Australian drone-startup Swoop Aero has partnered with Skyports to create a UK-wide drone delivery service to transport urgent medical supplies and test kits to remote locations and help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
A drone pilot was jailed for six months after flying contraband, including phones, into a prison in Perth, in the United Kingdom. Police found the drone after searching a bakery site near the prison facility.
Bryan Texas Utilities (BTU) uses drones to survey power line easements along Texas Avenue in Bryan, TX, from January 4th and will run through January 8th.
In a Business Advisory, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warns that technology and services from China form “a grave threat” to the data security of American businesses and the U.S. government.
The German aviation authority LBA has postponed the upcoming registration requirement for drone pilots by four months. According to the European regulation, which comes into force on December 31, all pilots of drones and model airplanes must be registered from that day before flying. However, the LBA states that this is “technically and administratively not possible.”
Yesterday, DJI released a small update to their DJI Go 4 App. We are now up to Version 4.3.40 for iOS. This latest release resolves some crashing issues to improve the stability of the app. However, more importantly, it also adds Local Data Mode to the DJI Go 4 App.
The Hong Kong-based maker of drone connectivity units, Sky Drone joined the Nvidia incubator program to develop AI processing for 4G and 5G connected drones.
Moth control is a high priority for Dutch greenhouse growers because of the damage the caterpillars cause to the crop. Sure, you can address this problem with pesticides, but that is not the preferred method for various reasons. The Dutch company PATS is developing a unique solution in the form of moth-killing drones.
We are in familiar territory once again as drones are sure to be a hot item as gifts this Christmas season. One can only expect that we’ll see an influx of new drone users take to the skies after the annual visit from Santa Claus. Five years ago, in 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) determined that it would be incredibly important to require drones to be registered and rolled out a bribe offering free registration through February of 2016 else have to pay $5.00 for registration thereafter. Many did register at that time and since then industry leaders have tried diligently to spread the word that drones over 0.55 lbs (250 grams) must be registered. But now we are faced with registrations expiring and what we are seeing is suggests that drone operators may not be taking registrations as seriously any longer.
In a video on social media, political candidate Shelley Luther (R-TX) shoots at “Chinese communist drones” flying over her property. The video is made to promote Luther’s candidacy for the Texas State Senate, and in it, she claims that Drew Springer (R-TX) wrote a bill “to let Chinese drones conduct sweeping surveillance in Texas on our critical infrastructure, even thermal and infrared images of our homes.”
DroneXL has partnered with the Dutch drone news website Dronewatch to bring you more international drone news. A selection of Dronewatch articles will be made available in English to an international audience. Conversely, articles from DroneXL will also appear on Dronewatch. The first articles have now been exchanged back and forth.
From December 31, everyone who will fly a drone over 250 grams must have a European drone certificate. In the Netherlands, you cannot go anywhere for the required training. But it is already possible to obtain the A1 / A3 basic certificate via the Irish aviation authority IAA; free of charge. Dutch drone educators see the shortcut with sorrow and believe that an uneven playing field has emerged.
We had heard it was coming. We knew it was coming. We had seen some leaked photos and a teaser video from DJI. Well, as of today we can very sure the DJI FPV drone is coming as these leaked photos confirm. Check it out!
See also this latest post with a photo of the DJI FPV Drone in action.
As a drone drug drop that took place at the Barwon Prison in Australia in October is still under investigation, another contraband delivery by unmanned aircraft happened at Melbourne’s Port Phillip Prison.
Due to coronavirus travel restrictions, investment banks such as Goldman Sachs are using drones to provide clients with a bird’s eye view of the companies they’re bidding on, says Stephen Feldgoise, the bank’s global co-head of mergers and acquisitions.
Tradesmen in Australia have urged Wing Aviation to start delivering hardware supplies, such as screws and nails, to their job sites by Wing drone.
On Monday the Afghanistan spy chief said that the Taliban has started to use small recreational drones to drop grenades on government forces during recent attacks, demonstrating a new way of fighting by the insurgents.
Deloitte Access Economics forecasts that recreational and commercial drones could deliver thousands of jobs and as much as $15 billion to the Australian Gross Domestic Product in the next 20 years.
