After receiving severe weather in California, a section of Highway 1 has been completely washed out. Drones were quickly on the scene, capturing the full extent of the damage caused by the landslide.
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Police in Chula Vista, California, have been able to use a drone to help arrest a 17-year-old suspect believed to have been involved in a shooting earlier this week. The teenager allegedly shot a man trying to get the license plate number of a car he was in after it was involved in a hit-and-run.
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A man in East Bay, California, is using his DJI Matrice drone to find pets lost during natural disasters, including the wildfires burning across the state. Douglas Thron is using the infrared camera on the drone to spot the animals with ease from above.
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CyberHawk has won a drone inspection contract with a major California utility provider after a long competitive process. CyberHawk will provide inspection services to maintain and detect any issues with the state’s electrical infrastructure.
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Shane Cole from the Antioch Police Department recently used a drone to help rescue a father and daughter after their canoe capsized in the San Joaquin River, California. The drone was able to locate the two, with Mr. Cole saving the daughter and the Contra Costa Fire department rescuing the father.
On Thursday morning, the Oxnard Police Department arrested a man for suspicion of prowling. Two residents in the Pleasant Valley Estates housing tracts saw the man suspiciously looking into the backyards of their neighbors’ homes. They kept following the suspect and contacted the police, who later deployed a drone to help in the arrest of the man.
After one year of police officers flying about a dozen DJI Mavic Airs to fight crime and respond to emergencies, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office has released its first report on their use. The annual drone use report is part of the Sheriff’s Office transparency policy that explains the agreement between the police and the community on how the unmanned aerial systems are allowed to be used.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released drone video footage of NBA legend Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash site near Calabasas, California. The video, released on YouTube, includes both drone footage as well as on-ground video. NTSB personnel are using a DJI Phantom series drone to map out the scene of the wreckage.
Drones bring us some of the most amazing video footage. Just take a look at this drone video showing a grey whale casually swimming underneath a group of surfers at Doheny. And the crazy part is that hardly anybody seems to notice the massive creature.
This year’s fire season in California has started out with massive fires in Los Angeles and near San Francisco. PG&E’s aging transmission lines form a huge risk as failing equipment can potentially start wildfires as was the case last year. The Camp Fire in 2018 was started by a powerline that came down from a transmission tower after one of the hooks that hold up the lines broke. An article in the Wall Street Journal investigates the status of the PG&E towers and lines in California and uses drone footage to show the aging equipment.
Law enforcement officials in California used a drone to catch a gun-wielding trespasser. After he had broken into the Point Sur Lighthouse, the man fled. He had been classed as a danger to the public and a drone was sent into the air to try and locate the trespasser. The Point Sur Lighthouse trespasser was successfully apprehended soon after. This is not the first time we have seen law enforcement officials using a drone to make an arrest.
A woman who was hit in the head with a drone at a 2015 frat party, settles the lawsuit with USC fraternity Pi Kappa Phi’s Delta Rho Chapter and event planner, Perfect Event Inc. according to documents filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court on April 12. According to her lawyers, the lawsuit was resolved. No terms were divulged.
The FAA said on Monday, that hobbyist drones are becoming a problem in the California wildfires that continue to burn. So far at least two drone incidents have been reported in which unauthorized amateur drones were interfering with firefighters.
Earlier last week in the Santa Rosa area, where the mail was still being delivered after the fires had gone through, there was a drone incursion reported. Last Sunday Cal Fire helicopters were halted in Petaluma after a drone had been spotted.
Even though most homes have completely burned to the ground and the homeowners have left, the mailman is still doing his rounds, as captured on video by drone pilot Douglas Thron. The almost eerie and apocalypse-like short film Thron uploaded to YouTube shows the extent of the devastation. Apart from the mailman doing his job, the streets show no sign of life. Houses are burned to the ground and skeletons of cars are still sitting in the driveways. Why would the USPS deliver mail to homes that no longer exist?