Amazon Resumes Flights After Dual Crane Crashes, Flock Launches Private Security Drones, Phase One Unveils 247MP Camera

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have three stories for you this week that every drone pilot needs to know about. Amazon is resuming operations after two of their drones crashed into a crane, Flock Safety is launching a new system called the Aerodrome drone for automated security, and Phase One has released a 247-megapixel camera. Nuts. Let’s get to it.

Amazon MK30 Drones Strike Crane in Back-to-Back Crashes

First up, Amazon Prime Air has resumed delivery flights after two of their MK30 aircraft collided with a mobile crane in Tolleson, Arizona—pretty close to us, actually. The incident occurred on Wednesday, October 1, when a construction crane was doing roofing work for a business, and the two drones impacted the crane a few minutes apart, which is kind of crazy to think about.

One of them fell on the ground, and then the other one also fell on the ground and caught fire. Both the FAA and the NTSB have begun investigations. We actually reported on this with a short when it happened. Now Amazon has already resumed operations on Friday, October 3, which was only two days later, raising questions about whether Amazon is really prioritizing safety over conducting operations.

Amazon spokesperson Terrence Clark stated “Safety is our top priority, and we’ve completed our own internal review of this incident and are confident that there wasn’t an issue with the drones or the technology that supports them.” He added that the company has “introduced additional processes like enhanced visual landscape inspections to better monitor for moving obstructions such as cranes.”

According to DroneXL, this incident is the fourth reported crash this year by an Amazon MK30 and the second time that the system has been grounded. Back in January, Amazon halted operations after two of their drones crashed during testing in Oregon due to faulty LIDAR programming that confused rain for the ground, causing mid-air shutdowns at over 200 feet (61 meters).

Now, this event hasn’t yet hit the NTSB database. We’re going to keep an eye on it to find out more information. But yeah, this is concerning to say the least.

Flock Safety Launches Aerodrome Drone for Automated Private Security

Next up, Flock Safety has released their Aerodrome Drone as Automated Security, or DAS. Okay, this is a mouthful. The system is designed to be a turnkey solution for security patrol. This is a separate product with a mission profile that is very similar to Drone as First Responder. If you’ve heard that term before, it caters to private entities instead of public safety that are looking to do something very similar.

It appears that Flock is using the DJI Dock 3 and the Matrice 4D with their own back-end deployment software to control all of this. Each Aerodrome dock covers approximately a 3.5-mile radius—roughly 38 square miles (10 square kilometers)—with flight times up to 45 minutes.

The system also integrates with Flock’s ecosystem through what’s called FlockOS, which allows private entities to utilize alarm panels, video management systems, license plate readers, and also audio sensors. When an alert occurs, operators can click one button to dispatch the drone, which autonomously flies to the incident location while providing live HD and thermal video.

Rahul Sidhu, VP of Aviation at Flock Safety, said “Security leaders are being asked to protect more with less across bigger footprints, tighter budgets, and real staffing constraints. Flock Aerodome DAS gives them a ‘guard in the sky,’ putting eyes on the scene in seconds and turning blind alarms into informed action.”

In law enforcement deployments, the system has achieved average response times of 86 seconds, dramatically outpacing the five to ten minutes typical for ground-based security responses. I think it’s a great way for them to diversify, so kudos on that.

Phase One Releases 247-Megapixel Photogrammetry Camera

Last up this week, we have Phase One that released a 247-megapixel—that’s right, 247-megapixel—photogrammetry camera. Now, if you’re not familiar with Phase One, they’re a pretty well-known name in the camera space in general, but also obviously in the mapping space for their very high megapixel cameras.

This week they released the iXM-RS250, which has a resolution of—listen to this—19,200 x 12,800 pixels. Nuts. And then they also have a new IIQ-X compression format which reduces the file size by 90% compared to 16-bit TIFF format, which is also nuts.

According to Phase One, the new camera is also said to reduce mapping time by 25-30% compared to previous systems by requiring up to 38% fewer images to cover the same area. Now for those operators who fly large missions and deal with terabytes of data, this could really be a game-changer.

The RS250 is immediately compatible with the DJI Matrice 400 and features USB 3 and 10 Gig Ethernet connections for other systems as well. Six new RSX lenses were developed specifically for the iXM-RS250 sensor, supporting hybrid, compact, and oblique system configurations.

Now at this time Phase One has not released any pricing on the RS250, but it’s safe to say that, well, it’s going to be expensive—as it should be. For survey firms and mapping operations where image quality directly impacts deliverable accuracy, the investment could quickly pay for itself through reduced flight times, smaller storage requirements, and faster processing workflows.

So you have a great weekend, don’t be that guy, and we’ll see you next week.