Drone News Roundup: Autel Releases Three New Drones, New Cinewhoop from Jay Christensen, and More!

This week we’re covering three new drones from Autel released at CES 2022—the Nano, Evo Lite, and the Dragonfish.

We’re also covering a fun new cinewhoop video from Jay Christensen, a drone video showing the scope of the damage wrought by the recent fires in Colorado, Airwards’ call for submissions, and Korean Air’s use of drone swarms to conduct airplane inspections.

Now let’s get to those links!

Autel Releases Nano, Evo Lite, and Dragonfish Drones at CES 2022

Credit: Autel

This week at CES 2022 Autel released the Evo Lite, the Nano, and the Dragonfish. News about two of these new drones first came out in a leak back in September. At the time, we heard about a forthcoming Evo III, an Evo Lite, and a Nano Mini. The Evo III was supposed to compete with the DJI Mavic 3, the Evo Lite was supposed to compete with the DJI Air 2S, and the Nano Mini was supposed to compete with the DJI Mini 2. But the Evo III was not on the list of drones released at CES 2022—instead, Autel unveiled the Dragonfish, a rugged, professional VTOL drone with a max flight time of 120 minutes and two cameras that reportedly sells for a whopping $99,000.

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New “Winter Classic” Video from Cinewhoop Master Jay Christensen

Jay Christensen, maker of the viral ‘Right Up Our Alley’ cinewhoop, recently released this new video shot at the 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic. Like all his work, the video was captured in a single shot, taking us on a tour of Target Field, through the locker rooms of both the Wild and St. Louis Blues hockey teams, and ending with hockey players shooting pucks at the drone. The video was shot in Minneapolis, where Christensen lives and where several of his other cinewhoops have been made.

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Drone Video Shows Level of Devastation Following Recent Colorado Wildfire

Reading that over 1,000 homes were destroyed by a fire is a different thing from seeing that reality first hand. This video shot after the wildfire that recently tore through Boulder, Colorado shows us just how bad the fire there was. As we saw recently in drone footage shot in Kentucky following the tornadoes there, drones can provide a unique vantage point for capturing the sheer scale of devastation wrought by natural disasters. The scope of the damage captured here is just unthinkable, and our thoughts are with everyone who was impacted by the fire.

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Airwards Is Open for Nominations

Global drone awards program Airwards is seeking nominations for its 2nd annual round of awards. The awards Airwards gives recognize drone companies in both People’s Choice categories and judged categories. This year’s panel of judges includes drone industry experts such as Catherine Ball, who created the World of Drones Congress in Australia, and Ramón Roche, Program Manager at the Dronecode Foundation. If you know of a drone company that you think deserves recognition, make sure to nominate them by following the link below.

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Korean Air Uses Drone Swarms for Airplane Inspections

Credit: Korean Air

In a drone industry first, Korean Air has begun using drone swarms to conduct visual inspections of its airplanes instead of conducting them manually. The approach means that inspectors don’t have to work at dangerous heights to ensure that aircraft are in good working condition. It also makes the inspection process much faster, allowing inspectors to reduce the time needed for inspections from 10 hours to just four. Korean Air made the drones that it’s using for these inspections, and they’re powered by custom-built software made just for airplane inspections.

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