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Rides available in the Hexa Electric VTOL, mapping a railway project, low-altitude hurricane hunting, another reported drone strike, a DHS warning for private industry, another round of financing for PrecisionHawk, and spying on hippos with drones.
Lift Aircraft says 13,000 people have signed up for drone rides; flights begin in beta mode in Texas
In 2020, Lift Aircraft plans a 25-city tour of it’s Hexa electric VTOL passenger drone. You can register for a flight on Lift’s website. It will cost $149-$249 depending on flight duration. The 432-pound electric VTOL uses 18 independent electric motors and propellers and is controlled through a triply redundant autopilot computer and a single 3-axis joystick. Or you can tap on the seven-inch touchscreen for a “Look mom, no hands!” mode.
What if? Norfolk Southern develops effective UAV program, but it did not come without some trial and error
Norfolk Southern Railway asked themselves if they could use lower-cost UAVs to image project areas and stitch them into survey-grade 3D mosaics for the project team. They formed a UAV field team, got a Part 107 license, and designated a 5-mile linear project. What they learned will help them (and others) in future projects.
Drones Provide a New Frontier in Hurricane Observations
Hurricane hunters fly through hurricanes, but not at sea level where the winds are strongest. Scientists flew expendable Raytheon Coyote drones as low as 360 feet into several hurricanes and measured atmospheric conditions in winds as high as 194 miles per hour. These were deployed NOAA’s P-3 reconnaissance aircraft. The Coyote UAS is adaptable for a variety of missions including surveillance, electronic warfare and strike. A swarm of Coyote drones has successfully flown and demonstrated autonomous networking. A paper was recently published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: “Eye of the Storm: Observing Hurricanes with a Small Unmanned Aircraft System.”
AIR7 HD struck by suspected drone over downtown LA, makes precautionary landing
Los Angeles ABC affiliate KABC reports that their helicopter was struck midair by an object. At first, the pilot and reporter thought it was a bird strike but after landing and inspecting the damage to the helicopter tail, they believe it was a drone strike. The incident occurred at 7:15 pm, flying at 1100 feet.
DHS Continues to Warn Private Industry Against Using Foreign-Made Drones
In late November, the FBI’s Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a bulletin to private industry warning about the risk of exposing private data when using UAS manufactured abroad. The bulletin warns of possible data compromise when operating UAS “designed, manufactured, or supplied abroad where the data is stored, transferred to, or accessible by servers in a foreign country.”
PrecisionHawk Raises $32 Million to Advance Next Phase of Growth in Commercial Drones
PrecisionHawk announced $32 million in funding by a group of venture investors. The company says this will allow them to innovate with their PrecisionAnalytics A.I.-powered aerial data analytics platform, accelerate sales initiatives, and support further market expansion. In total, PrecisionHawk has raised $130 million from leading venture capital firms. See also, We’ve Raised $32 Million to Build the Next Generation of Drone Software and Services.
Spying With Drones to Help Hippo Conservation Efforts
University of New South Wales conservationists used drones to monitor threatened hippos in Africa. They used a DJI Phantom 4 to film the hippos from a safe distance. The wild hippo population is declining because of habitat loss, and hunting for meat and ivory. They are under-studied because they are nocturnal, amphibious and aggressive.
