Drone Videos of the Midwestern USA

AirVuz contributor Gianlo uses his DJI Mavic Pro drone to give us an unforgettable (and DVA nominated) 60 second aerial tour of the skyline of Chicago, the city which can lay credible claim for having invented the skyscraper.  The video provides epic views of the Windy City's magnificent skyline, still dominated by the 108 story Willis Tower.  Standing over 440 meters (just over 1.4k ft.) tall, this behemoth was born as Sears Tower in 1974 and enjoyed a 25 year reign as the world's tallest skyscraper.  

It is all about the "Art of Endurance" in this amazing drone production. Drone Media Chicago captures the 'Windy City in all its glory from above.  The video begins with an aerial shot of the skyline from the Navy Pier area and it proceeds to overhead shots of the financial district, aerials of the bridges over the Chicago River and the tracks of the Loop, bird's eye views of Lake Shore Drive, and skyscrapers galore.  This video is nominated in the Cities category for the 2nd annual Drone Video Awards. 

Contributor SpaceJam Studios created this amazing drone video showing the rebirth that is taking place in Detroit, Michigan.  Beginning with the riots of the late 60s, the city experienced a series of body blows culminating in the bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009.  Although its population is barely 40% of its peak, the city is experiencing a rebirth in its core downtown area, particularly in the area around its world-class sports arenas: Ford Field, Comerica Field, and Little Caesar's Arena.  

Minneapolis, Minnesota is one of the largest and most dynamic cities in the American Midwest.  It's also the hometown of AirVuz, which produced this brief history of the city told largely with drone footage.  The video tells the story of the city's origins as a flour milling center on the Mississippi River to its growth as a large corporate center to its most recent transformation, which has been driven in large part by the construction of  numerous world-class sports venues in and around the downtown area.

Cleveland, Ohio is one of the largest cities in the USA's Midwest.  It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes.  Cleveland was once known as the Buckle of the Rustbelt for its leading role in America's key manufacturing sectors.  While it is still a leading industrial center, the city has seen its waterfront transformed in recent years with new stadiums and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  In this video, contributor Droneloop gives us a brief but epic aerial tour of this storied city.

The city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin sits on the western shores of Lake Michigan in America's Midwest, roughly 150 km (90 mi) north of the larger city of Chicago.  Milwaukee has a proud industrial heritage, and continues to be a key manufacturing center in the United States.  Similar to what has occurred in other Great Lakes cities, Milwaukee's downtown and waterfront has been transformed in recent years, as you will see from this awesome drone video from contributor ShareMedia.

Check out this drone video of Ohio's capital city Columbus, compliments of contributor perfectperspective.  Situated near the center of the Buckeye State, it's Ohio's third largest city after Cleveland and Cincinnati.  Its downtown area is home to numerous banks and administrative functions of the state of Ohio, the country's seventh most populous state.  In addition, Columbus is home to the main campus of Ohio State University, one of the country's largest and best-known institutions of higher learning.  

Dayton is the sixth largest city in Ohio and the center of its fourth largest metro area.  Situated in the southwest quadrant of the Buckeye State, it's sometimes overshadowed by the state's larger cities such as Cleveland and Cincinnati.  It is known for its sophisticated industrial base, which gave rise to the once-behemoth National Cash Register Company.  It's most closely associated with aviation; Dayton was the home of the most famous names in aviation, the Wright Brothers.  

Louisville, Kentucky sits in the Midwestern USA, just to the west of the Appalachia region.  It is situated on the Ohio River, a bit downstream from Cincinnati, Ohio.  Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky and the third largest city on the Ohio after Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.  Most famously, it is the home of Churchill Downs, host of the annual Kentucky Derby horse race.  In this very professionally done drone video by VizionAir, you'll get a look at the city from an aerial perspective.  

Branson, Missouri has become practically synonymous with country music.  Unlike Nashville, Branson's connection to the art is not through recording but through its live performances.  Located in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri, Branson now hosts dozens of venues where top country music acts perform to audiences that number millions over the course of a year.   In this video, you'll get a bird's eye view of magical Branson, compliments of contributor and drone pilot strange2075.

The Minnesota State Fair is held annually in late August through Labor Day weekend in an area of St. Paul, Minnesota.  The Fair is known as the Great Minnesota Get Together and is one of the largest such gatherings in the country.  In 2017, AirVuz collaborated with the Fair to provide drone coverage for the first time.  Using fully licensed operators, AirVuz created a series of videos showing the Fair and different events occuring there, from an aerial perspective.  

Kansas City is the smallest media market to have a team in both Major League Baseball and the National Football League - the Royals and Chiefs, respectively.  The two teams play in adjacent stadiums in the Truman Sports Complex southeast of downtown KC: the 37.9k seat Kauffman Stadium and the 76.4k seat Arrowhead Stadium.  In this drone video by mavictraveler, you'll get a bird's eye view of the two venues, which date to the early 1970's but have been extensively renovated in the intervening years.  

Check out this drone video of the University of Chicago campus by contributor mavictraveler.  Situated about 8 km (around 5 mi) south of the Chicago Loop on Lake Michigan, the UofC is one of the world's most prestigious research universities.  Founded in 1890 with a grant by Standard Oil titan John D. Rockefeller, the school ranked #5 amongst national universities in the 2019 US News & World Report college rankings.  Its enrollment of about 16.4k students is roughly 40% undergraduate.  

See the beauty of Minnesota from above thanks to this stunning video by talented pilot and producer, Fit Lam Studios. Stand out shots include aerial views of downtown Minneapolis’s U.S. Bank Stadium, Target Plaza South, First Avenue and the Prince star. St Paul is showcased with shots of the State Capital, Cathedral of Saint Paul during Red Bull Crashed Ice, and the Xcel Energy Center. Views of the MN State Fair grounds, Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge, and the Northern Lights are also featured. 

Mackinac Bridge connects mainland Michigan to the Upper Peninsula, and sits at the divide between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.   Built in 1957, the bridge is roughly 8 km (5 mi) long, making it one of the longest bridges in the US.  It passes to the west of Mackinac Island, a popular Lake Huron tourist area, which is home to some of the best sailing waters in the country.  Northern POV used a drone and some creative editing to make this amazing aerial video of this important span.  

Here's an awesome aerial view of the Iowa State Capitol Building in Des Moines.  Des Moines was the site of a small fortress and wasn't incorporated until 1857, in connection with the adoption of a state constitutional amendment moving the capital from Iowa City to a more central location.  Construction of the Capitol began in 1871 and took 15 years to complete.  It houses the legislature as well as the top executive offices of the Hawkeye State.  It's known as the USA's only five-domed capitol.  

Reel Aerials created this highly stylized drone video of Detroit, often known as the Motor City.  The city is situated on the Detroit River in eastern Michigan.  Detroit is credited with giving birth to the modern automobile and is still considered the worldwide center of the industry.  From roughly 1920 to 1940, it was the fourth largest city in the country.  While declining auto industry employment has caused a dramatic loss of population (totalling over 60% from peak), it's currently experiencing a renaissance.  

Among the reasons for Chicago's success as a city are its two world-class universities: Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.  In this drone video by mavictraveler, you'll get a bird's eye view of the Northwestern campus in Evanston, about 20 km (12 miles) north of downtown.  Founded in 1851, the private research university has an enrollment of about 21k, about 40% of whom are undergraduate.  It ranked #10 amongst national universities in the 2019 US News & World Report college rankings.  

The Ohio River is one of the USA's most important waterways.  It arises from the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, draining a large portion of the Appalachians and flowing almost 1.6k km (just under 1k mi.) to join the Mississippi in Cairo, Illinois.  While it's not as long as the Missouri River, it is the largest Mississippi tributary by discharge.  VizionAir used a drone to aerially film a new bridge over the great river near Louisville, Kentucky.    

Contributor mavictraveler used a DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone to create this aerial tour of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.  Founded in 1853, the university's main campus is located in the heart of the city.  Its current enrollment is about 15k, with about half undergraduates and the balance spread amongst various graduate and professional schools.  Wash U is considered one of the country's top schools: in the 2019 US News & World Report annual college rankings, it ranked #19 among the national universities. 

The Windy City, aka Chicago, Illinois, is known for its cold temperatures and frigid windchills. Sitting off Lake Michigan, the "lake effect" snow and wind is no joke in the winter! Aerial Visual Chicago makes a little fun of their home city by combining Chicago with the infamously cold region of Siberia in the title, dubbing it Chi-beria. This piece was shot in -22F temperatures. Yes, it looks cold, but the smoke stacks, rising sun, and frozen water also leaves the city looking magical. 

Carleton College is a private liberal arts college located in Northfield, Minnesota, about a 45 minute drive south of the Twin Cities.  It is sometimes called the "Harvard of the Midwest", and for good reason - in the highly respected US News & World Report college rankings, Carleton was tied for the #5 spot amongst the liberal arts schools in 2019. Founded in 1866, Carleton has a student body of about 2,000.  Gopherdrone used a Mavic Pro 2 to create this aerial tour of the school's idyllic campus.  

Check out this drone video of one of the world's largest breweries, compliments of contributor mavictraveler.  It's the main Anheuser-Busch beer factory in St. Louis, Missouri.  Situated on the Mississippi River just downstream from downtown, the complex consists of nearly 200 individual buildings.  A designated National Historic Landmark, the complex was originally the handiwork of AB co-founder Adolphus Busch, who immigrated to this Midwestern city from Germany in the mid-19th century.  

Contributor duluthaerial used a DJI Mavic Pro 2 to shoot this aerial of the port and harbor of Duluth, Minnesota.  Located in the southwestern corner of Lake Superior, it's the world's largest freshwater port.  The port's largest commodity is a form of processed iron ore known as taconite, which is produced in the nearby Mesabi Iron Range mines.   The port also handles millions of tons of grain shipments.  In the first decades of the 20th century, Duluth was the USA's busiest port measured by freight tonnage.  

The Solheim Cup is a biennial international tournament put on by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). It's the women's equivalent of the Ryder Cup. In 2017, the event was held at the Des Moines Golf & Country Club in Des Moines, Iowa.  While the club dates to 1899, the current course was completed in 1970.  AirVuz was hired by the Solheim Cup organizers to create drone video footage of this world class golf course, which you'll see in this video from a bird's eye perspective.

Check out this amazing drone video of the world's largest ice fishing contest, compliments of contributor Blaze.   An annual event for almost thirty years, it's held on Gull Lake near Brainerd, Minnesota.  One of the premiere lake recreation areas in the Midwest, the area has become a year-round destination with events like this, in which thousands compete.  Footage from this aerial shoot was used in an episode of the TV series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, which aired on HBO in February, 2019.  

The area of lakes around Brainerd in north-central Minnesota has emerged as one of the prime "cabin" type destinations in the Midwestern USA.  The epicenter of the district is Gull Lake, which is located northwest of Brainerd and is the largest lake in the region. It's home to many hundreds of lakeside homes as well as 19 resorts as of mid-2019.  In this drone video by BlazeAir, you'll get a bird's eye view of one of Gull's most well-known resorts: Cragun's, which is located on a southeastern extension of the lake. 

Check out this beautiful drone video of a small lakeside town in northwestern Michigan called Petroskey, compliments of Midwest Aero Technologies.  It's situated on Little Traverse Bay, an inlet on the north end of Lake Michigan.  The town is known for its Gaslight Shopping District, which is home to about 170 shops and restaurants.  The town serves as a hub for a local resort area that includes Bay Harbor, Bay View, Harbor Springs, Walloon Lake, and other parts of Emmet County.

Cedar Rapids is the second-largest city in the USA state of Iowa and the largest in the eastern part of the state.  The city is built on the banks of the Cedar River, which flows into the Iowa River and then into the Mississippi.  Cedar Rapids was hit hard by floods in 2008 (which are sometimes referred to as Iowa's Katrina); roughly one-seventh of the city was underwater.  In this drone video, you'll get a bird's eye view of the city, including the earthworks constructed to minimize future flood damage.  

As part of a colloboration with Major League Baseball, contributor Blaze was given permission to fly out of Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, a few weeks before the 2019 All Star Game was held here.  The stadium opened as Jacobs Field in 1994, and is the home of the Cleveland Indians.  Its regular seating capacity is a bit under 35k, and it was chosen as the #1 MLB ballpark by fans in a well-respected 2008 survey by Sports Illustrated.  The field sits just to the southeast of downtown Cleveland.  

Here's a beautiful 4k drone view of a famous trout fishing river in northern Michigan, compliments of contributor mthouston.  The Manistee River runs on a generally southwesterly course from Antrim County to a discharge point on Lake Michigan.  Its total course is just over 300 km (around 190 mi.), much of which runs through forested areas.  With clean, clear water and other favorable conditions, it's home to some of the finest spots for trout fishing in the eastern half of the USA.    

Famously dangerous to shipping, Lake Michigan is home to some of the most well-known lighthouses in the USA.  In this drone video by Bill Drones, you'll be treated to aerial views of the following lighthouses: Kenosha North Pier Light, Kenosha, WI; Canal North Pierhead Light, Sturgeon Bay, WI; Bailey's Harbor Light and Cana Island Lighthouse, Bailey's Harbor, WI;  Chicago Harbor Lighthouse; Michigan City East Light, Michigan City, IN; Little Sable Point Light, Golden Township, MI; and Big Sable Point Light, Luddington, MI.  

Check out this drone video of the flagship campus of the University of Illinois, compliments of Nick McGee.  It's located in the "twin cities" of Champaign and Urbana, about 220 km (around 135 mi.) south of Chicago.  Founded in 1837, the UofI is considered one of the Midwest's top research universities.  Home of the USA's second-largest university library, the school is closely associated with the birth of the modern internet in the 1990's.   Its Fighting Illini teams are an athletic powerhouse in the Big Ten conference.  

Detroit, Michigan is the birth place of Motown Records and the “Big Three” automakers in the United States: General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The Motor City grew and fell with the auto industry, leaving it with a modern downtown and large sections of rough, abandoned neighborhoods. The fantastic city art, as well as the blend of abandoned sections and vibrant downtown with its Comerica Field can be seen in this aerial film by pilot Jeff Walrich.

On this episode of Droning America host Angie Avestruz and the team head to St. Louis, Missouri to meet up with journalist Kim Hudson of FOX 2 News. They take an aerial tour of this Midwestern city at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.   Angie and Kim use drones to provide some bird's eye views of the city's most notable sights, including its zoo, the Gateway Arch, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, and Busch Stadium, home of fabled St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.  

Indianapolis is the largest city in the Midwestern state of Indiana.  Among its claims to fame, it is the home of the Indianapolis Speedway, the site of the annual Indy 500 car race, the most well known motor racing event in the USA.  In this episode, Droning America host Angie Avestruz take us to this dynamic city, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly two million.  Accompanied by a licensed drone operator, she shows us the sights of Indy from an aerial perspective.  

In this episode of Droning America, hostess Angie Avestruz travels to Madison, Wisconsin, aka the Perfect Midwestern College Town.  It's the home of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, the flagship of the UW system and an athletic powerhouse.  It's also one of the country's most beautiful campuses, set between two lakes in the middle of Wisconsin.  In this segment, you'll see this stunning campus, as well as the adjoining state capitol area, from a bird's eye perspective.  

On this episode of Droning America, host Angie Avestruz teams up with local sportscaster Eric Perkins in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Together they give us aerial views and commentary on some of the most well known sites in this city on the Mississippi River, which is also the hometown of AirVuz.  The show includes shots of sports venues Target Field, Target Center, and US Bank Stadium (home of Super Bowl LII); the Stone Arch Bridge; the Guthrie Theater; the Uptown area; and more.  

On this episode of Droning America host Angie Avestruz and the team travel to one of the ultimate USA college towns: South Bend, Indiana, aka the home of Notre Dame University.  Angie tours the town with former UND quarterback, Evan Sharpley. Highlights include a stroll around the UND quad where they check out the Main Building (aka the Golden Dome!), the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Touchdown Jesus at the UND stadium.