Around the world, and especially in Australia, lifeguards are using drones to spot for sharks and to deliver lifevests or personal flotation devices (PFD’s) to swimmers and surfers in need. In most of these cases larger and more expensive commercial drones are used. Not in this case, however, where creative lifeguards decided to use a regular DJI Mavic Pro. The drone is equipped with a bait release system, commonly used by fishermen, that releases the PFD when the drone reaches the swimmer or surfer in need. Basic, inexpensive and it gets the job done. Bravo!

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Deliveries by drone are making progress around the world. More so than here in the US for now, but hopefully, that will change soon. In the island-nation of Vanuatu, vaccines were delivered by drone this week. Many of the villages spread out over the various islands are so hard to reach that about 20% of the children miss their shots. Drones have shown to be a viable solution to this problem, making Vanuatu the first nation in the world with a childhood vaccine program that is officially drone-dependent.

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Because of a nearby drone, rescuers had to wait an additional five minutes before they could perform a helicopter rescue to save an injured fisherman on Australia’s Gold Coast. The 76-year-old fisherman was stranded on the rocks of the seaway’s northern wall at South Stradbroke Island. His boat’s anchor had come loose and had washed ashore. Even though he was close to dry grounds he was unable to leave the boat safely.

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The summer of 2018 will be remembered as a very hot and dry one. Many parts of the world experienced very high temperatures and extreme drought that led to wildfires, water shortages and all kinds of other problems. The state of New South Wales in Australia wasn’t spared either as they were hit with a 100% drought, causing farmers to struggle with failing crops, reduced livestock feed, and limited water supplies. In an article from The Guardian, photographer David Gray shows us that the drought, when seen from the air, can provide some really artful scenes. David captured them with his drone for all of us to see. Check them out below.

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Robert Capa famously said that: “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” It seems that the same holds true for drone photography and videography. Check out this video that was shared on Facebook a few days ago. It shows a huge Marlin fighting for its freedom and the action is being captured by a DJI Phantom drone. The drone pilot flies the aircraft so close to the action that the footage is simply spectacular.

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