Drone News Roundup: Racing Cars—and Snowboarders—in the Snow via FPV Drone, Crazy Drone Video of a Tornado, and More!

This week we’re covering a fun FPV video of snowboarders being pulled along behind all terrain vehicles on the Zandvoort Circuit, a motorsport race track in the Netherlands.

We’re also covering an intense drone video of a tornado hitting a wind farm, a cinematic FPV tour of the Faroe Islands by the grand prize winner of last year’s Skypixel contest, news that United Airlines has teamed up with drone taxi manufacturer Archer, and TBD.

Now let’s get to those links!

FPV Video of Snowboarders Pulled Behind All Terrain Vehicles in the Snow

We really enjoyed this video from Red Bull featuring pro snowboarders Melissa Peperkamp & Robert Doornbos being pulled behind all terrain vehicles on the Zandvoort Circuit, a motorsport race track located in the Netherlands. Red Bull got special permission to drive there in the snow—and pull the two behind them while filmed by FPV drone. Not only do they coast smoothly over the snow, they even manage to get some tricks in while going at high speeds. Watch the video to see the results from this fun FPV mission.

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4K Drone Video Shows Tornado Hitting Wind Farm

This long video features some wild footage of a tornado captured by drone in 4K. The video was shot by drone pilot Brandon Clement during a massive storm in Crowell, Texas just a few weeks ago, at the start of this month. As the video description puts it, “A supercell thunderstorm produced many tornadoes during the afternoon. As it was crossing the highway, the drone was able to capture the vorticies dancing before going across a field then exploding on a dirt field.” Hat tip to our friend Jim Edds over at extremestorms.com for calling this video to our attention.

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Cinematic FPV Drone Tour of the Faroe Islands

Ellis Van Jason, the drone pilot and YouTube creator who made this video featuring cinematic FPV shots captured on the Faroe Islands, was the winner of last year’s annual SkyPixel contest. And you can see why. In sweeping shots along the coast, dramatic plunges down cliff faces, and fast, low flights along narrow crags, this video takes you on an epic trip through these beautiful green islands located in the North Atlantic Ocean, between Iceland and the Shetland Islands. Jason shot the video for the Faroe Islands’ tourism board, and we have to say it worked—we definitely want to visit after seeing it.

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United Airlines Forms eVTOL Committee with Drone Taxi Company Archer

Credit: Archer

United Airlines has joined Archer in forming a joint committee on eVTOL (electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) operations. Through the committee, United will share its expertise on maintenance and operational matters with Archer as it moves forward in its development of taxi drones. Archer first partnered with United in February of 2021, when United signed an agreement to buy $1 billion in taxi drones from Archer, with an option to buy an additional $500 million more. (The agreement is contingent on Archer’s aircrafts meeting United’s business and operating requirements.) That agreement was a first for the taxi drone industry, according to Archer, and the formation of the committee presents yet another significant milestone in the development of flying taxis.

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American Robotics Signs on New Customer for Daily Autonomous Data Collection

Credit: American Robotics

Autonomous drones are gaining ground. We recently reported on Percepto’s news that Florida Power & Light plans to deploy 13 of its autonomous drones for monitoring power grids, and that American Robotics had secured approval to operate its autonomous drones at seven new locations. Now American Robotics is in the news again thanks to a recent agreement with a company called Scotts MiracleGro to provide daily data collection and analytics capabilities at its headquarters. While stories like this are novelties today, we suspect that these kinds of regular, autonomous deployments for data monitoring will be one of the most common types of commercial drone operations in the years to come.

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