Drone News Roundup: Extreme Mountain Biking by FPV Drone, Drones Help Predict Volcanic Eruptions, and More
BY Zacc Dukowitz
3 November 2022This week we’re covering a high energy FPV drone video of extreme mountain biking.
We’re also covering the use of drones to predict when volcanoes will erupt, the DJI Air 2S spotted sale with the RC in China, plans to use drones to curtail gun violence in Las Vegas, and a new report from Aloft that finds only 20-30% of drone pilots are in compliance with using LAANC for airspace authorizations.
Now on to the links!
Extreme Mountain Biking Captured by FPV Drone
Mountain biking is incredibly fun but it’s also pretty dangerous—we’ve heard accounts of people breaking bones and being thrown from their bikes while out on the trails. This FPV drone video features some hair-raising footage of mountain biking daredevil Remy Metailler riding the trails in British Columbia. The footage was shot by drone pilot Gabriel Kocher on a custom FPV rig with a GoPro Hero 10 mounted on it.
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Carbon-Catching Drones Can Help Predict Volcanic Eruptions
To understand when volcanoes might erupt, researchers have to physically enter them—researcher Fiona D’Arcy was inside a volcano in Costa Rica that began erupting while she was still inside it (she got out unharmed). An alternative is to send in drones. Using a drone, scientists can capture reliable measurements of CO2 inside a volcano, which can be used to help predict the likelihood that a volcano can erupt. This data can be incredibly important for maintaining the safety of those who live near volcanoes, not to mention the safety of those tasked with getting the data in the first place.
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Vote Now—UAV Coach Drone Photo Contest!
Voting just opened for UAV Coach’s first ever Drone Photo Contest.
Here are the details:
- 3 categories: Nature, Urban, Animals/People
- Vote for your favorite photo in each category
- 400+ photos were submitted by the UAV Coach community
- Our panel of judges selected the top 5 in each category
Voting will only be open for four days, from today until 11:59 PM CT on Monday, November 7. So what are you waiting for—go ahead and vote!
VOTE NOW
DJI Air 2S with RC Bundle Goes on Sale in China
Rumors have been circulating that the Air2S will be made compatible with the RC controller since July, and now we finally have proof they were accurate. The screenshot above shows that the Air2S is now being sold with the RC in China as a Fly More Combo for about $1,300. DJI will often roll out products in China and then expand the regions where they’re offered to the U.S. and elsewhere, so we should expect to see this bundle offered here before too long. When it comes out in the U.S., we’d expect the price to be about $100, given other price hikes we’ve seen from DJI.
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Las Vegas Sheriff Plans to Use Drones to Curb Gun Violence
Credit: Airobotics
Police in Las Vegas, NV will soon start using drones to reduce gun violence. Starting next year, drones will be deployed to the scene of any location where a gun has been fired so they can capture identifying details about shooters. According to a statement from Sheriff-elect Kevin McMahill, 11 chronic areas for gun violence have been identified within Las Vegas, and 400 drones will be placed in these areas, ready to fly quickly to the location of a gunshot. Shots will be tracked using gunshot detection technology from Shotspotter, which will then relay GPS coordinates to a local drone, allowing it to get to the location of the gunshot in under a minute.
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New Report from Aloft Finds only 20-30% LAANC Compliance Rate
Aloft, one of the biggest providers of instant airspace authorizations via LAANC, just put out a report sharing data from all of the authorizations it has processed. One of the findings that jumps out of the report is that only a small fraction—about 20-30%—of flights in controlled airspace have authorization from LAANC. This means that 70-80% of those flights are being conducted illegally, without airspace authorization. We should note that this data is extrapolated from findings at just two airports—Las Vegas (LAS) and Dulles (IAD). Aloft at the percentage rate by using radar data for drone detection around these airports to get the total number of drone flights in controlled airspace there, and then comparing it to the total number of LAANC authorizations during the same time frame.
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