Drone News Roundup: FPV Drone Video of Base Jumping from a Car, Drone Video Shows Demolition of a Power Plant, and More!

BY Zacc Dukowitz

13 August 2021

This week we’re covering some insane FPV footage of people base jumping off a bridge—from the top of a moving car.

We’re also covering a drone video of the demolition of a power plant in the U.K., Parrot’s partnership with Verizon and Skyward to offer 4G LTE on its 4G-capable ANAFI Ai, Amazon Prime Air letting over 100 employees go in a mass firing, and Ikea’s drone-inspired wall art.

Now on to the links!

Nail Biting Base Jumps from a Moving Car Captured by FPV Drone

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A post shared by NIKOLAY ANISHCHENKO (@nikofilmz)

We’ve seen several high octane FPV drone videos featuring impressive piloting and people doing crazy stunts—but this video from Instagrammer @NIKOFILMZ ranks among some of the craziest things we’ve seen captured by a drone. As if base jumping off a bridge weren’t extreme enough, these jumpers decided to ride on the top of a moving car, doing forward and back flips into the air before releasing their parachutes. Not only are the stunts impressive—and terrifying—the piloting can’t have been easy to pull off, given the factors of the moving vehicle and the need to avoid hitting the base jumpers while they’re flying through the air.

SEE MORE FROM NIKOFILMZ

Drone Video Shows Epic Demolition of Power Plant in the UK

Watch the spectacular blowdown of the first set of four cooling towers that came down this morning just after 8:00 AM at Eggborough Power Station demolition project, near Goole, North Yorkshire. We are very proud to have been part of this project working alongside @DSMDemolition pic.twitter.com/QIelCOc8dq

— Sky Revolutions (@sky_rev) August 1, 2021

Some videos wow you just for the sheer scale of the event they capture. Such is the case with this drone video shot near Goole, in North Yorkshire in the U.K. The power plant being demolished in the video is the Eggborough Power Station, a coal-fired plant that was decommissioned in the fall of 2018. The video was made by Sky Revolutions, who was hired by demolition company DSM Demolition to capture aerial footage of the demo.

Parrot Partners with Verizon and Skyward to Offer 4G LTE out of the Box on Its New ANAFI AI

Parrot released the ANAFI Ai in early July, a drone touted as “the first drone to use 4G as the main data link between the drone and the remote control.” Now, just a month later, Parrot has announced a partnership with Verizon and Skyward (a Verizon subsidiary) to make sure people can actually get 4G with its new drone. Through the partnership, the ANAFI Ai will have 4G LTE right out of the box. It will also come with Skyward software, allowing for “real-time data transfer, remote deployment, and Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations.”

Amazon Prime Air Fires Over 100 Employees Amid Rumors that the Company Is Imploding

Last week, Amazon Prime Air fired over 100 employees while winding down part of its operations in the U.K. According to an article in WIRED, the layoffs are part of a larger downward trend for the drone delivery company. The article details extensive dysfunction at the company, highlighting issues with management and company culture, as well as the simple fact that Prime Air just hasn’t made that much progress toward its goal of launching a drone delivery program. Amazon Prime Air is one of only three companies that hold Part 135 certificates allowing them to conduct drone deliveries in the U.S. The other two companies—UPS Flight Forward and Wing—are both actively conducting drone deliveries as we speak, while Amazon Prime Air isn’t. Maybe now we know why.

Ikea Is Selling Drones as Wall Art

The Ikea Art Event 2021, which is currently underway, features drones as art. Or in art, anyway. For the event, Ikea hired five artists to create art that doubles as useful household objects. And one of those artists apparently views drones as a common household object (we’d have to agree with them on this). The art (shown above) features quadcopters of various sizes framed within simple white boxes. The artist who designed these pieces calls themselves Humans since 1982. Of their drone-infused work, they said: “I hope our work will trigger feelings in a person, sometimes it might be joy, sometimes curiosity or anger . . . I wish that our work brings a new perspective onto life or society.”

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