Table of Contents

Drone News for Week of July 16th 2018

Drone NewsBytes

Introducing an new level of stupid - Drone films A380 taking off

Albert Einstein used to say that “only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” This video showing the largest commercial airliner flying feet away from a drone confirms the endless idiocy of some people.

A New Type Of Drone - The Tricopter comes into its own

A tricopter is different. It has only three rotors but each rotor can be twisted to direct the thrust. This arrangement provides six actuators for the six degrees of freedom that the drone has - hence it is said to be fully actuated unlike a standard quadcopter.

Watch Intel’s effort to outshine its world record with 1,500-drone light show

Intel dazzled its Folsom audience Sunday night with a spectacular light show designed to feature 1,500 drones, in an effort to outdo its previous world record of 1,218 Intel Shooting Star drones.

Scammers Are Charging Drone Owners Up To $150 For $5.00 Registration, FAA Warns

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a warning to drone hobbyists not to be trapped by schemes offering to register their drones, for which the companies charge fees up to $150.00. The FAA's fee for registering a drone directly on the official FAA Drone Zone website is only $5.00.

Nikola Tesla's Third Greatest Invention: The First Drone

Tesla designed an unmanned torpedo boat that could carry an explosive charge and be directed by radio waves.

FAA Pushes for Repeal of Section 336 and More Authority Over Recreational Operators

The U.S. House of Representatives Aviation Committee held a Counter UAS Issues Roundtable Discussion yesterday – and the issue of regulation for recreational operators was a central theme.

Mountaineer Rick Allen was feared dead on Broad Peak, but a DJI Mavic Pro drone found him alive

Rick Allen, one of the world’s best known and most accomplished mountaineers was believed to have perished after an accident on Broad Peak, the world’s 12th highest mountain. However, a DJI Mavic Pro drone that was launched from K2’s base camp found him alive and moving. Allen has successfully been rescued and is now safe at K2’s base camp.

Introducing an new level of stupid - Drone films A380 taking off

Albert Einstein used to say that “only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” This video showing the largest commercial airliner flying feet away from a drone confirms the endless idiocy of some people.

Bulgaria's first new plane in decades is a freakishly strong drone

They’ve spent the past four years developing an aircraft that can haul nearly 800 pounds of cargo up to 1,550 miles, a far cry from the 10 or 15 miles, or even just a few blocks, that most drone delivery services are targeting.

Commercial Drone Alliance to Meet With House of Representatives' Aviation Subcommittee

According to a CDA press release, the organization has been invited by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation, to join a roundtable discussion Wednesday that will revolve around counter-drone technology policies.

Drone Harmony's Cell Tower Scan App Automates Inspections

Switzerland-based Drone Harmony released an automated capture app last week which aims to facilitate cell phone tower inspections by making the process safer and cheaper. The company says the app allows users to set up and complete inspection flights in around five to 10 minutes, in addition to cutting costs by as much as 50 percent.

The Drones you need

Once the market becomes more saturated with acquired drones, more people will be better able to make purchase decisions based on need rather than hype or trade show pitches. We are in the early days of utilizing unmanned aircraft in day-to-day operations, and I've indeed watched fire and law enforcement departments leap to buy drone technology and then try to figure out how to use it. After watching this acquisition wave, I'm left wondering if the pursuit of the latest UAS hardware is logical or smart.

US Reaper drone data leaked on dark web, researchers say

A hacker penetrated an Air Force captain's computer to steal sensitive information about US military drones, according to new research by cybersecurity investigators at Recorded Future, a threat intelligence firm.

UPDATE - Security Firm Stops Dark Web Sale of Reaper Drone Documents

Sale was stopped - Recorded Future reported the hacker’s activities to military response teams, who will determine the ramifications of the security breach

Drone Camp flies into South Sioux City

The five-day camp goes over some of the drone basics like the legality of flight, some of the rules that need to be followed, ethics that are involved, and of course how to fly them.

The drone gave searchers a bird's-eye view Monday of Mount Meeker, a 13,911-foot peak that marks the last known whereabouts of Brian Perri, who has been missing since June 30.Though Perri has not yet been found, Loveland Fire battalion chief Tim Smith said Tuesday that footage and photos from the drone could be valuable in the search effort.

OSU Testing New Drone Concept at Tuttle High School

OSU researchers are currently using a drone to record data for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and doing so from Tuttle High School’s backyard. The FAA has a theory that drones could make navigational aid calibrations more efficient.

Law enforcement locates missing subjects with aerial drone

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Aerial Drone Team was dispatched to the last known location of the missing subjects to initiate an aerial search. Within 15 minutes of searching with the drone, the missing subjects were located and guided back safely to awaiting medical personnel. The office noted its belief that, without the assistance of an aerial drone, it would have taken several more hours for first responders to locate these subjects by foot.

American Fork Police seek suspect in alleged drone theft

Police released surveillance stills of a man accused of stealing two drones from a store in American Fork. The suspect allegedly stole the drones from a Target store, the American Fork Police Department said.

Ready for liftoff? Two flying taxi startups got Pentagon funding

Last year, Kitty Hawk and Joby Aviation received a total of nearly $2m from the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), a Pentagon organization founded to help America’s military make faster use of emerging technologies.

Idaho Falls Police Officer Tapped to Help State Create Drone Safety Council

According to the Post Register, police officer David Barker has been assigned to establish the Idaho Public Safety UAS Council, with the aim of creating a statewide directory of law enforcement entities operating drones.

Who Will Police Police Drones?

The Police Foundation doesn’t want the police to call drones “drones.” Because of the public’s association with “military-style weapons like the Predator,” the organization’s 311 page report reads, the term “drone” is “a major obstacle to law enforcement’s ability to convince the public” that police drone programs “could actually increase public safety, not jeopardize it.”

Drought in Ireland Leads to Discovery of Neolithic Henge

Drone footage captured amid a heatwave close to the 5000-year-old Newgrange neolithic passage tomb in County Meath, Ireland, on July 10 revealed an previously-undiscovered henge, sparking an investigation by the country’s National Monument Service

Sunbathing Swedish woman reports neighbour for watching her with drone

A woman in Lund has reported one of her neighbours to police for allegedly using a drone to photograph her while sunbathing in her underwear.

The International Drone Racing Association Picks Official Drone for 2018

The International Drone Racing Association (IDRA) just named the Inspired Flight IF700 drone as the Official Commercial Drone for the 2018 IDRA season.

Abu Dhabi's Krypto Labs Launches $1 Million Drone Design Competition

The competition will allow participants, whether they be students, individuals, teams, research and development projects or fully-fledged companies, one year to develop a sophisticated drone capable of operating for two full hours. The UAVs will be required to have fixed-wings or propellers, carry a payload of 1,102 pounds (500 kilograms), and run on either gas or battery-powered engines. On top of that, the drone will have to capably maneuver at high speeds while maintaining precision and overall safety.

First Civilian-Registered Drone Completes Historic Transatlantic Flight

A civilian-registered, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems SkyGuardian drone just made history. It became the first Medium-altitude, Long-endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) to complete a transatlantic flight. The unmanned aircraft touched down at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England, after a flight of 4,327 miles from Grand Forks, North Dakota. The flight took 24 hours and two minutes.

U.S. Navy tests drone helicopter with manned Seahawk chopper

The US Navy took a step toward integrating unmanned aircraft into its naval aviation operations in late June as the MQ-8C Fire Scout successfully completed its initial round of testing.

Whisper Drone could stop the whining

Currently in prototype form, the Whisper Drone mostly looks like a regular consumer quadcopter. Instead of the traditional propellers, however, it utilizes ring-shaped vaned rotors that Schwartz invented. These still provide static thrust – although currently with not as much efficiency as a regular propeller – yet produce a sort of whooshing sound as opposed to a whine.

Vicksburg Police Department Receives FAA Authorization to Use Drones

Vicksburg’s Board of Mayor and Alderman accepted a Federal Aviation Administration certificate on Tuesday that allows the Vicksburg PD to fly drones below 400 feet. The department expects to purchase its first drone by the end of the year.

Dog Attack Causes Pilot To Crash Drone And Start Fire

Dogs are typically known as being man’s best friend, but one dog in Oregon is going to be known for a whole different reason. An Oregon man, who was flying a drone, claims a dog caused him to crash his drone and start a fire.

Passenger Drones Are Landing Soon As The Race To The Skies Heats Up

A century after the last rush for the skies, humanity is about to make another huge leap as companies vie to be the one that will define passenger drones.

Drone tested trying to intercept incendiary balloon

The new GOC Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi, and Gaza Division Commander Brig. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs, arrived at the strip's border on Friday to watch a test of a drone trying to shoot down incendiary balloons, which have been starting numerous fires in Israel.

Palm Harbor drone pilot documents whale slaughter in Iceland

Using a small drone called a "Mavic", he caught the whalers hauling in small "Fin" whales.

Exploding drone battery causes major damage to a Eugene home

Tina Thomas said her family owned a Propel X-5 drone with a lithium battery. She said they followed the charging instructions and left the battery charging for 15 minutes, even though the instructions said you could charge it for 30 minutes. Thomas said they unplugged the battery and then noticed it was smoking. That’s when the trouble began.

Concept drone flies without propellers!

Instead of using rotors and propeller blades like a traditional quadcopter, King’s UAV is equipped with impellers to produce thrust. King started the project to optimize safety for both the pilot and nearby people, but since it’s still in its early stage, it requires more development before it can even be compared to the likes of modern consumer quadcopters.

Drone Recovered on Tarmac Near Runway at San Francisco International Airport Prompts Investigation

Authorities are investigating after a drone was recovered on the tarmac near a runway at San Francisco International Airport. SFO spokesman Doug Yakel said the drone was found Wednesday afternoon on the tarmac, near a fence that runs along a frontage road parallel to Highway 101.

Grenade-loaded drone lands at Mexico official's house

TIJUANA, Mexico: A drone with two grenades duct-taped to it landed at a house owned by the top security official for Mexico's Baja California state, but did not detonate.

3 ways regulations need to change for the drone industry to take off

The drone industry is on the cusp of a revolution, with consumer adoption expanding and commercial applications growing, yet the tight regulations stand in the way of exponential innovation.

Kitsap licensed drone pilots concerned by constraints of drone ordinance

James Morton is an FAA-licensed commercial drone operator who runs his own aerial imagery business. And he thinks he knows why there’s been an uptick in illegal drone activity over the area’s Navy installations the last couple of years

Intel bringing its aerial ballet to Folsom with world record show Sunday

The show will feature more than 1,500 Intel Shooting Star drones moving in unison over the world's largest microchip company's campus in Folsom.

DJI Adds Geofencing Flexibility for Enterprise Users

DJI has moved to improve the user experience of its enterprise users with improvements to its geofencing system. DJI said in a statement released today that “professional drone pilots with authorization to fly in sensitive locations can now use a streamlined application process”, which will provide them with unlocking codes within 30 minutes.

Drama at 1,000ft: Chinook narrowly misses crashing into illegal drones flying above London

According to a report by the UK Airprox Board into the near-miss, the pilot reported the scare above Wormwood Scrubs Park, West London, to air traffic controllers at Heathrow. The report says the drones were entitled to be flown from the 150-acre park but the Civil Aviation Authority found they were operating at more than twice the permitted maximum altitude of 400ft.

Flying high: Drone developed by Anna varsity team in air for 6 hours

Using used butane as fuel to rotate a small generator and recharge the lithium battery, a team of researchers from the Centre for Aerospace Research flew a UAV continuously for six hours and seven minutes which they claim is a new world record.

Drone technology used to fight local mosquitoes

It’s summer time. And with that comes bug bites. To help combat the influx of mosquitoes and vectors, Placer Mosquito and Vector Control District is flying drones.

XBlades Drone sets Guinness World Record at 240km per hour

The Wingcopter XBR, piloted by World Champion drone racing pilot, Luke Bannister, achieved a top speed average of 240.06 kilometres per hour at the famous Goodwood estate. The record for the fastest ground speed by a remote-controlled tilt-rotor aircraft was officially confirmed by Guinness World Records.

Drone Researchers Develop Genius Method For Piloting Using Body Movements

First-person-view goggles have already given drone pilots the ability to soar through fireworks and hover over active volcanoes as if they were quadcopters themselves. But now, a team of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) are giving enthusiasts the ability to spread their wings and fly — literally — by developing drones that can be directed by moving your torso.

AirSelfie’s second-gen selfie drone with better flight time is now available

AirSelfie debuted its original drone of the same name more than a year ago, and now the company is back with a follow-up. The AirSelfie 2 was first shown off at CES 2018 in Las Vegas earlier this year, but now the improved device is finally available for purchase.The new drone builds upon the original design, upgrades the camera from five to 12 megapixels, increases the camera’s field of view to 85 degrees, and improves battery life by 50 percent.

Colorado Mayor Joins Drone Advisory Committee

Mayor Wade Troxell, who also teaches mechanical engineering at Colorado State University, has officially joined the FAA's Drone Advisory Committee.

This new counter-drone weapon can take down advanced drone communicators with less power, weight

Instead of shooting on a broad range of frequencies, the device has a “passive detector” that picks up what frequency the drone is using. Then it uses six distinct circuit boards to disrupt that specific frequency.

Drone Monitors Crops at Capetown Farm, Reduces Chemical Use by 30 Percent

For farmer Jean Kuiper, the use of drones and Aerobotics' aerial data analysis software has resulted in a 30-percent decrease in pesticide reliance.

DJI seeks alternatives as drone market hits saturation point

iResearch reports predicts market scale for unmanned aerial vehicles in China will reach 75 billion yuan in 2025

Singapore drone swarm descends on England’s great northern exhibition (with Video)

Those attending the opening ceremony of this year’s ‘Great Exhibition of the North’ in Newcastle and Gateshead, England were treated to a dazzling display of firework waterfalls, dancing water spouts, and the first large-scale drone (drone swarm) performance in the United Kingdom (UK).Supplied by Singapore-based drone swarm technology company SkyMagic and UK-based creative studio New Substance, the 100-drone swarm moved in unison to a specially choreographed music soundtrack written and produced by electronic duo Darkstar.

Airobotics makes autonomous drones in a box

This drone is doing the nearly impossible: it’s flying and landing autonomously and can fly again and again without human intervention — and it’s doing it all inside a self-contained unit

Drone image shows path drunk driver took through field

An image from a drone showed the path a driver police said was drunk took through a Mercer County field earlier this week.The Mercer County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday released the photo, taken from a drone donated to the sheriff's office by a resident. It showed a "path of destruction" in a field around Brown and Meyer roads, outside Celina, the sheriff's office said.

3 Best Drone Launch Pads in 2018

Ensure every take off and landing is clean and safe with a durable drone launchpad.

Drones for Good: Intel and the Great Wall of China Expedition

An Intel® Falcon™ drone is being used to carry out an aerial inspection and survey of the Jiankou section, capturing tens of thousands of high-resolution images of areas proven too difficult or dangerous for human access

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Australia Drone News

AUSTRALIA - Anti-drone missile system at school

Cockle Bay Primary School’s acting principal Paul Crowhurst said in May in a school newsletter: “In recent weeks we have encountered the roving presence of a high-spec drone around school. “As such, I commissioned, with the blessing of the Civil Aviation Authority, Cockle Bay School’s first ever anti-drone defence system. “Although this shower of soccer and rugby balls has been unsuccessful at bringing said drone down to earth, it has seemed to stop the visits during school hours.”

AUSTRALIA - Terrigal Skillion cliff collapse: People warned to stay away

entral Coast drone photographer Reed Plummer has snapped an aerial shot of the rock slide at Terrigal Skillion that has temporarily closed the rock platform.

AUSTRALIA - Using Unmanned Systems to Better Understand Australia’s Dugong Populations

One of our current researches focuses on testing and developing UAV-based methods that will provide information about dugongs at a range of spatial scales. The WingtraOne and P4Pro have the potential to do that but at different spatial scales.

AUSTRALIA - Journalist detained as he flies drone dangerously close to helicopter during rescue Thai football team

A journalist was detained on Sunday as he was flying his drone dangerously close to a helicopter during the large-scale rescue operation of the Thai football team and their coach from the Tham Luang cave system in Thailand.

AUSTRALIA - The Complex Engineering of the simple hook that could make Drone deliveries real

They began designing the perfect hook, something so simple it couldn’t possibly fail. The thing just had to hold the package on the way down, unhook when it reached the ground, then come back up. Once again, what sounded easy proved baffling.

AUSTRALIA - Efforts to fight Bray Head gorse fire hampered by drones

Gardaí said that emergency helicopters cannot safely assist in until all drones are out of the air space.

AUSTRALIA - Watch: Drone footage shows large slip brought down by heavy rains in Coromandel

Drone footage shows the large task at hand for workers clearing a slip off a section of highway in the Coromandel after wild weather hit the region yesterday.

AUSTRALIA - Airbus marks two milestones for Zephyr solar-powered drone

Zephyr, which operates on the edge of space, already holds the world duration record at 14 days. Nigel Chandler, the head of sales for the solar electric powered vehicles, says that recent improvements will see the vehicle beat 100 days.

AUSTRALIA - Shark Tank judges fire up over “rude, arrogant” pitch

A GROUP of university mates with a bold plan to have drone technology taught in Australian schools get a hostile reaction from a few of the panel on this week’s episode of Shark Tank.

How To Videos - A Place to Learn

How to get pro level DJI drone shots as explained by Droneworks Studios [video]

Getting professional cinematic shots with your drone is not easy. However, it can be done as is demonstrated by Justin from Droneworks Studios in the following video on YouTube. Justin uses his DJI Phantom 4 Pro to explain some techniques that you, as a single-operator can practice to create some really nice drone video footage that may come to 80% of what a full-blown crew with a budget and a professional drone may be able to do. Check it out.

How to Safely Charge and Store Lithium Drone Batteries

Although flying a drone might sound like the biggest risk in operating one, dealing with the batteries is potentially more explosive. At the 100 hospital emergency rooms that report electronics-related injury cases to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 200 incidents involving drone batteries, stemming from fire, smoke, and explosions, were recorded between 2012 and 2017.

Ken Videos