By Greg Kumparak (@grg) Drones. They’ve earned something of a reputation for being buzzy little floating boxes of annoyance and privacy invasion, and the hordes of people unwrapping them this week and subsequently crashing them into the nearest tree/power line/neighbor’s house probably won’t help. Slowly but surely, though, people are finding truly good, novel uses […]
Watch a Drone Fly Through California Christmas Fireworks
Adam Clark Estes Fireworks make every holiday better. And drone footage makes every fireworks display better. So when you combine all three , the results are the best. This year, one spectator took a DJI Phantom 2 with a GoPro Hero III Silver to the annual Christmas fireworks display in Manhattan Beach, California. The video […]
http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/no-firm-date-uav-rules-faa-industry-launch-safety-campaign
Concerned that tens of thousands Americans will receive small quadcopters as gifts this holiday season, the FAA and industry have teamed to produce educational materials available on a website and in social media channels in an attempt to prevent potential accidents in the air and on the ground. The action comes as industry awaits the FAA’s first […]
Drones could change life as we know it in America – once we get over our fear of them
By Jessica Roy @jessica_roy A drone is an unusual choice, as far as Christmas gifts go. But last year, it was exactly what Dave Anderson wanted waiting for him under the tree. Captain Dave Anderson is a naturalist and conservationist who runs whale-and dolphin-watching tours in Dana Point, California. Last year, his wife got him a […]
Report Advises IA To Wait On Drone Regulation
Iowa should take a wait-and-see approach to regulating unmanned aerial vehicles because of their huge potential for positive uses in business and government, the Iowa Department of Public Safety advises in a new report. The report, requested by lawmakers in May, suggests that existing legal safeguards may suffice for now to protect citizens against the […]
Tech-savvy growers already replacing satellite imagery
Drones used to collect information for drought management, disease protection and pesticide application Posted Dec. 19th, 2014 by William DeKay The buzz about using unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, for precision agriculture is getting louder among producers looking to improve their bottom line. The technology continues to evolve, improve and become more specific […]
In Wineries vs. Weather, Drones to the Rescue?
Tucked behind a hill in Sebastopol, California, with a 5,400-square-foot cave that holds some 500 barrels of wine, DRNK Wines exudes the quiet charm that a visitor might expect. But the grapes in some of the wines that are sold here are under a growing threat — which is why DRNK’s winemaker, Ryan Kunde, can sometimes […]
FDA Cancels Study of How it Can Use Drones to Conduct Inspections
Posted 19 December 2014 By Alexander Gaffney, RAC The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is no longer considering the use of aerial drones to help assist its on-site inspections of facilities, less than 24 hours after initially saying feasibility studies were in the works. As first reported by Regulatory Focus, on 16 December 2014 […]
Legal Commercial Drone Use? We’re Inching Closer.
Drones can and are being used in dozens of ways on the farm. Trouble is, the FAA doesn’t strictly find those commercial uses legal, says John Dillard, an associate lawyer at OFW Law. “The FAA’s position is that any kind of commercial operation is only authorized on a case-by-case basis,” he says. “There’s […]
FDA Studying How it Can Use Drones to Conduct Inspections
By Alexander Gaffney, RAC The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering the use of aerial drones to help assist its on-site inspections of facilities, the agency confirmed to Regulatory Focus this week. While there is currently “no formal drone program in development,” the agency is currently “conducting preliminary feasibility testing on possible applications […]