A new surveillance drone will be deployed by the Canadian Coast Guard in trials funded by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC). Kongsberg Geospatial has been selected as the firm to oversee the tests, which involve MartinUAV’s innovative V-BAT drone.
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This happens to be a funny story from a few years back when the Mavic 2 was first released. We took the drones out to fly but encountered quite a funky situation that resulted in one of the more unique drone recovery missions I’ve witnessed.
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It started out as a fun drone flight by the beach. It ended with a high-stakes rescue.
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Firefighters were called to a sinking boat at Glasson Dock Marina in Lancaster, UK early on June 23rd with the job of containing its leaking fuel. The firefighters along with a hazmat unit, boat unit, and aerial unit all worked to limit the environmental impact.
CBS News captured a startling video on Sunday of a loudspeaker-equipped drone admonishing people to maintain COVID-19 social distancing. Now the FAA wants to know who’s behind the campaign and check their paperwork.
This is a story of how two Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 drones (DJI, Amazon) ended up in two 140-foot-high white oak trees. And how they were safely retrieved during our drone rescue operation last weekend. Without pointing fingers, we’ll take a look at what went wrong, what went right, and what lessons can be learned for future drone operations. Best to grab a cup of coffee for this somewhat lengthy story.
In Enfield, Connecticut, police used a drone to find a blind man who had walked away from home and became disoriented. The police said they were contacted by a family member of the man on Saturday morning around 8:45 am. Family members told the police that they were unable to make contact with the man which was uncommon.
A drone helped a hurt hiker rappel 400 feet during a daring rescue at Snow Canyon State Park in Utah on Sunday. It was the first time an unmanned aircraft was used this way by the Washington County Search and Rescue team.
Update: we just got confirmation from the Washington County Sheriff Search and Rescue that the drone in question was a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual with an aftermarket drop system. Impressive!
More than 100 pilots lift off from Jim R. Miller Park during a two-day GEMA and FEMA drone training event, participating in exercises ranging from obstacle courses to barricaded gunmen scenarios.
A hiker and dog became disoriented and lost in a terrain laden with swamps and marshes in Canada on Thursday night. A drone from the Renfrew County Paramedic team played a key part in the dramatic rescue of the duo.
Updated with drone video footage of the actual rescue.
In a world-first study, university researchers from Adelaide, Australia, and Iraq have been working on drones with special cameras and software that can tell if a person is dead or alive, for instance in disaster-stricken areas.
Here’s a cool story of drones being used for good! A developer is using aerial images taken with a drone, a DJI Mavic Pro (DJI, Amazon
A drone video shows a capsized cargo ship off the coast of Georgia. The ship started listing Sunday at 2 am off St. Simons island shortly after it left the Port of Brunswick, Ga., on its way to Baltimore.
A missing 90-year-old woman from Marquette County, Wisconsin was found with the help of a drone. According to a release by the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office, the drone was equipped with a FLIR Thermal imaging camera. The missing woman suffers from dementia. She was found by the drone.
Earlier today, DJI sent out this message to all rescue and recovery drone operators urging them to get ready and prepare now for post-storm operations. In the same statement, the Chinese drone maker warns all other drone pilots to follow the FAA guidance and to not fly in affected areas. You do not want to be that person that is responsible for halting a rescue operation, because you thought it was a good idea to get some aerial footage of the aftermath of Hurrican Dorian. Drone pilots who interfere with emergency response could face fines as high as $20,000.
New research from non-profit group DRONERESPONDERS that was presented at the 2019 UAS DRONES Disaster Conference in Los Angeles, shows that the fast-growing Public Safety Drone Programs face new challenges. Analyst Greg Crutsinger, Ph.D., presented insights as to how first responders and their agencies are using UAS for public safety.
Managing an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) program can be a challenging endeavor. There are a myriad of regulations, technical challenges, and operational issues that every program manager must contend with. But managing a public safety UAS program can be even more daunting – especially in communities where privacy is paramount and distrust of “big brother” lingers in the air.
Romeo Durscher, DJI’s Director of Public Safety Integration, shared a short video on Facebook that shows how a drone helped ground crews put out a spot fire in the Chalkyitsik Complex, Alaska. The aerial view that an unmanned aircraft provides, helps firefighters locate a small fire in dense vegetation. Small fires like these can be hard to spot from the ground and that is when drones can come to the rescue.
During a drone demonstration by local fire and police departments in Ohio, a demo flight turned into a real search and rescue operation when a father asked Fire Chief Brian Miller and Police Cpl. Justin Alloway to help locate his nine-year-old daughter. It all happened during the Fourth Friday event last week in Westerville when thousands of people crowd the streets of the Ohio town. Hannah, the missing girl, had walked ahead of her family and the father couldn’t find her anymore. Luckily, the DJI M210 drone located the girl within minutes and reunited the family. Drones for good!
Drone records rescue of a man in a wheelchair stuck in rising floodwaters. After spending more than 24 hours stuck in his motorized wheelchair in rising floodwaters, the 73 year-old-man from Mansfield said that he prayed to be rescued. According to local police, his family reported Jefferson missing on Saturday. The man who suffers from dementia was last seen around noon. Drones are increasingly being used during rescue operations to either find missing persons or as in this case to assist in the rescue.
The Tulsa police department posted this warning video on Facebook in an effort to deter hobbyist drone pilots from hindering and endangering first aid and rescue operations in the flooded areas around Tulsa, Oklahoma. Various media also reported on drones getting in the way of rescue efforts in the flooded regions. The message is clear: fly within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules and please stay out of the way of rescue operations. And, always give way to manned aircraft.
We have reported on many stories in which drones were used to find missing people, however, this one is a first. In Florida, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office deployed Six (!) drones to help find a missing 77-year-old man. The man, who reportedly suffers from health and mental challenges, was lost for two hours when the Sheriff’s Office was contacted. The CCSO deployed their Drone Operations Unit, who divided the search area in a grid and deployed six drones in search of the missing man. The CCSO obviously knew what they were doing and the man was found and brought back to safety.
What stands out in this story is not just the fact that drones were used on the search, but that the CCSO has a dedicated Drone Operations Unit that methodically executed the search and use multiple drones to find the missing person faster. I hope this story gets picked up by many police and fire departments around the country (world) as it is a great example of how drones can be successfully used. You can read the report from the CCSO below.
According to DJI, this is (at least) the 228th person around the world who has been rescued with the help of a drone. Drones for good.
Xenia police of Greene County, Ohio released a drone video of the moment that a 90-year-old woman, who suffers from dementia was rescued. Her daughter, Beverly Brown, credits the drone for helping find her mother and bringing her home safely. The search for the woman took about one hour, but would have taken much longer without the help of the unmanned aircraft. The video shows a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual as the drone that likely was used during the search. The woman was found during daylight conditions. There is no mention if the use of the thermal camera aided in the search. The missing woman was brought back home safely.
Drones to the rescue! Yesterday, a drone assisted in the rescue of seven swimmers in Laulau Bay, Micronesia. The CNMI Department of Public Safety-Boating Safety Division received a 911 call about the distressed swimmers at 12:53 p.m. Shortly after receiving the call the DPS impact rescue boat was launched to bring the swimmers safely back to shore. The drone assisted in the rescue of the seven tourist swimmers in Laulau Bay by providing the exact coordinates of their location to the crew aboard the rescue boat.