Drone News Roundup: Base Jumping with the DJI Air 3, DJI Valentine’s Day Sale, and More
BY Zacc Dukowitz
15 February 2024This week we’re covering a video beautifully shot on the DJI Air 3 that features base jumping and a bevy of other extreme sports, including rock climbing and mountain biking.
We’re also covering the top deals from DJI’s ongoing Valentine’s Day sale, a drone pilot facing up to four years in jail for an illegal flight at an NFL game, the expansion of a Drone as First Responder program for the Montgomery County Police Department, and a new law proposing the creation of standards to guide federal agency drone usage.
Now on to the links!
Base Jumping, Race Cars, and More Shot on the Air 3
We’re not sure if we’ve ever seen this many extreme sports packed into such a short video. In the first minute alone we get base jumping, motocross, mountain biking, a high speed truck, and a sea plane. According to the video’s creator Dylan Kato, shooting the video took a month, which makes sense given the diversity of sports and locales (the footage was shot in both Utah and Washington). If you want to see what the Air 3 can do, or if you’re just looking for a dose of adrenalin, this video is well worth watching.
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The Top Deals from DJI’s Valentine’s Day Sale
DJI is running its annual Valentine’s Day sale right now, offering gifts for some drones and discounts on other drones and drone accessories.
Here are the top deals:
- DJI Mini 3 Pro with the DJI RC—$729 (reduced from $909)
- DJI Avata Pro-View Combo (New)—$999 (reduced from $1,317)
- Osmo Action 3 Standard Combo—$249 (reduced from $329)
- DJI Pocket 2 Creator Combo—$399 (reduced from $499)
Here are the top gifts:
- Free DJI sport water bottle ($25 value) when you buy a DJI Mavic 3 Pro Fly More Combo (DJI RC Pro), DJI Air 3 Fly More Combo (DJI RC 2), DJI Mavic 3 Classic (DJI RC), a DJI RS 3, or a DJI RS 3 Pro.
- Free Lexar 64G Micro SD card ($39.99 value) when you buy a DJI RC.
- Free DJI Mini bag ($39 value) when you buy a DJI Mini 4 Pro Fly More Combo (DJI RC 2).
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Drone Pilot Faces Up to 4 Years in Jail for Illegal NFL Flight
A Pennsylvania man is facing up to four years in jail for flying his DJI Mini 2 over Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium during a Baltimore Ravens playoff game. NFL Security spotted the drone soon after it appeared above the stadium, and decided it was enough of a threat that they suspended the game until it was gone. Maryland State Police were able to apprehend the drone pilot shortly after by searching the area where the Mini 2 landed, finding a man in a Ravens jersey who said he didn’t know it was illegal to fly over a sports stadium (although it definitely is).
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Montgomery County Police Department Expands DFR Program
The Montgomery County Police Department launched its Drone as First Responder (DFR) program just a few months back, in November of 2023. Now, only a few months later, the Department has announced plans to expand the program. In DFR programs, drones are deployed to the location of 911 calls as they are made, arriving first on the scene and providing early intel to officers en route, or tracking fleeing suspects. According to Jason Cokinos, Captain of the MCPD, its drones are arriving at emergencies in an average of 80 seconds. On November 30 last year, just a week after launching its DFR program, a drone responding to an assault call spotted two unrelated suspects running from a Safeway after an alleged theft, and helped apprehend them.
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DETECT Act Proposes Standardizing Rules for Civilian Drone Use at Federal Agencies
Credit: Skyfish
A new bill introduced in the Senate calls for the creation of guidelines for how federal agencies can use drones. Called the DETECT (Drone Evaluation to Eliminate Cyber Threats Act) Act, the law mandates the development, testing, and implementation of comprehensive cybersecurity standards for federal drone usage. The standards would be created by the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology).
You might be wondering, do we really need more federal drone laws? After all, the new NDAA just banned Chinese drones for all federal agencies, and the Pentagon’s Blue UAS program thoroughly vets drones for use by federal agencies. But the answer is yes—we do need a law like this. While federal agencies can buy Blue UAS drones, the truth is that not all companies have the money to make it through the Blue UAS process, and not all federal agencies have the funds to buy strictly Blue UAS (not to mention, they may simply not want to do so).
U.S. drone companies like SkyFish have complained that the Blue UAS system grants an unfair advantage to companies with deeper pockets, and rightly so. The creation of reasonable standards for federal agencies would give those agencies a broader range of options to choose from, and help level the playing field for drone companies like Skyfish that aren’t on the Blue UAS list, but still have reliable, NDAA-compliant technology.
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