Drone News Roundup: Inspire 3 Shots of Insane Winter Hut High in the Alps, New Law Could Ban DJI Drones for Everyone, and More
BY Zacc Dukowitz
29 February 2024This week we’re covering a video shot on the DJI Inspire 3 featuring beautiful shots of the Alps, including a famous hut that’s built into a cliffside at the top of a tall mountain peak.
We’re also covering an anti-DJI bill that could make it almost impossible for anyone to fly a DJI drone, the FAA’s Reauthorization Act of 2023 and its changes for recreational flyers, surprisingly realistic drone footage from OpenAI’s new Sora platform, and new software that can turn a DJI Mini 3 Pro into a warehouse inventory machine.
Now on to the links!
Inspire 3 Shots of the Italian Alps
This video shot by YouTuber Alessandro Morolla entirely on the DJI Inspire 3 would be well worth watching for its beautiful winter footage of the Italian Alps alone. But the shots at the end of the famous Margherita Hut, a refuge for mountain climbers that belongs to the Italian Alpine Club, push the video into the realm of the otherworldly. Why? Because the hut is built right into the cliffside, perched over a void of white snow. Located at an altitude of almost three miles, the Margherita Hut is the highest building in Europe—skip to 3:00 in the video to see some incredible drone shots of it.
LEARN MORE
This Anti-DJI Bill Actually Names DJI—And Could Have Huge Consequences for All U.S. Drone Pilots
Credit: DJI
Are you tired of hearing about Chinese drone bans? Same here. But they keep coming, and it’s important to understand what each one proposes and how it might impact the U.S. drone industry. A big one that recently passed is the new NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), which imposes a ban on Chinese drones for all federal agencies. But a new bill being considered by Congress would have an even bigger impact, making it so almost no one in the U.S. could use DJI drones. You heard that right—no one.
The bill is called the Countering CCP Drones Act and it’s been put forward by New York Representative Elise Stefanik. If passed, it will add DJI to the FCC’s Covered List, thus barring DJI from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure—which will make it almost impossible to use DJI drones. And it looks like it may actually become law. The Act has already advanced through committee, and seems to be gathering steam.
LEARN MORE
New FAA Reauthorization Has Big News for Recreational Drone Pilots
Congress recently passed the Reauthorization Act of 2023, granting the FAA five more years of funding. Reauthorizations are a check for the FAA, making sure its priorities are up-to-date and reflect the current needs and challenges of the aviation sector. The 2018 Reauthorization included major changes for drone rules, including the implementation of the FAA’s TRUST requirement for recreational flyers and new rules to allow flying at night and over people.
Here are the biggest updates from the Reauthorization Act of 2023:
- Greater access for recreational drone operators to controlled airspace
- Allowing flight beyond fixed flying sites
- A new process to request flights into controlled airspace from uncontrolled airspace
The first item is by far the biggest—recreational flyers can now access controlled airspace using LAANC, which was before restricted only to use by commercial drone pilots.
LEARN MORE
AI-Powered Sora Can Create Realistic Drone “Footage”—Is This a Drone Pilot Job Killer?
The video above was made entirely by AI—none of the footage in it is real, including the “drone” footage of the white SUV that appears around 2:49. The video was made on Sora, a new AI-powered platform from OpenAI, the same company that created ChatGPT. What does this mean for commercial drone pilots? While some are concerned that this kind of free aerial content could put drone pilots out of business, we suspect the truth will be a lot more nuanced. Yes, a portion of those looking for stock footage will surely turn to AI. But clients who need aerial footage of real-life locations, for real-life use cases like marketing materials or inspections, will still turn to experienced pilots for quite some time to come.
LEARN MORE
Anyline and Mondi Partner to Make It Easy to Turn a Drone into a Warehouse Inventory Machine
Using drones to automate warehouse inventory work isn’t a new concept. We first covered it back in 2021, and the use has only grown since then. But new technology is making it easier and easier to do. A recent partnership between Anyline, makers of autonomous drone inventory management software, and Mondi, a global packaging and paper company, now makes it possible to convert a DJI Mini 3 Pro into a warehouse inventory machine. The software works on other types of drones too—and promises to lower the barrier to entry when it comes to using drones to streamline warehouse logistics.
LEARN MORE
Make sure to sign up for our free weekly newsletter using the button below so you can get our weekly newsletter every Saturday, with this roundup and our other featured stories from the week.
