Scott Simmie

Eagles have been flying since, well, a very long time ago. DJI Phantoms have been flying since roughly 2012-2013. So, in a battle for supremacy of the air, who might win? Wait, as we walk you through aerial combat where there can be but one winner.

Yes, I realize I’m a little behind the curve to be writing about the Mavic Air 2. But, truth is, I received a loaner just recently, not long after joining DroneDJ. I’d done some indoor flying, but I finally got a chance to get out into the great outdoors. So this will be a relatively brief, “first impressions'” kind of review.

Ensuring that everything is A-OK prior to taking off for a drone flight is important. But it’s not that easy to remember all the various things that you should really be marking methodically off a checklist. That’s why we recommend using and personalizing a standard pre-flight checklist.

Battery semi-charged? Check. Propellers attached? Check. Then let’s power up and fly! Well, not so fast. Today we’ll make the case — and from personal experience — that it pays to give your gear a routine but deliberate inspection before each and every flight.

A clever drone pilot recently put his drone to use in a very new way: To document his marriage proposal. Using a DJI Mavic Air, the plan worked perfectly, capturing a picture-perfect proposal from the air. Regardless of the occasion, we’ll show you how to do the same.

It’s always great to see the #DronesForGood hashtag out there. Generally, it flags a story where a drone has been used to help a person, or for some other positive reason. And this case? Well, no arguments about that. A DJI Mavic 2 drone was used in South Korea to get asthma medicine to a 7-year-old boy in a flood zone.

A report by the UK’s Air Accident Board has investigated the December 2019 crash of a DJI Matrice M600 Pro into a residential neighborhood. The report makes some recommendations to help avoid a future mishap like this one, which investigators say had the potential to cause serious injury to a person on the ground.

Aerial footage has emerged of the oil spill in Mauritius. Already, it appears to have caused extensive damage. The country has declared an environmental emergency as a result of the spill – and it’s easy to see why.

Some drone footage has emerged from Beirut. It provides a glimpse of the pervasive devastation caused by the explosion earlier this week.

A leaked picture emerged August 7 that has the internet abuzz. It’s a heavily pixelated image of a DJI-branded drone that appears to be a marked departure. But that is it?

Police in the UK really love to use their drones. And when those drones happen to help them in dramatic fashion, they love to post videos. We’re happy they do, because this drone video of a hapless suspect trying to evade capture is priceless.

I’ve seen this video pop up multiple times, most recently in my Twitter feed. And every time I see it, I think: There’s no way that chimpanzee is flying that drone. And so I started to drill down to the source to see what I could learn.

So, we have barely just started to get professional sports back on track. And then, in the midst of a Major League Baseball game between the Twins and the Pirates, in comes a drone. It seems someone thought it would be a good idea to fly what appears to be a DJI Mavic Pro over the field in Minneapolis during the game — and that caused a drone delay.

DJI denies allegations that its Android “Pilot” app has security issues that could compromise user data. The company released a statement overnight refuting each of the allegations made yesterday morning in the blog of French tech firm Synacktiv.

So, not long after allegations that the Android version of DJI’s popular GO 4 app might have some security issues, there’s a new claim that the DJI Pilot app – meant for professional Enterprise users – may share similar problems. DJI has fired back, saying the app does not have any of these issues. A public relations firm pushed the latest allegations to drone news websites. And that…raises some questions of its own.

You know the rules by now: Don’t fly your drone anywhere in controlled airspace where it might conflict with manned aircraft — unless you have a specific reason for making the flight, have all requisite permissions or waivers from the FAA or your local regulatory authority — and really know what you’re doing. Why? You’ll see.

The planned gathering bills itself as “probably the largest drone event in the UK.” And while we can’t speak to that, we can tell you what the organizers have planned.

One of DJI’s high-profile employees has taken the next step in their career. After four years with the world’s leader in drones and aerial imaging technology, David Benowitz is moving to Drone Analyst, which gathers, analyzes, and sells drone data. He’ll be the company’s Head of Research.

The other day, we posted a video we quite liked from Thailand. It included some great drone and photography shots, so we thought we’d track down the person responsible. Turns out that quest led us to Australia, where — after negotiating the crazy time difference from Toronto — we got a chance to speak with Max Harach. And Max had some great things to say, including some tips for drone videographers!

You’ve probably heard about cases where certain bird species will perceive a drone as a threat and attack it, right? Well in this case, a drone has been put to use to deliver food to a rare vulture chick in Israel. In fact, this drone has to replace one of the vulture’s parents – earning it the nickname of “Mama” drone.

As the planet continues to negotiate the COVID-19 obstacle course, DJI has released a video of employees that shines a light on how some of them have coped. It’s a fun little romp into living rooms around the globe and helps put a personal face on a giant corporation. Seriously, it’s worth watching.