William Overstreet Jr., a World War II fighter pilot who in 1944 famously flew his P-51C Mustang through the arches of the Eiffel Tower while in pursuit of a German Messerschmitt Bf 109G aircraft, died at a hospital in Roanoke, Va., on Dec. 29, reported the local paper He was 92. Continue reading
UAS Aerobatics – a Creative Solution for Taking Oblique Images
senseFly releases its patent-pending technology for oblique images to enable its fixed-wing mapping UAS to take extraordinary images without the use of a gimbal. Continue reading
Small UAS Probes Antarctic Ice With Radar
A group of researchers from the Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets at the University of Kansas is right now at the sub-glacial Lake Whillans field camp on the Whillans Ice Stream in Antarctica. The team is testing a system they’ve devised that includes a 100-watt ice-penetrating radar carried aboard a small unmanned aircraft system. Continue reading
Bordeaux Classified Vineyards Invest in UAS Technology
Bernard Magrez is to roll out newly-developed vineyard UAS in his four classified Bordeaux estates – Pape Clement, La Tour Carnet, Fombrauge and Haut Peyraguay – before eventually extending them to his entire portfolio of Bordeaux properties, and those in the south of France. Continue reading
What Makes the Quadcopter Design So Great for Small UAS?
There are many misconceptions surrounding quadcopters and multirotors. The single main reason that they are popular for small UAS is mechanical simplicity. It’s worth pointing out that a quadcopter is LESS stable than an equivalent regular helicopter (and I’ll explain why in a sec), and is also LESS efficient than an equivalent regular helicopter. Continue reading
DJI Innovations’ S1000 Monster 8-Rotor to Carry Hollywood-Quality Cameras
At CES on Sunday, China’s DJI Innovations showed off its forthcoming S1000, an 8-rotor UAS that was built specifically to carry Canon’s 5D Mark II or Mark III. For those not familiar with camera gear, that’s a setup capable of shooting feature films or documentaries. Continue reading
US DOD Speeds Delivery of Surveillance Assets to Iraq
The United States is speeding delivery of unmanned aircraft systems Iraq purchased under the foreign military sales programme to help in tracking and thwarting al-Qaida-affiliated groups, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday. Continue reading
Parrot Launches MiniDrone & Parrot Jumping Sumo at CES
Parrot‘s been offering up relatively small updates to its AR.Drone line each year at CES, and while the quadcopter is, without question, one of the most immediately recognizable in the space, we’ve been waiting to see a genuinely fresh take on the product. Continue reading