Drone News Roundup: Raven Attacks Wing Delivery Drone in Midair, Drone Video of Whales in Feeding Frenzy, and More!

This week we’re covering a dramatic video of a raven attacking one of Wing’s delivery drones in midair in Australia.

We’re also covering a drone video of a megapod of humpback whales engaged in a feeding frenzy, a short but super impressive 360 FPV drone video shot on a subway in Belarus, the accidental leak of DJI’s new Action 2 Camera in a YouTuber’s video, and the FAA’s announcement that nighttime approvals are now officially available via LAANC.

Now on to the links!

Raven Attacks Wing Delivery Drone While Its Trying to Make Delivery

A Wing drone making a coffee delivery in Canberra, the capital of Australia, was recently attacked in midair by a raven. In the video you can see the raven land on the back of the drone and peck at it relentlessly. The drone was still able to drop its package to the ground, but it’s unclear whether it did so on purpose or if the delivery was somehow triggered prematurely by the attack. Wing has made more than 50,000 drone deliveries in Australia, accounting for over half of the 100,000 drone deliveries it recently announced having made.

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Drone Captures Megapod of Humpback Whales on a Feeding Frenzy

This is another video featuring wildlife from Australia, but in this case the video was shot by drone and the animals are much, much bigger. This drone video shows an estimated 150 humpback whales—a group so big it has been dubbed a megapod—engaged in a feeding frenzy off the coast of New South Wales, near the small coastal town of Bermagui. The video was shot by David Rogers of Sapphire Coastal Adventures. According to The Guardian, this is only the second time a pod this big has been captured on video.

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Amazing 360 FPV Drone Video Shot on the Subway

This short video was shot with a 360 FPV drone on a subway in what seems to be Belarus, based on our research. About halfway through the video the drone makes a seamless loop, turning over in three dimensions to face a runner it had previously been chasing—it’s hard to explain, but it’s well worth watching to see what we’re talking about. According to the drone pilot who made the video, it was shot on a custom-built drone using an Insta 360 ONE R camera. Regarding legality, we would not recommend trying to create this video yourself unless you have permission from the proper authorities.

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DJI Action 2 Camera Accidentally Shared Ahead of Launch in YouTube Video

YouTuber Peter McKinnon accidentally revealed DJI’s forthcoming Action 2 Camera in a recent video—you can see the box for the new camera in the screenshot above. Leaks have already revealed that it has a 1/1.7″ CMOS sensor with an f/2.8 aperture, a modular design, and a 155°-wide field of view (which is 10 more than the original model). Since posting the video McKinnon has blurred out the box, but not before Twitter user Moe K could grab the screenshot you see above.

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FAA Officially Launches Instant Nighttime Approvals via LAANC

Image source

At the end of August we reported that nighttime airspace authorizations were being offered via LAANC on the Aloft app, and that we anticipated this feature would come to other LAANC apps soon. The FAA has now officially announced this capability for all LAANC providers, which means that regardless of the app you use to access LAANC for instant airspace authorizations, you can now use it to get those same approvals to fly at night. Read this guide to learn how the process works, and follow the link below to read the FAA’s official announcements about the new nighttime approvals.

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