Drone News Roundup: Single-Shot FPV Fly Through of Manchester Stadium, 8K 360° Drone Video of Volcano Eruption, and More!

This week we’re covering an impressive single-shot FPV fly through of Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium made to celebrate the soccer team’s latest league title.

We’re also covering an 8K 360° video of a volcano erupting in Iceland, a video from Sony featuring footage from its forthcoming Airpeak drone, a big price hike for the Skydio 2, and a partnership between a luxury airliner and Wingcopter to bring drone deliveries to Japan.

Now let’s get to those links!

Incredible Single-Shot Fly through of Manchester Stadium

Manchester City, a soccer team in the U.K., recently released a single-shot fly through of its Etihad Stadium to celebrate the team’s most recent league title. The victory was the fifth in the last decade and was made sweeter by the fact that it was against their cross-town rivals Manchester United. The FPV video takes you through the entire stadium, flying through the front entrance, into the field, and back into the locker rooms and offices, giving you a complete tour—more complete than you could probably even get in person. These smooth CineWhoop-style videos have taken off lately, with single-shot takes like this viral bowling alley video and this Mall of Americas video helping grow a big audience for these impressive FPV tours.

SEE HOW THEY DID IT

8K 360° Video Provides Virtual Reality Experience of Volcano Erupting in Iceland

Over the last few months, we’ve seen several drone videos of the Fagradalsfjall Volcano erupting,  including an epic video where the pilot lost his drone to a plume of lava but still managed to get an incredible shot. Drone videographers and amateurs looking to make a name for themselves—or just get some cool drone footage—have been making pilgrimages to Geldingadalur, Iceland to get aerial shots of the volcano since it first started erupting on March 19th. But this video made with an 8K Insta360 Pro 2 mounted on a DJI Matrice 600 gives you a new perspective on the eruptions, allowing you to pan around the entire scene and feel like you’re actually there. The video was shot by Ragnar Th. Sigurðsson and drone pilot Arnar Þór Þórsson in collaboration with the Perlan Museum, located in Reykjavik, Iceland.

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New Video Showcases Footage from Sony’s Forthcoming Airpeak Drone

Sony has been releasing teasers showcasing different features of its Airpeak drone since first unveiling it at CES 2021 back in January. We know the drone will be a big rig made for shooting movies, that it will hold a variety of Sony cameras, and that it can withstand incredibly high winds. Now we get to see what the drone is capable of shooting. In a new video (shown above), Sony showcases footage from the Airpeak captured with the company’s a7S III and FX3 cameras. The video was shot on the remote island of Iriomote, located in Okinawa Prefecture. Watch it to see some stunning footage of the island and to learn more about the drone itself.

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Skydio Increases Price for Skydio 2 35%, From $999 to $1,349

Image credit: Skydio

Skydio recently increased the price for its Skydio 2 by 35%, from $999 to $1,349. The company explained the price hike by saying that “The [price] changes are driven by global trends in supply and demand for many of the components in Skydio 2, which are driving a significant increase in costs.” The explanation has some people in the drone industry scratching their heads, since it seems to imply that Skydio is using foreign parts even though its drone has a Blue UAS designation and is purportedly a “Made in America” product. However, it could be that only the X2 Enterprise series is strictly made in the U.S., while the Skydio 2 still relies on parts from other countries.

Others in the drone industry are speculating that the real driver of the cost is Skydio’s shift to focus on commercial customers, who can pay more for Skydio’s technology and who can use the Skydio 2 for many commercial applications without needing to buy the more expensive X2 series of drones. If you ordered your Skydio 2 on or before May 13th then you have the original price of $999 locked in. But for any purchases made after that, the new price applies.

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Luxury Airline ANA Partners with Wingcopter to Bring Drone Delivery to Japan

Japanese luxury airline ANA recently partnered with German drone delivery company Wingcopter. The first major project the two companies have undertaken is to test drone delivery in Japan, with the ultimate goal of building a drone delivery network throughout the country. The first phase of testing took place in March, with a Wingcopter drone successfully completing test medical deliveries between Fukuejima and Hisakajima in Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture. The effort to build a drone delivery network in Japan is just one of several big moves Wingcopter has made over the last few years—read the article linked below to learn more about all the ways Wingcopter has been working to bring its eVTOL drones to a drone delivery program near you.

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