Rafael Suárez is a drone journalist and content creator with more than 20 years behind the lens. He began in film photography in 1998, moved to digital in 2005, and has been flying and filming with drones since 2016. As a commercial videographer he has produced work for premium brands including BMW, Porsche, and MINI, and his documentary work champions a #flysafe mentality across the industry. Based in Quito, Ecuador, he covers drone news, hardware, and the policy and business shaping the industry for DroneXL, and shares reviews and cinematic flight on his YouTube channel. A dad and a lifelong aviation nerd, he's happiest when something is in the air.
The Dallas Police Department’s new Drone as First Responder program made its first save on Thursday afternoon, one day after the program went live. A man was walking into rush-hour traffic on Interstate 45, a Skydio drone reached him before any patrol unit could, and a uniformed crew walked him off the freeway alive. The…
The SkyRover X1 just dropped to its lowest price ever, $449 at B&H, down from a $758 list. That is a $309 cut on a sub-250g foldable drone that flies 4K60 HDR, ships with 360-degree obstacle sensing, and walks into the FAA-registration-free zone by weighing exactly what a small bag of coffee weighs. The deal…
The U.S. Navy is working to pair its SEAL mini-submarines with uncrewed underwater vehicles, sending robotic scouts ahead of operators into the most defended stretches of any covert mission. Navy Captain Mike Linn confirmed the program at SOF Week 2026 in Tampa, where he heads the Naval Special Warfare program office. The goal is straightforward.…
The Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection (DFFP) used its Unmanned Aerial Systems Module to identify hot spots and spot fires across the Gerstle River during the Sawmill Creek Fire, helping ground crews achieve 100 percent containment four days after ignition. The fire was held to 14.8 acres on state land east of Delta…
A Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) drone operator located a suspect with outstanding warrants for violent offences in under 20 minutes on May 9, 2026, after the man fled a disturbance call in Pickering, Ontario and hid in a green space. The operation marks one of the first publicly documented arrests powered by DRPS’s three-month-old…
The Seminole City Council voted 4-3 on May 12, 2026 to reject Walmart’s proposal for a Wing-operated drone delivery nest at the Walmart Supercenter at 10237 Bay Pines Blvd, blocking what would have been the company’s first launch site in Pinellas County. The decision marks the first municipal-level rejection inside Walmart and Wing’s broader Tampa…
The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office in Flagstaff, Arizona is using the latest AI-capable Skydio drones with the LOC8 G2 image-analysis platform to compress search and rescue photo review from thousands of drone images down to about twenty per mission. The agency also works with a Scotland-based company to build environment-specific AI models for Northern Arizona…
On the evening of Wednesday, May 19, 2026, Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel staged 1,600 drones on a light show over Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles to promote the upcoming Masters of the Universe film. The 10-minute display formed Castle Grayskull, He-Man with sword raised, Skeletor’s red-eyed skull, and the phrase “I HAVE THE…
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