without electricity, although Tesla was able to supply power to a hospital recently, and are inaccessible as a result of blocked roads and damaged bridges. So the only way to show the extend of the damage is to take to the air. The National Weather Service was on it and send their drone into the air to capture the following dramatic footage.
Australian newspaper ABC News reported that a drone has been caught on CCTV dropping what seems to be contraband into Lithgow’s prison in NSW. Last Monday a member of the public alerted the prison staff to the drone flying in the vicinity of the Lithgow Correctional Centre.
Last year on 13th October 2016 King Bhumibol of Thailand passed away. He was Thailand’s most revered King in living memory and the nation’s sorrow has been overwhelming.
A self-flying ambulance that will get to the scene of an accident much, much faster than any traditional ambulance would. A drone ambulance, that would be able to get there during those first few critical minutes, right after the accident happened, when lives can still be saved. Sounds crazy? Well, Caltech is working on it in their new drone lab, the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST) that opened last Tuesday.
Drones normally do not fall out the sky all of a sudden (unless maybe it’s a Karma), but every so often it does happen. As it did to Efrem. On a school trip to Iceland, he brought his drone along to capture some of Iceland’s amazing scenery. Skogafoss Waterfall was the third waterfall he was flying his drone. Then his Phantom 4 suddenly lost the connection to the controller and dropped out of the sky.
New Contest Category Calls For More Creative Storytelling Possibilities From The Growing 6 Million SkyPixel Members Worldwide, With Prizes Totaling $90,000
October 26, 2017 – SkyPixel, the world’s most popular aerial photography community, in cooperation with DJI, today announced the 2017 SkyPixel Photo Contest. This year-end finale introduces a new “Story” category that calls for photographers to share not just the stunning images they capture, but also the stories they curate.
Time to update your DJI GO 4 app to version 4.1.14 if you (or your phone) haven’t done so already.
Yesterday, President Trump gave the ‘green light’ to US cities and states to work together with tech companies to accelerate and increase the number of drone tests across the United States. The “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot” program as it is called, was announced in a new memorandum released by the White House on Wednesday.
Trump signed the memorandum directing, Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation to create a pilot program that allows local, state and tribal governments to apply to establish test areas, possibly as large as an entire state, where extensive drone testing can take place. As part of this program, at least five trial programs are expected to be started within the next three years. All trials will be subject to FAA approval.
Today Parrot launched their Bebop-Pro Thermal drone, their all-in-one solutions for aerial thermal imaging aimed at small businesses, such as roofers, thermal inspections, and public safety services. The Bebop-Pro Thermal is the fourth addition to Parrot’s Pro line-up for business professionals. Earlier this year they launched the Parrot Disco-Pro AG & Parrot Bebop-Pro 3D Modeling, and more recently with Parrot Bluegrass.
At today’s event, DJI introduced the new DJI Knowledge Quiz and the DJI Aeroscope Program. Both of these initiatives are great steps towards a safer shared (manned and unmanned aircrafts) airspace. We are especially impressed with Aeroscope, but why stop there?
What else could be done to further improve the safety of people on the ground as well as in the air? Well, DJI could upgrade their geofencing and introduce ADS-B Interactive. And they did.
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At today’s DJI event, Michael Perry, Managing Director of DJI North America told us that people are finding new ways to use drones that even DJI had not thought of. Most people are familiar with insurance inspectors, solar panel installation companies and real estate professionals using drones but sometimes people find new ways to use them.
We reported on Aeroscope earlier when it was announced in Brussels but today was the official U.S. announcement.
Today at the W hotel in Washington, D.C., Adam Lisberg, Corporate Communications Director for DJI, introduced DJI’s Aeroscope program. Aeroscope is a data receiver that intercepts data transfer between a drone and it’s pilot. It is able to identify the drone make and model, the location, altitude, the direction and speed in which it is flying as well as the owner or pilot controlling the drone.
Recently a study in New Zealand showed that “lack of education” was considered to be the biggest risk from drones and drone pilots to people on the ground as well as other manned aircraft in the air.
Brendan Schulman, DJI’s VP of Policy and Legal Affairs introduced today a new quiz program that requires pilots when they first start up their new drone to go through a set of 9 questions. These 9 questions need to be answered correctly before they can fly their newly acquired drone. The questions in the DJI Knowledge Quiz are very similar to the type of questions one would be required to answer in the Part 107 exam and was developed together with the FAA. Of course, 9 questions don’t cover the same scope of a Part 107 exam but for the regular consumer and drone pilot, it is at least a start. This quiz only needs to be performed once before the initial flight of a new drone.
You only have to see a few videos like these to understand why governments are getting so nervous about drones.
Various government agencies globally, such as the FAA, Canada Transport, and the English Department for Transport (DFT) are all springing into action after a Black Hawk helicopter hit a drone over Staten Island, another drone hit a passenger airplane over Quebec City Airport and there was a near miss with a drone at Gatwick Airport.
Is New England ever more beautiful than during the fall season? After watching this video, you may be hard-pressed to deny that.
The team at Above Summit, a Somerville photography and video studio specializing in drone footage, went to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and Vermont to capture these beautiful images of fall foliage, leaves, streams, roads, and mountains.
It may come as a surprise for such a new technology but apparently, in The United Kingdom, it is not the youngsters who are the biggest group of drone fliers. No, the biggest group of drone enthusiasts in the UK is “Males of 55 years and older”.
According to a Drone Usage Report, research done by online drone retailer Drones Direct, the single largest age group of drone owners, is the group older than 55. This group represents 31% of all the drone owners, whereas the “Youngsters” group (18-24 years old) only represents 10%.
On Thursday, October 19 a surveillance drone flew over the Agung volcano in Bali, Indonesia and detected that the fracture that was photographed by a satellite on
Wednesday had in fact widened. While the seismic activity under Agung is still at an increased level, it has come down since then and continues to decline.
Volcanoes seem to be a bit of a theme lately as we reported on Japan and Hawaii earlier.