Drone News Roundup: Drone Used as a Battering Ram, Flytrex Gets FAA Approval to Make Deliveries in NC, and More!

This week we’re covering a fun video featuring a drone with a mesh battering ram attached to it and the mayhem that ensues.

We’re also covering Flytrex’s approval to begin drone deliveries in North Carolina, a new series of Intel drone light shows that will be put on at Dollywood this summer, Randall Warnas leaving FLIR to become CEO of Autel, and a drone being used by archaeologists to drag a special magnetic sensor in a search for historic boats near Savannah, GA.

Now let’s get to those links!

Drone Used as Battering Ram to Take Out Another Drone

Why would you attach a battering ram to a drone and ram it into another drone? Because, well, it would make an awesome video is why. Check out the video above, featuring what looks like a Yuneec Typhoon with a homemade mesh plate attached to its front flying straight into a smaller drone and breaking it into pieces.

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Flytrex Gets FAA approval for Drone Delivery in Fayetteville, NC

Photo credit: Flytrex

Israel-based drone delivery company Flytrex has received approval from the FAA to start conducting drone deliveries to people’s backyards in Fayetteville, NC. Those living in the area will be able to use an app to make delivery orders from Starbucks, Walmart, and local restaurants and cafes. The deliveries will not be made by flying Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), but the company has received approval to fly over people. Although pilots must maintain a visual line of sight with Flytrex’s delivery drones, the company says this will not significantly limit their reach in terms of areas in which they can make deliveries. In fact, according to a recent statement, Flytrex’s North Carolina drone delivery program will be “the largest-scale backyard drone deliveries of goods known to date.”

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Dollywood Collaborates with Intel to Launch Drone Light Shows This Summer

Image credit: Dollywood

Even though Intel shuttered part of its drone program about a year ago, the company continues to make light show drones and collaborate with high-profile partners to put on light shows. And it looks like Dollywood, a theme park owned by Dolly Parton located in Pigeon Forge, TN, will be Intel’s newest partner. The light shows will use 400 drones to tell a “Dollywood-exclusive story” that will also include fireworks. The shows will start in late June and run until the end of July.

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Randall Warnas Leaves FLIR to Become CEO of Autel

Image credit: Autel

Randall Warnas was recently announced as the new CEO of Autel in North America. Warnas previously headed up FLIR’s global drone segment, a position he held for almost five years. Before that, he worked at DJI, where he connected enterprise clients with the technology they needed for their specific use cases. The appointment of Warnas as CEO is a clear signal from Autel that it sees its future in the commercial drone space. Between FLIR and DJI, Warnas has deep experience in how drones are being used for work and will be a good steward for guiding the company into greater commercial adoption. He’ll also be able to help position the company as a trusted technology provider—a key priority for any foreign company in these fraught times of privacy concerns, Blue UAS, and a heightened emphasis on ‘Made in America’ drone technology.

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Drones with Magnetic Sensors Used to Search for Historic Boats in Georgia Swamps

Researchers from the University of Miami have retrofitted a hexacopter with a device called a magnetometer to help them look for two historic boats in a marshy area of the Wormsloe Historic Site, located near Savannah, Georgia. The boats carried cannons and were used to scout the area for Spanish intruders who may have wanted to attack the city. Magnetometers map the Earth’s magnetic fields, allowing scientists to uncover abnormalities that could indicate the presence of lost artifacts. They’re usually towed by a boat or carried on land. Attaching one to a drone allows for a quicker and more thorough grid-like survey of an area, and may help archaeologists find the two boats that are believed to be sunken somewhere in the Wormsloe Site.

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