DroneDJ

Chinese researchers are certainly on a roll in their development of breakthrough drone technology. Following a flurry of earlier innovations, experts in China have now unveiled a new drone that can reportedly attain similar underwater and aerial performance levels.

When Matt Woods’s Mavic 2 Zoom took off from his Bondi Beach balcony, the amateur Australian pilot was hoping to add a nice new ocean video to his collection. Instead, the drone captured a spear-fisherman’s gripping 30-minute battle to fend off an aggressive shark until help arrived.

Ah, what people won’t do to help addicts get their fix – including flying a drone to transport banned substances to the chemically addled in confinement.

We enjoy Ken Heron’s YouTube work. He infuses his reviews with a great sense of humor. And, trust us, his latest drone crash compilation video is a blast.

Skydio – the US manufacturer best-known for its AI-equipped drones that can take on tasks some other drones simply can’t – held a webinar today to discuss the capabilities of Skydio Cloud. First announced at AUVSI, the platform is designed to seamlessly integrate with the rest of the company’s platforms. Let’s see what it does.

Friends don’t let friends fly a drone while drunk. You know it, we know it. But it appears this 56-year-old man in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture doesn’t know it. For he thought it would be OK to take a long-forgotten drone out for a spin after guzzling eight 350 ml cans of beer.

We thought it might be fun to pop into the platform and check out some of the TikTok drone accounts. And, well, we’re impressed.

There’s never a dull moment with Phil Mickelson around. With nearly three decades of professional golf experience behind him, the guy has given fans some pretty wonderful and whacky “Phil being Phil’” anecdotes. But not many come close to what happened ahead of his victory at the 2021 PGA Championship in May 2021. And it involves a drone.

British Navy officials are reacting to the looting of sunken World War II ships with promises to protect the graves of the hundreds of UK sailors who went down with those vessels. How will they do that? Possibly with a silent UK underwater manta ray spy drone.

European soccer coach José Mourihno has been called many, many things in his career ­– “innovative” being among the few printable descriptions. Now the man who ever so modestly once nicknamed himself “The Special One” is using drones to film soccer training sessions in the hopes they’ll help get some of his former winning mojo back.

Global logistics giant DHL says it’s expanding its drone activities with middle-mile uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) deliveries. First flights of the same-day service are expected later this year.

In 2022, Japan’s government agencies will stop purchasing drones from China to curb potential security risks. Private organizations plan to follow suit. But affordable homegrown options are nonexistent. This is why the leading infrastructure companies are now exploring open-source drone technologies to decrease the cost and complexity of developing new aircraft.

Israel’s High Lander, which makes fleet management and UTM solutions, has just hit a milestone. The company has received approval for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights in overpopulated urban areas, including residential and commercial zones, in northern Israel.

In baseball they call it a “rookie error,” though famously salty-tongued Glaswegians are doubtlessly using other terms to describe it. A new cop in Glasgow’s police force called in for backup last week after somehow mistaking the planet Jupiter as a threateningly pursuing drone.

A reliable source in China tells us the DJI Mavic 3 Pro release (which we guess will be called the Pro 3) isn’t coming anytime soon. The latest plans, he’s heard, are for an October release. But our source says he has “doubt” it will be ready for Prime Time by then.

Drone company PrecisionHawk is joining forces with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) to upskill the latter’s Part 107 drone pilot members. PrecisionHawk wants to teach NRECA drone operators how to inspect electricity transmission and distribution assets more safely and efficiently across the United States.  

A mother and her son were saved from certain death when a college sophomore spotted the duo struggling in a rip current at Topsail Beach on the North Carolina coast. The incident happened over the July 4th holiday weekend, and a drone operated by the rescuer’s friend caught everything on camera.

The Pentagon has spent roughly $18 million to test and identify drones that government agencies can use instead of those made or assembled in China. But how do these drones stack up against the competition? Not too well, according to an internal US government memo. The Pentagon-approved Blue sUAS drones are 8 to 14 times more expensive and only 20% as effective when it comes to vital conservation work, according to the Department of Interior (DoI).

Operators of the Emperor Valley Zoo in Trinidad and Tobago have had to issue a no-fly warning after a drone was spotted navigating an area housing the facility’s giraffes. That simple (and what should be obvious) message: buzz off.

Scores of search and rescue workers at Miami’s Champlain Towers site have been nothing short of heroic in their hunt for victims buried by the building’s June 24th collapse. Among those are a team of Florida State University (FSU) drone experts gathering evidence at the condo disaster that may explain why the structure crumbled – and provide information on how similar failures may been avoided in the future.

A major drone light show in China ended with some of the drones descending into the audience. The descents appeared controlled, but we can’t imagine why they would be intentional.

A startup called NeXt says it’s working on new e-VTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) vehicles called iFLY and Pegasus that could become your personal transport drones.

The FAA is trying to raise awareness among drone pilots about NASA’s CALLBACK Aviation Safety Reporting system, which allows drone pilots (and others) to anonymously submit safety-related incidents. The database also allows you to view other submitted incidents, hopefully allowing readers to learn from the mistakes of others.