Drone News Roundup: Drone Video from the Top of the 2nd Tallest Mountain on Earth, Chernobyl by Drone with the Tilt Shift Effect, and More!
BY Zacc Dukowitz
18 August 2022This week we’re covering a drone video shot on the top of K2, the second tallest mountain in the world.
We’re also covering a drone video made at Chernobyl using the tilt shift effect, a special Avengers drone light show at Disneyland Paris, a recent video from Amazon Prime Air with an overview of how they do drone deliveries, and a list of upcoming drone conferences this fall.
Now let’s get to those links!
Flying a Drone on the Top of K2
View this post on Instagram
This drone video was shot at the top of K2, the second highest mountain on Earth (Mount Everest is the tallest). The video was shot at an incredible altitude of 28,251 feet, or 5.35 miles. In the Instagram post featuring this video, its creator said he had previously tried to fly both on K2 and Everest and ran into trouble: “On K2 winter I flew at 7,100m (23,294 feet), the drone kept falling out of the sky . . . On Everest I got close at 7,900m (25,919 feet) but a windy summit day made it dead weight.” This video, which was shot at a higher altitude than either of those failed attempts, is an impressive accomplishment and a testament to the creator’s persistence.
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Unique Aerial Perspective on Chernobyl Captured with the Tilt Shift Effect
We’ve seen several drone videos shot in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the area that was contaminated by nuclear radiation following the disaster at the Chernobyl plant in 1986. But this is the most unique one we’ve seen by far. Using the tilt shift effect, the video’s creator is able to make this eerie location and the structures on it look like they’re part of some bizarre landscape made for dolls. The video was shot on a Mavic Pro 2 and a Mini 2—follow the link below to get the full list of gear used to make it.
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Disneyland Paris Puts on Special Avengers Drone Light Show
To celebrate the recent opening of its Avengers Campus last month, Disneyland Paris put on a huge Avengers-themed show incorporating live actors and lightshow drones. The spectacle is incredibly creative, with the drones lighting the night sky to illustrate the powers and personalities of the different super heroes. Watch Dr. Strange cast a spiraling spell of light, the Black Panther’s emblem appear as Wakandan soldiers take the stage, and lots more from your favorite Avengers.
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Behind the Scenes of Amazon’s Drone Delivery Operation
After years of delays and little news, Amazon Prime Air is now going full throttle with drone delivery. In June it announced plans to launch its first drone delivery program ever in the small town of Lockeford, California. Shortly after, it unveiled plans for a second program in the larger city of College Station, Texas. And now we have this video highlighting the company’s drone delivery tech. Though the video is short and promotional in nature, we get lots of cool footage here of Amazon’s delivery drones in flight, which is a treat. The design for these drones is unique, and it’s fun to watch them in action—most likely, we’ll be seeing them make deliveries at our doorstep before too long.
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Fall Drone Conferences
Looking for a drone event near you? Several drone conferences are happening this fall and Sally French (AKA the Drone Girl) has done us the service of rounding them all up. Here’s a short version of her list—click the link at the bottom of this section to get more information about each one of these events.
- Commercial UAV Expo—Las Vegas, Nevada from September 6-8. Learn more here.
- DroneX Trade Show & Conference—London, England from September 7-8. Learn more here.
- Unvex—Madrid, Spain from September 14-16. Learn more here.
- Interdrone—Brooklyn, New York from September 29-October 1. Learn more here.
- DJI AirWorks—Las Vegas, Nevada from October 10-12. Learn more here.
- 2022 Pix4D User Conference—Denver, Colorado from October 12 and 13. Learn more here.
Going to Commercial UAV Expo?
If you plan to attend Commercial UAV Expo, I’ll be moderating a panel on how indoor drones equipped with LiDAR are being used for internal inspections. The panel includes speakers from Cargill, FMI, and the DOE and takes place on Wednesday, September 7 from 4:30-5:30 PM local time. Details can be found here.
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