AirVūz News: World of Drones 12/09/19

Published 12/09/2019 09:02
The World of Drones is your weekly news fix on all things drone related, presented by AirVuz News.
Do you have a young reader in your life? “Leonardo the Drone” is a children’s book series that teaches kids about the world of drones and STEM education. Created by husband and wife John Purdy and Cindy Rodella-Purdy, the first book in the series is called, “Photos from the Sky” and it follows a young girl named Leah as she enters a photography contest, showcasing the positive uses for drones. The next two books in the series are, “How Drones Work” and “Drones for Good” and are planned to be released in 2020. The books also incorporate a web features, such as scanning a QR code with a smartphone to show actual drone photos and videos seen in the book. So if you want to start that kid in your life young on drones, this is a great way to get them interested.

A news helicopter in Los Angeles, California was struck mid-flight by what was believed to be a drone. News station KABC-TV’s helicopter Air7 HD was flying over downtown LA last week when the helicopter’s pilot, Chris Cristi, heard a, “loud bang.” The pilot made a precautionary landing even though the helicopter’s ability to fly had not been compromised. Upon inspection, whatever hit the helicopter hit its tail and damaged its horizontal stabilizer and tail rotor according to the FAA. The helicopter was hit approximately 1100 feet in the air making that well above the 400 feet drones are legally permitted to fly at. While it has not been proven that a drone is what struck the helicopter, the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are still investigating. The team here at AirVuz wants to remind everyone again to please fly safely and responsibly.

In a highly anticipated race between a human drone pilot and a coded drone, the human came out on top. Team AirVuz and DRL pilot, Gabriel Kocher aka Gab707 raced against an automated drone that a team of coders from MavLAB of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands had programmed. Gab707 was able to fly the course in six seconds and it took the MavLAB drone 11 seconds. Automated technology for drones is only improving though and it’s just a matter of time before a programmed drone bests a human pilot.

Every Tuesday we give away $250 to the best drone video uploaded to AirVuz.com! Check back to see which video got the most votes in this week’s Drone Video of the Week contest.

Dreaming up your next vacation? Switzerland may be the perfect spot. The AirVuz Original show Aerial Traveler will take you on a journey through the beautiful European country

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SOURCES:

Dent, Mark. “It's Coders Versus Human Pilots in This Drone Race.” Wired, Conde Nast, 9 Dec. 2019, www.wired.com/story/coders-versus-human-pilots-drone-race/.

French, Sally. “'Leonardo the Drone' Book Has Empowering Message about Drones.” The Drone Girl, 6 Dec. 2019, thedronegirl.com/2019/12/06/leonardo-the-drone/.

Jackson, Sarah. “California News Helicopter Hit by Suspected Drone Flying at Twice Legal Height.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 7 Dec. 2019, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-news-helicopter-hit-suspected-drone-flying-twice-legal-height-n1096751.