Drone News Roundup: 50% Off All Courses During Black Fly-Day Sale, Mini 5 Pro Tour of Iceland, and More!
BY Zacc Dukowitz
24 November 2025Happy Thanksgiving! This week we’re covering all the deals in our Black Fly-Day Sale, which is live through December 4.
We’re also covering a Mini 5 Pro tour of Iceland, a dog-and-drone team improving search-and-rescue for missing people, how drones are helping scientists study whales, and Skydio landing two major U.S. Air Force contracts.
Now on to the links!
Our Black Fly-Day Sale Is On
Want to become a certified commercial drone pilot? Or looking to sharpen your drone skills? Every UAV Coach online course is 50% off right now through December 4. If you’ve been looking to get better at flying or improve specific drone skills—whether it’s mastering flight maneuvers, capturing pro-level aerial footage, or learning how to map and analyze data—this is the best time of year to do it. Follow the link to see all the courses on sale for 50% off.
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Mini 5 Pro Tour of Iceland
In this drone video, filmmaker Denis Barbas takes the DJI Mini 5 Pro on a road trip around Iceland, capturing the variety of the island in stunning aerial shots. Using slow reveals, lateral passes, and locked-off wides, Barbas shoots Iceland’s epic waterfalls, black-sand beaches, and glacier valleys in soft natural light. The video is a great showcase for what the new Mini 5 Pro can do in changeable light, and a beautiful tour of Iceland’s dramatic landscapes.
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Dog-and-Drone Team Speeds Up Search & Rescue
A Maine emergency agency has paired a trained crisis dog with a thermal drone to find missing people faster. Working together, the dog follows a scent trail on the ground while the drone scans from above for heat signatures and visual clues. Live video from the drone helps handlers and incident command steer the search in real time, tightening the loop between sightings, scent trails, and team movements. The result is faster finds and tighter tasking—a practical model agencies can adapt for SAR.
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How Drones Are Changing Whale Research
From “SnotBot” blowhole sampling to top-down photogrammetry for body measurements and behavior, researchers are using drones to make big improvements in how they study whales. Some of the most common uses include collecting respiratory droplets, measuring body condition, and documenting behaviors that are hard to see from boats. Not only do drones improve the quality of data collected—and in some cases, make it possible to collect that data at all—they also disturb animals less than traditional methods. The result is richer data on stress, pregnancy, disease, and feeding, plus aerial views that help teams track pods and calves in challenging seas.
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Skydio Lands Two U.S. Air Force Contracts
The Skydio X10D | Credit: Skydio
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Skydio two multi-million-dollar contracts for the company’s Blue UAS-approved X10D drones. The contracts expand the use of autonomous drones across several mission-critical Air Force units, including Tactical Air Control Party and Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams. The award—made with distribution partner ADS—focuses on using Skydio’s systems for situational awareness, comms relay, and faster on-scene decision-making during training and operations.
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