Here’s a new way to use drones during the coronavirus lockdown. Instead of yelling at people why not ask a girl for a date using your drone? Yes, drone dating during the coronavirus lockdown with a DJI Mavic drone.
Only days after Erica Tishman, a well-known architect, was killed by pieces of building facade that fell in midtown Manhattan, some New York City officials are now pushing for inspections by drone to prevent such accidents from happening in the future. Currently, an outdated law prohibits the use of drones in New York City.
Last year we reported on how an outdated law prohibits drone flying in New York City. Today, the Wall Street Journal writes about how drone “technology’s hand is being tied behind its back” by this decade-old law. While other cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago are embracing drone technology, New York City is falling further behind. For instance, the use of drones could save tremendous amounts of time during the five-year inspections of building facades that are currently done manually. Not having to set up scaffolding around New York high-rises also eliminates the risks involved when people have to ascend these structures to perform the mandatory inspections. Drones from companies such as Automodaility and PrecisionHawk could do that work faster, safer, and more cheaply. The article also points out the safety concerns that industry insiders have for New York’s residents and the general public. See below for some quotes and highlights from this Wall Street Journal article [paywall].
In fact, two NYPD officers working crowd control during a well-known rabbi’s funeral were injured today. One NYPD officer was hit on the head by an illegally-flown drone, while the other was injured when the hearse ran over his leg in Brooklyn, NY.
The New York Police Department wants the authority to take down drones if they are deemed to be a threat. Officials from the NYPD are concerned about weaponized drones such as the ones we have seen used in the Middle East to drop explosives. Federal law-enforcement officials are authorized to disable or shoot down a drone since 2018, however, local law enforcement agencies are not. The NYPD now seeks to change this, but it would take additional federal legislation to do so.
You’d like to fly your drone in NYC? Well, it is probably best to watch this video first. Griffin Hammond does a great job explaining why it’s mostly illegal to fly your drone in NYC. He lists four main reasons as to why he, even as an FAA-certified pilot, can’t fly drones in New York City. There’s a fifth reason, not mentioned in the video, that should also warn you against flying your unmanned aircraft in the big apple. Luckily there are a few places where you can still legally fly and you will not be hunted down by the NYPD.
As we reported last year, the NYPD had planned to use a tethered drone to help keep everybody safe during the famous ball drop at Times Square in New York during the New Year’s Eve celebrations. However, the rain, unfortunately, put a halt to those plans and no NYPD drone was deployed.
Today the New York Police or NYPD announced that they will start using 14 DJI drones. The aircraft are to be used for reconstructing traffic crashes, crime scenes, securing large events and search-and-rescue operations. Some people fear however that ‘mission creep’ may set in and worry that the drones might be used to spy on law-abiding citizens. During a demonstration today, the NYPD denied the drones would be used for that purpose.
Last week, Tech:NYC together with DJI, organized their third edition of Policy Labs ‘Drones 101’ at DJI’s offices in New York. The event brings together industry leaders and policymakers to discuss the implications of emerging technology. This time the focus was on drones and the outdated NYC law that restrict drone use in both the city of New York and the state.
On Wednesday, a United Airlines crew spotted a drone flying ‘near’ the Statue of Liberty. It disappeared before the NYPD could ground the ‘illegal’ unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Reportedly the drone flew about 3,000 to 4,000 feet away from the landmark sometime between 6 pm and 6:30 pm on Wednesday.
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Adorama’s Inspire event will take place in New York City next week (June 25 – July 1) at various locations. Most interestingly for fans of unmanned aerial aircraft are the drone workshops that the company will be hosting. Dirk Dallas, who you probably know from #fromwhereidrone, will be teaching you the ins and outs of drone photography and videography in different hands-on workshops. So if you are in the area be sure to stop by and check it out!
Back in April, we first reported on the French drone maker. Parrot being up to something. Well, tomorrow will be the day of the official announcement. In a tweet earlier today, Parrot is talking about ‘It’s coming’ and your life taking ‘a new flight’. They also refer to tomorrow’s event as ‘the big announcement.’ DroneDJ will be reporting live from the event that is scheduled to take place in New York at 10 am EST.
Let me start off by saying that I, like almost 10 million other people, am a fan of Casey Neistat and his daily vlogs. Casey’s style, creativity and storytelling ability are second to none and his videos are highly entertaining. However, the videos are also very controversial when it comes to his use of drones. Yesterday, Casey uploaded his latest video in which he buys a DJI Inspire 2 and Zenmuse X5S (?). Together with his good friends and drone experts, Elaine and Justin, they get on a boat to fly and test the new drone. The group ventures out on to the Hudson River, East River, and in the New York Harbor and capture amazing drone footage of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. Within the first 24 hours of posting the video, it has been watched almost 900,000 times and a discussion has ignited in the comments section as to whether this video constitutes legal or illegal drone flying. First of all, I am not a drone/aviation lawyer, but after having watched the video a couple of times, there are a few moments that question the legality of the drone operation and at the same time show the complexity around the FAA’s drone regulations. Let’s take a closer look.
DJI just released a new teaser video for their upcoming event in New York City on January 23rd.
In the video, we see a number of quick shots showing New York City, commuters, a beach, planet earth, urban environments, people, a fingerprint, cells, a nerve system, storms, lightning, crashing ocean wave, rain, growing plants, ants, a match lighting, an iris and…
Parts of the design of the new Mavic Air!
The video wonders if we are ready for what is to come. I think we are!
Update: it seems we have the name DJI Mavic Air confirmed!
Many people were expecting Chinese drone manufacturer, DJI to showcase new drones at the CES 2018 event in Las Vegas this week. But they did not. Instead of new drones, DJI showed a redesigned Osmo Mobile 2 and an all-new Ronin-S stabilizer. Both seem to be great products, but we did feel some disappointment that no new drones were announced. Luckily, it now seems that this may change soon as we just received an invite to a DJI event in New York City on January 23rd to announce new gear.
CBS New York joined the NYPD on a mission to hunt drones in New York City. With the number of drones rapidly increasing, 770,000 drones have been registered with the FAA as of earlier this year, so is the number of drone incidents. CBS2’s Maurice Dubois took to the sky with the NYPD to see how they are cracking down on rogue drones.
