A wounded Ukrainian warrior found himself in a bad spot, and with no way to get off a battlefield after his unit was attacked by Russian forces. Meanwhile, drones above scanned the field for intel and inspecting anything they saw. Dmytro had an idea: show his military ID to a passing drone, and hope it’s friendly so someone can send for help.
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The Phoenix Fire Department announced that it is adding a fleet of Skydio drones to its arsenal to support its firefighters while on a call.
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We’ve seen law enforcement use drones in many different ways to keep the peace or search and rescue, but now you can add saving ducklings from a storm drain to that list.
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Firefighters rescued two dogs from the enormous sinkhole in Puebla, Mexico. Drones show the animals trapped on a ledge inside the monstrous crater.
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A new surveillance drone will be deployed by the Canadian Coast Guard in trials funded by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC). Kongsberg Geospatial has been selected as the firm to oversee the tests, which involve MartinUAV’s innovative V-BAT drone.
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This happens to be a funny story from a few years back when the Mavic 2 was first released. We took the drones out to fly but encountered quite a funky situation that resulted in one of the more unique drone recovery missions I’ve witnessed.
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It started out as a fun drone flight by the beach. It ended with a high-stakes rescue.
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Firefighters were called to a sinking boat at Glasson Dock Marina in Lancaster, UK early on June 23rd with the job of containing its leaking fuel. The firefighters along with a hazmat unit, boat unit, and aerial unit all worked to limit the environmental impact.
CBS News captured a startling video on Sunday of a loudspeaker-equipped drone admonishing people to maintain COVID-19 social distancing. Now the FAA wants to know who’s behind the campaign and check their paperwork.
This is a story of how two Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 drones (DJI, Amazon) ended up in two 140-foot-high white oak trees. And how they were safely retrieved during our drone rescue operation last weekend. Without pointing fingers, we’ll take a look at what went wrong, what went right, and what lessons can be learned for future drone operations. Best to grab a cup of coffee for this somewhat lengthy story.
In Enfield, Connecticut, police used a drone to find a blind man who had walked away from home and became disoriented. The police said they were contacted by a family member of the man on Saturday morning around 8:45 am. Family members told the police that they were unable to make contact with the man which was uncommon.
A drone helped a hurt hiker rappel 400 feet during a daring rescue at Snow Canyon State Park in Utah on Sunday. It was the first time an unmanned aircraft was used this way by the Washington County Search and Rescue team.
Update: we just got confirmation from the Washington County Sheriff Search and Rescue that the drone in question was a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual with an aftermarket drop system. Impressive!
More than 100 pilots lift off from Jim R. Miller Park during a two-day GEMA and FEMA drone training event, participating in exercises ranging from obstacle courses to barricaded gunmen scenarios.
A hiker and dog became disoriented and lost in a terrain laden with swamps and marshes in Canada on Thursday night. A drone from the Renfrew County Paramedic team played a key part in the dramatic rescue of the duo.
Updated with drone video footage of the actual rescue.
In a world-first study, university researchers from Adelaide, Australia, and Iraq have been working on drones with special cameras and software that can tell if a person is dead or alive, for instance in disaster-stricken areas.
Here’s a cool story of drones being used for good! A developer is using aerial images taken with a drone, a DJI Mavic Pro (DJI, Amazon
A drone video shows a capsized cargo ship off the coast of Georgia. The ship started listing Sunday at 2 am off St. Simons island shortly after it left the Port of Brunswick, Ga., on its way to Baltimore.
A missing 90-year-old woman from Marquette County, Wisconsin was found with the help of a drone. According to a release by the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office, the drone was equipped with a FLIR Thermal imaging camera. The missing woman suffers from dementia. She was found by the drone.
Earlier today, DJI sent out this message to all rescue and recovery drone operators urging them to get ready and prepare now for post-storm operations. In the same statement, the Chinese drone maker warns all other drone pilots to follow the FAA guidance and to not fly in affected areas. You do not want to be that person that is responsible for halting a rescue operation, because you thought it was a good idea to get some aerial footage of the aftermath of Hurrican Dorian. Drone pilots who interfere with emergency response could face fines as high as $20,000.
New research from non-profit group DRONERESPONDERS that was presented at the 2019 UAS DRONES Disaster Conference in Los Angeles, shows that the fast-growing Public Safety Drone Programs face new challenges. Analyst Greg Crutsinger, Ph.D., presented insights as to how first responders and their agencies are using UAS for public safety.
Managing an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) program can be a challenging endeavor. There are a myriad of regulations, technical challenges, and operational issues that every program manager must contend with. But managing a public safety UAS program can be even more daunting – especially in communities where privacy is paramount and distrust of “big brother” lingers in the air.
Romeo Durscher, DJI’s Director of Public Safety Integration, shared a short video on Facebook that shows how a drone helped ground crews put out a spot fire in the Chalkyitsik Complex, Alaska. The aerial view that an unmanned aircraft provides, helps firefighters locate a small fire in dense vegetation. Small fires like these can be hard to spot from the ground and that is when drones can come to the rescue.
During a drone demonstration by local fire and police departments in Ohio, a demo flight turned into a real search and rescue operation when a father asked Fire Chief Brian Miller and Police Cpl. Justin Alloway to help locate his nine-year-old daughter. It all happened during the Fourth Friday event last week in Westerville when thousands of people crowd the streets of the Ohio town. Hannah, the missing girl, had walked ahead of her family and the father couldn’t find her anymore. Luckily, the DJI M210 drone located the girl within minutes and reunited the family. Drones for good!
Drone records rescue of a man in a wheelchair stuck in rising floodwaters. After spending more than 24 hours stuck in his motorized wheelchair in rising floodwaters, the 73 year-old-man from Mansfield said that he prayed to be rescued. According to local police, his family reported Jefferson missing on Saturday. The man who suffers from dementia was last seen around noon. Drones are increasingly being used during rescue operations to either find missing persons or as in this case to assist in the rescue.
