Drone News Roundup: Drone Gets Eaten by Massive Wave, 9 Drone Companies Hiring Right Now, and More!
BY Zacc Dukowitz
8 February 2024This week we’re covering a drone flying straight into a big wave while shooting surfing.
We’re also covering 9 drone companies that are actively hiring right now, Snap’s recall—with refunds—of 71,000 Pixy drones, a beautiful drone video of a baby humpback whale swimming circles around its mother, and a law in Oklahoma that will ban Chinese drones for state agencies, including police and fire departments.
Now let’s get to those links!
Drone Gets Eaten by Massive Wave While Filming Surfing
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Shooting extreme sports by drone can be pretty unforgiving—just ask the pilot of the drone that got eaten by this massive wave. The video of the drone getting swallowed by the sea was shot by Tucker Wooding, a surfing drone videographer who has earned a reputation for shooting some of the gnarliest aerial footage of surfing out there. Follow the link below to see more of Wooding’s impressive surf videos on Instagram.
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9 Places Currently Hiring in the Drone Industry
Credit: Skydio
Looking for work? Sally French of The Drone Girl recently shared nine companies with job openings in the drone industry at prominent companies in the drone industry, including Skydio, Zipline, and Zeitview, and Wing—and UAV Coach!
The jobs we’re hiring for here at UAV Coach are part-time flight instructors. Below are the locations where we’re hiring (though we’re open to drone pilots in other locations). Learn more about our open roles or follow the link below to see all the companies hiring in the drone industry on The Drone Girl website.
- Seattle, WA
- Westchester County, NY
- St. Louis, MO
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Cincinnati, OH
- Austin, TX
- Charlotte, NC
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Snap Is Recalling and Refunding All 71,000 Pixy Drones It Sold
Credit: Snap
Remember the Pixy? It was a selfie drone that Snap, the parent company of Snap Chat, put out in May of 2022. The drone didn’t last long—after just four months Snap announced that it would no longer be making them. But now the Pixy has resurfaced because there have been reports of the drone’s battery bulging, catching on fire, and even causing one “minor injury.” In response, Snap has recalled all of the Pixies it sold, which amounts to about 71,000 drones in total. Not only that, they’ll pay you a refund of up to $185 (the drone originally sold for $249.99). The only catch is that you need to return the entire drone. Follow the link below to learn more about the return process.
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Baby Humpback Whale Swims Around Mother in Beautiful Drone Footage
This drone video of a baby humpback whale literally swimming circles around its mother is your moment of zen this week. The footage was shot by drone videographer David Cope near Point Defiance, Washington at the start of this year. Want some good news? After years of population decline due to commercial whaling—their numbers were cut by 95% until whaling was outlawed in 1985—humpbacks are slowly making a comeback. More and more, you’ll find an abundance of humpbacks along the west coast, including the coast of Washington state, where this video was shot.
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State of Oklahoma Is Close to Passing a Chinese Drone Ban
Following Florida’s lead, the state of Oklahoma is now close to passing a law that would ban the use of drones made in any “covered foreign entity”—a term that applies to China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Public safety agencies are understandably worried about the law. If it passes, the majority of drones in their fleets may soon be unusable—since most public safety agencies rely heavily on DJI technology—resulting in them having to halt drone operations. This is what has already happened in Florida after the passage of a similar law. The total cost to replace the drones grounded by the law in Florida is estimated at $200 million, but only $25 million has been allocated, leaving many police and fire departments there angry and frustrated. Oklahoma could be one of many more states that pass similar bans following the recent passage of the ASDA, a complete ban on Chinese drones at the federal level that was included in the NDAA’s 2024 bill.
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