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
In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey fleets of commercial drones will be used to assess the billions of dollars in flood and storm damage. Earlier we reported that ATT and Verizon were using drones on a large scale to inspect and survey cell phone towers. Now we have learned that both Allstate and Farmers Insurance will be deploying fleets of drones to do the same.
The BBC reported that a DJI Inspire drone, used as a fire service drone on behalf of Jersey’s Department for the Environment, got attacked by Asian hornets as it was out to survey the nest. The sound of the propellers must have alarmed the hornets as they ‘swarmed out’ and sprayed the Inspire with venom. The nest found in the Channel Islands is thought to contain 6000 hornets.
First a little background on the Lily drone. Back in 2015, the Lily was launched on Kickstarter as the world’s first, waterproof, ultraportable, throw-and-shoot camera, that would provide professional cinematic video footage. The Lily was an instant success, totaling a massive $34 million dollars in pre-sales from around 60,000 customers as well as a $15 million in private funding. Then in the beginning of 2017 things came to an abrupt end. Lily’s co-founders Antoine and Henry sent out a letter “The Adventure Comes to an End“, announcing that they will shut down the company.
Often times drones make the news in not so great ways; somebody spies on a neighbor or a drone crashes to the ground during a bicycle race (1:40). So it’s good to see when drones make the news in a positive way. Both Verizon and ATT are deploying drones on a large scale to quickly repair and restore their network after Hurricane Harvey. Especially after the expansive flooding that occurred, many areas cannot easily or safely be accessed. The use of drones offers a clear advantage as the repair crews can assess more towers, more quickly. Obviously, it is vitally important that people in need of help, can use their cell phones to reach first aid responders or in other situations for people to stay in touch with loved ones. That drones play an important role in making this possible is a big positive.
Today at the IFA in Berlin, Germany, we were able to shoot this video comparing the newly announced DJI Mavic Pro Platinum to the original DJI Mavic Pro. Even though there is a lot of background noise in this video, you can clearly hear the difference in noise levels between the two different drones. The newly designed propellers and the new electronic speed controllers (ESC’s) help to reduce the power noise levels by 4dB. This is a 60% noise reduction when you are about 3 feet away from the drone as Seth is in this video.
Today at the IFA show in Berlin, DJI introduced two (not entirely) new drones and the new ‘Sphere’ mode for the Spark. The new Mavic Pro Platinum offers increased flight time and reduced noise levels. The new Phantom 4 Pro comes in a new Obsidian color and has an improved gimbal.
August 30 update
Temporary Flight Restrictions in place for the Hurrican Harvey Area. The Federal Aviation Administration has continued to handle emergency and relief operations at a number of airports in the Hurricane Harvey area, including at Houston Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental. The FAA is prepared to support the resumption of commercial service flights when airport authorities reopen the airports.
Many people are sharing photos and drone footage of Hurricane Harvey and the damage it has caused in the Houston area. We have all seen the smart phone images and videos of wind damage and flooding over the last few days. However now with affordable amateur drones widely available, we are seeing many drone footage of the Houston flooding shared through social media and uploaded to Youtube. We have listed a few below.
Both the FAA and the Texas Military Department warn amateur drone pilots against flying drones over Hurricane Harvey rescue areas. They should not interfere with the work of emergency responders and rescue operations. This warning was sent out already on Friday by email and was also posted on the FAA website.
The FAA warns:
Unauthorized drone operators that they may be subject to significant fines if they interfere with emergency response operations. Flying a drone without authorization in or near the disaster area may violate federal, state, or local laws and ordinances, even if a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is not in place. Allow first responders to save lives and property without interference.
DJI just released a firmware update yesterday to enhance flight safety for your DJI Spark (see here for first impression). Or, in plain English, to prevent situations like the one in the video below, where you lose control of your drone, it takes a life of its own, flies away and crashes in a field.
DJI just announced, for a limited time only, the DJI Endless Summer Sale Event with special discounts on various combinations of their products.
Effective immediately, Roger Luo has been appointed as the President of DJI, the world’s leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology. For the last two years, Mr. Luo had been the Vice President of Operations, where he has overseen logistics, production, and procurement. In his new role as President of the company, Mr. Luo will be responsible for day-to-day operations and growing DJI’s business internationally, especially in markets that have shown a significant increase in demand for unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and camera applications.
Earlier this week Quartz reported that some users had complained on the DJI Forum that their Spark drones came crashing down. Apparently, people lost connection to their drones during flight and in some cases that led to the drone crashing down. Here at DroneDJ, we had experienced a short disconnect during our initial test flight as well. In our case, however, the disconnect occurred when the Spark was hovering and it only lasted for a very short period of time. Hence our drone did not crash and we didn’t think too much of it. Now with more people reporting similar and more serious issues, the question arises whether this is a user error or that something else is going on with this little drone.
Note: This article was first published on 9to5mac on June 18th, 2017.
Last Thursday I finally got my hands on the super-portable $500 DJI Spark and, as a photographer and drone enthusiast, the DJI SPark is probably the most exciting iPhone accessory of the year. The DJI Spark is such a small drone that you can take it with you anywhere and anytime, while it also has optics and stabilization features along with some impressive AI that produces impressive imagery and video.
They say that the best camera is the one you have in your pocket. Having a drone that you can easily bring along on trips opens up a whole new world of possibilities. That’s what gets me the most excited…
An illegally flown drone gives scale to next to a lava tube in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Andrew Studer recently captured this amazing shot of a (Phantom?) drone flying very close to a lava spout in Hawaii National Park. On Facebook Andrew said:
Shot this photo of some random person illegally flying their drone near a fire hose in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. As frustrating as it was that they were flying, I wanted to share this photo with the drone in it as I feel like it helps give a little bit of scale to just how massive the spout and explosions are. Please remember that in most situations it’s still illegal to fly a drone in National Parks
New software updates from drone maker DJI have geo-fenced off large areas of Iraq and Syria. The updates to the No-Fly Zones (NFZ) were recently discovered by Kevin Finisterre of drone biz Department 13 and reported to The Register.
The updates were made somewhere between February 25 and 27, seemingly to coincide with a large scale attack from US-backed Iraqi military units in the Western Mosul area. No-Fly Zones 31 and 38, implemented on 27 February, cover the city of Mosul.
