Drone News Roundup: Epic FPV Cliff Dive Down World’s Tallest Waterfall, Flying Drones Over People, and More!

This week we’re covering a hair-raising video shot by Ellis van Jason of an epic FPV dive down cliff faces in Venezuela.

We’re also covering a video from our YouTube channel on how you can fly your drone over people in the U.S., a beautiful drone video of Hong Kong shot with the Mavic 3, a high energy drone video of people drifting their cars, and a video of an autonomous drone swarm navigating a thick bamboo forest.

Now on to the links!

Epic Cliff Dive in Venezuela via FPV Drone

If you’ve seen the Pixar movie Up then you might recognize the Venezuelan cliffs featured in this FPV drone video, since the cliffs that the protagonist flies his house onto in the movie were based on these real-life ones. Called Angel Falls, they stand at over 3,200 feet in the air, and are the tallest waterfalls in the world. Hope you enjoy this high octane FPV drone video shot there by Ellis van Jason, grand prize winner of Skypixel’s 2021 contest and all-around impressive FPV pilot and videographer.

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Can I Fly My Drone Over People in the United States?

Last year, the FAA issued new rules about operating a drone at night, over people, and over moving vehicles. In this video we cover exactly when you can and can’t fly your drone over people, including rules both for recreational flyers and Part 107-certified commercial drone pilots. An important aspect of the can/can’t fly over people question is what category the drone you plan to fly falls into. To address this question, we cover all four categories in the video.

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Mavic 3 vs. Hong Kong

This video shot on a Mavic 3 by Instagram content creator tiborb_photography has been getting a lot of attention in the drone world lately, and you can see why. At just under 90 seconds, we get a sweeping tour of this huge, incredible city as well as a first-hand demonstration of the high quality of shots you can capture with DJI’s newest prosumer drone.

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Capital Drift—Westshore Speedway FPV Drone Video

Capital Drift is one of the biggest drifting series held in British Columbia. (Drifting refers to steering too much on purpose so that the rear wheels of the car—and sometimes the entire car’s wheels—lose their grip on the road and “drift”.) The video was made by Lumera Productions Aerial, a B.C.-based drone services company—check out this FPV drone video to see some up-close shots of the action from the Westshore Speedway this year, where the competition was held.

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Autonomous Drone Swarm Flies through Thick Bamboo Forest

This video created by researchers at Zhejiang University in China shows a swarm of ten drones flying autonomously through the thickets of a bamboo forest, all on their own. The drones not only fly on their own through the trees—they also communicate with each other to stay in formation while in flight. This communication is accomplished using depth-sensing cameras mounted on the drones, which allow them to create maps of their surroundings in real time, while they’re in flight. Watch the video to see this autonomous drone swarm in action.

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