Sydney’s massive New Year’s Eve fireworks could be replaced by drones for good after Liberal councilor Craig Chung gave the go-ahead for the City of Sydney to report on the feasibility of using drones. The proposal came up due to the massive bushfires that destroyed much of eastern Australia.
An early bushfire detection system is currently seeking funding to be deployed before Australia’s next bushfire season thanks to UNSW Digital Grid Futures Institute, a research group headed by Professor Joe Dong. The new system will utilize drones equipped with an array of sensors to monitor changes that could mean a bushfire is nearing.
Andrew Davies is the first drone pilot to be granted a drone spraying license for weeds in Tasmania, Australia, after years of fighting to get the license. Previously in mining and construction, Andrew saw a hole in the market and decided to fill it, using a drone equipped with pesticide sprayers.
Are you going to the beach this summer and happen to be in Australia? Look up, you might see a drone flying around keeping an eye on swimmers, looking out for sharks, or helping out with rescue efforts. The drone will be yellow and red — the colors of lifesaving — to make sure it stands out.
Animal rescue group WIRES has partnered with Australian UAV to get drones into the air to measure and track the wildlife that managed to survive the devastating Australian bushfires. The Ripper Rescue Alliance has also been created and has deployed its drones to help with the massive task ahead.
DroneDeploy, the drone software company out of Silicon Valley, will soon be opening up shop in Australia. The company will help the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority monitor the deteriorating ocean habitat.
Aussie couple Jolie King and Mark Firkin, who were locked up in Iran after illegally flying their drone, are now free and are back in Australia. The Australian government has been working hard to bring the couple back safely, but has yet to be successful in their efforts to bring an Australian academic home.
The Australia-based Ripper Group, known for their drones that can identify sharks, has partnered with Amazon to deliver a crocodile-spotting drone service to beaches in Australia.
An Aussie couple has been locked up in Iran after an illegal drone flight earlier this year. The couple along with another woman is looking at a ten-year plus sentence for the drone flight that would change their life forever.
Natalie Malligan has been announced as Uber Air Australia‘s head, flying Australia forward in Uber Elevate’s passenger drone ambitions. The news comes after Melbourne was added to the list of cities to be first to offer Uber Air flights along with Dallas and Los Angeles.
Earlier this week, Indigenous rangers from around Australia came together at this year’s Indigenous Ranger Forum to learn, share, and gain new skills. Australia’s Indigenous rangers are turning to drones to protect and watch over sacred land, save time, and make the land more manageable.
An Australian drone pilot was fined AUD$7750 earlier this month in the Wollongong Magistrates Court over unsafe drone flights. The man was spotted by the public and later the NSW Police. The fine comes as the Civil Aviation Authority (CASA) is finalizing new drone laws and taking a hands-on approach in the drone community.
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Today, Google parent Alphabet Inc’s, Wing made its first delivery by drone in Cranberry, Australia after receiving approval from the country’s Civil Aviation Authority. Initially, the drone delivery service will only be available to 100 eligible homes in Grace, Palmerston, and Franklin. Later it will be slowly expanded to other customers in Harrison and Gungahlin.
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!
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.
Even though China is trying to make headways into military drone market and touting lower prices to convince potential buyers, Australia just announced that it will buy American drones, namely the Reaper. The 12 to 16 unmanned warships are to be stationed in Papua New Guinea in response to regional security threats, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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.
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.
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.
Australian aviation authority, CASA launches a new campaign, that seems mostly aimed at children who might receive a drone as a present, to increase the awareness of the rules for new drone pilots. The campaign is called: “Rules apply when you fly!” and consists of a one-minute video animation that quickly explains the most important rules a drone pilot should be aware of.
A 22-year-old man, an international tourist, drowned on Wednesday while swimming near Fingal Beach in Northern New South Wales, Australia. For the first time, drones played a role in retrieving the body from the ocean.
Today two teenagers got in distress when they were swimming in rough seas off the shore of Lennox Head in New South Wales, Australia. The lifeguards on duty did not waste any time and deployed the Little Ripper rescue drone to fly out to the swimmers and drop a flotation device. The two boys were able to grab the device, hold on to it and swim safely back to shore where they were met by lifeguards and only appeared to show signs of fatigue.
According to Ben Franklin, parliamentary secretary for Northern New South Wales, the whole event took 70 seconds instead of the 6 minutes it normally takes a lifeguard to reach people in need.