Drone News Roundup: Flyability and Rolex Go on Scientific Expedition, How to Get Started with FPV Drones, and More!

This week we’re covering a trip Flyability took to the Gorner Glacier in Switzerland to support scientific research along with videographers from Rolex, who helped sponsor the trip.

We’re also covering a video guide on how to get started with FPV drones, a new world record for world’s fastest drone, a partnership made between a drone company and an ambulance service to help save lives, and a new type of drone propeller made to be much quieter that was designed by researchers at MIT.

Now let’s get to those links!

Flyability Helps Researchers Study Ice Caves in Switzerland

Back in August, pilots from Flyability accompanied scientists from an Italian research group called La Venta to the Gorner Glacier in Switzerland. The goal of the expedition was to use Flyability’s Elios 3 to collect visual data and 3D maps inside ice caves to discover how melt water contributes to the glacier’s disappearance from the inside. Rolex came along to document the trip, supporting La Venta’s president Francesco Sauro, who is a Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate. Flyability has accompanied La Venta on previous expeditions, including one made last year to study ice caves in Iceland, a mission that was featured in a VICE News documentary.

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How to Get Started with FPV Drones in 2023 

Do you love cinewhoop videos? Do you want to create seamless FPV fly through shots on your own? Watch this guide to FPV drones that we made for tips on how you can learn to fly FPV drones on your own. The guide has sections on the different types of FPV drones, best practices for learning how to fly FPV, and recommendations for the best FPV drone models on the market.

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Drone Goes 224 MPH! New Record Set for the World’s Fastest Drone

Ryan Lademann, a DIY drone maker who pushes his custom builds to the limit, recently achieved a brand new world record for fastest drone ever. The previous record was set at 163.5 MPH in 2017. Ryan beat this speed handily, flying his drone at an incredible 224 MPH. The accomplishment snagged him a Guinness World Record for “Fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled (RC) quadcopter”—not to mention street cred for days.

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Blueflite and Acadian Ambulance Partner to Develop Life-Saving Solution

Blueflite, a U.S.-based drone company, has partnered with a private ambulance service called Acadian Ambulance to use drones to improve deliveries of medical equipment and medicines. Blueflite makes two eVTOL (electric drones vertical take-off) drones as well as software to support drone ops, including software for mission planning and drone delivery. With the partnership, both companies hope to improve the speed at which emergency services are rendered for those in acute, potentially life threatening situations.

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Researchers at MIT Have Designed a New Type of Propeller to Make Drones Quieter

Credit: MIT Lincoln Laboratory

It’s a known fact that drones are loud. But what if they could be made quieter? A new propeller design from researchers at MIT looks like it could help achieve this goal. Using a toroidal propeller shape, the design allows a drone to operate much more quietly than a drone using a typical propeller design. According to the researchers, the design also has the benefit of reducing the chances that a spinning prop will “cut, catch, or clip objects or surfaces in the drone’s path.”

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