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
Chilling drone footage from the Associated Press shows the utter and total devastation of the city of Raqqa in Northern Syria. Most of the damage was caused during the final weeks of fighting between the Kurdish-led forces and ISIS. On Thursday, October 20th the Kurdish-led forces announced that with the support of the U.S.-led coalition had driven out the Islamic State militants after weeks of fighting.
Dubai has had their first test-flights with the drone, called the Autonomous Air Taxi (AAT). The city claims that the vehicle will be the world’s first “self-flying taxi service.” The AAT was supplied by the German manufacturer Volocopter and offers an environmentally friendly, fully electric ‘cab flight’. The prototype has a maximum flight time of 30 minutes at a cruising speed of 31 mph. Its maximum speed is 62mph.
The Herald Bulletin reports that when a Summitville teenager recently ran away from home, the Madison County Emergency Management Agency officials brought in a DJI Inspire drone outfitted with a thermal infrared camera to aid in the search.
Within minutes of arriving at the scene, the department’s new unmanned aerial vehicle was flying through the air in search of the youth. Todd Harmeson, deputy director of EMA, was piloting the Inspire drone.
The drone market has been growing rapidly over the last few years and the end does not seem to be in sight. The affordability and availability of very capable drones from companies such as DJI, GoPro, Yuneec and others, have given rise to new drone markets in areas such as agriculture, emergency response, inspections, insurance, professional drone racers, photographers and filmmakers and of course the consumer, who is responsible for 94% of the drone market. Research company Gartner reported that unit sales rose 60% in 2016 and will grow another 39% this year.
The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR), a coalition of private and public entities and academic institutions in New York and Massachusetts. is creating the most advanced airspace corridor in the country, right here in the state of New York. The 50-mile corridor will be used for drone safety and performance testing as well as the development of drone traffic management systems so that one day the FAA may allow drones to fly beyond line-of-sight.
This week in London is the 9th DroidConUK conference (Thursday, 26th – Friday, 27th October at Business Design Centre, London), where leading experts in the Android space will share their ideas and thoughts on all things mobile. This year at droidcon London you will have the opportunity to try your hand at one of the Drone Simulation Stations on the droidcon London exhibition floor throughout the conference.
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The grand opening of the new DJI store in Costa Mesa, CA yesterday, was a great success. The line of people trying to get into the store wrapped around the building, the Orange County Register reports. hundreds of drone enthusiasts had come to visit the new store and try out some of DJI’s drones. Consumers can try out the drones in a specially designed flying cage. The experience is much like an Apple store, where customers can touch and feel the various products. It is the only store of its kind in the area. The other stores are in San Francisco, San Diego, Denver and New York City.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection released b-roll video footage showing various prototypes of the border wall Trump promised during his campaign. The video is shot from a drone that flies over the various wall prototypes and like Matt Novak from Gizmodo points out: “the drone video of border wall prototypes accidently shows how worthless the wall would be.” Trump said that the purpose of the wall was to stop: “drugs from pouring into this country”. However, any affordable and easily obtainable consumer drone would have no problem flying over the wall to drop drugs on the other side.
A new DJI store will be opening today in Costa Mesa in Orange County, CA. It will offer the full range of products, services and support from DJI, the Chinese drone manufacturer that is considered the market leader.
The DJI store at 2927 Bristol St. in Costa Mesa is one of five DJI-authorized stores in the nation. The other four are in New York, Denver, San Diego and San Francisco. Store owner Patrick Smith proudly states that the new store will also be the largest in terms of storefront space.
Caught in the act! The drone captured footage of a 33-year-old man as he pointed a rifle to the drone, just before it crashed to the ground, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said. The man from White City, OR faces accusations he shot down a $1,000 unmanned aerial vehicle Tuesday evening, reported KVAL. The shooting of the drone happened around 5:35 p.m. at the Hoover Ponds recreation area near White City.
Aerial firefighting operations battling Bear Fire in Santa Cruz Mountains, were briefly suspended after a drone was seen flying in the area. The crucial firefighting operations in the Santa Cruz Mountains were stopped around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday earlier this week, as officials worked to remove a drone from the area, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office officials.
The Liverpool Echo reported that a man was arrested after a foiled drone drugs drop-off at the Walton Prison in Liverpool, England. Prison staff had sighted the drone flying over the prison on Thursday, October 19, around 12:40am with a package hanging below it. Merseyside police officers came out and located a man in a nearby field. The package contained not only drugs but also mobile phones and tobacco. Very similar to the drop-off attempt we reported on earlier in Michigan. The suspect in this case fled but was apprehended in a backyard on Stuart Road North in Bootle. The drone and controller were located in the field. Another package was later found under a van on Stuart Road North. It contained mobile phones, cannabis, and tobacco.
CNN has another exclusive as it received the first waiver of its kind from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly drones over crowds. The news network announced on Wednesday that it received approval to fly a Vantage Robotics Snap drone up to 150 feet in the air over crowds and groups of people. Up till Wednesday, this was strictly off-limits, but it seems that the FAA has changed its mind. The safety features of the Snap drone may have played an important role in acquiring the approval as this drone comes with cages over its rotors to prevent injuries. The drone only weighs 1.37 pounds and recent research has indicated that weight is an important factor in reducing the risk of injury.
The Australian Government’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) launched a dedicated website today, called DroneFlyer, to help people new to flying drones the rules of the game. It is a really nice and user-friendly website with easy-to-understand information for anybody getting into drones, whether you are an 8-year-old who got a drone for his birthday or you are thinking about starting a career as a commercial drone pilot.
If you happen to be at the Adobe MAX conference in Las Vegas and you want to have a good look at the new DJI Zenmuse X7, then today is your last chance. DJI is one of the Gold Sponsors at the 2017 Adobe MAX and they have a booth there as well, where you can see all their latest products and test fly some of their drones. So if you are at Adobe Max 2017 in Las Vegas be sure to stop by. Adobe MAX runs from October 16 to 20.
Today is the last day!
Skyward has been approved as a LAANC provider, an automated, fast-track approval process to allow commercial drone pilots to gain instant access to controlled airspace. This is a huge step forward as it reduces wait times for commercial drone operators to mere seconds whereas the traditional approval process could take months.
Skyward, which is owned by Verizon, is the first FAA-approved vendor to begin administering the automated Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) approval process. They have announced that the system will go live this fall at the following four airports: Cincinnati International Airport (CVG), Reno (RNO), San Jose (SJC), and Lincoln (LNK). The FAA plans to include 49 airports in the program by the end of next year.
After Police departments in Boston and Los Angeles, Hong Kong is now testing drones outfitted with thermal cameras to fight terrorism, catch bad guys and help with search and rescue operations. The Hong Kong’s elite police squads have recently begun testing with thermal drones. The drones manufactured by DJI, the world’s largest manufacturer of unmanned aircraft vehicles, that recently had its products banned by the US army, were being considered for anti-crime and antiterrorism operations, police officials told the Post. The drones would not be used for surveillance at protests and rallies.
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to soar like a bird along mountaintops in the Swiss Alps? Very few people get to see the snow-capped mountains this way. However, this amazing drone video “Elevations” brings it right to your screen.
The short film, “Elevations,” was made by Montreal-based Swiss physicist Gabriel Kocher, who has a second career as a drone racer (Gab707). He finished second in the Drone Racing League’s Allianz World Championship earlier this year. The drone in the short movie races over a rocky valley up the face the face of a mountain. On its way up it passes over waterfalls, flies around moutaintops and captures breathtaking 360-degree views.
Amidst protest, the civilian board overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department voted 3-1 in favor of the LAPD using the pilot program. On Tuesday the Los Angeles Police Department signed off on a year-long test of drones. The LAPD is the largest police department in the U.S. to do so.
According to the proposal, the drones will be specifically used by the LAPD’s Metropolitan Division SWAT Team in “dangerous, high-risk tactical situations and improve situational awareness capabilities during natural disasters and catastrophic incidents.”
The FAA said on Monday, that hobbyist drones are becoming a problem in the California wildfires that continue to burn. So far at least two drone incidents have been reported in which unauthorized amateur drones were interfering with firefighters.
Earlier last week in the Santa Rosa area, where the mail was still being delivered after the fires had gone through, there was a drone incursion reported. Last Sunday Cal Fire helicopters were halted in Petaluma after a drone had been spotted.
DJI is one of the Gold Sponsors at the 2017 Adobe MAX. Adobe had some major announcements this year at their annual Adobe MAX conference. Our Micheal Steeber was present and reported on Adobe’s new cloud-based Lightroom CC and Adobe Sensei. DJI has a booth as well, where you can see all their latest products as well as test fly some of their drones. So if you are at Adobe Max 2017 in Las Vegas be sure to stop by. Adobe MAX runs from October 16 to 20.
Ever wanted to go drone racing in Tokyo Japan? Well starting Saturday, October 21 you can in the 535 m² “DJI Arena By JDRONE Tokyo” Arena. The drone space does not only feature a flying-area but also a retail store and will offer technical support. The Tokyo DJI Arena will be managed and operated by Authorized Dealer Japan Circuit in partnership with DJI Japan.
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It has been a little quiet around Alphabet’s Project Wing, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any progress. Over the last few years, Project Wing has made thousands of test flights and now they are ready to start making deliveries. The test market is Queanbeyan, South Eastern Australia, where two merchants have signed up for Project Wing. Guzman y Gomez, a Mexican food chain, and Chemist Warehouse, a chain of pharmacies. These companies will receive orders from test consumers, who’ve purchased items using the Project Wing app on their smartphones. Project Wing’s drones will then fly out and make the deliveries. The first burrito delivered by drone in Australia is now a fact. Believe it or not, this actually happened before when Google delivered Chipotle Burritos via drones to Virginia Tech college students in Blacksburg.
DJI just released an official statement on the report of a plane striking a drone in Quebec that we wrote about earlier today. Currently, it is not known (or at least not officially) what kind of drone and what brand exactly has collided with the commercial airliner. However with DJI being the largest drone manufacturer, chances are, it may have been one of their products. DJI states that they are ready to assist the Canadian aviation authorities. The collision took place at about 1500 feet of elevation and DJI’s drones are programmed by default to not exceed 4oo feet. In their release, DJI stresses that many people are using drones safely and responsibly and that DJI is pioneering new technologies such as geo-fencing and AeroScope to allow for safer sharing of the airspace.