Ask Drone U

Today's show is a special one as we are joined by drone pilot, Cam Sale who reveals some expert tips and tricks to protect and grow your drone business in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Cam was recently awarded a large 16-month job that will help him significantly scale up his drone business operations. While there are many drone pilots who are short of work due to the pandemic, how are pi...

Zipline to Commence Drone Delivery Operations from North Carolina, Flash Forest Uses Autonomous Drones for Reforestation, Is 2020 the Year of Drones?, Wing Aviation Grows at 500% Our main story today is about drone deliveries. The US has been lagging behind countries like Australia and even Africa due to archaic laws that make it incredibly difficult to use drones for making deliveries. So, far, d...

How to Deal With Illegal Drone Pilots Today's question is about illegal BLOVS flights. Our caller for today, Mark has come up with a great question that has not been asked on ADU before. Mark recently saw a video where an Autel Evo 2 was flown more than a mile away. In yet another instance, another YouTuber took his Mavic Mini to 18,000 feet AGL. Have these YouTubers taken the necessary legal perm...

Workflow and Tips for Adding 3D Renderings to a Video Today's question is about adding 3D renderings to a video. Our caller for today, Tom is not sure how he can add 3D renderings to a video. Doing so will certainly result in better engagement. But, how can he do that? Which software will allow Tom to add 3D renderings to a video? We help Tom out in this short but informative show. Thanks for the...

DJI Mavic 3 Set to Hit Stores Earlier Than Expected, Autel Wins Landmark Legal Judgement Against DJI, DJI Mavic Air 2 Issue, Remote ID to Roll Out in 2021 Our biggest story this week is about the DJI Mavic 3. Regular ADU listeners might be aware that a new DJI drone with enhanced autonomous features has been in the works for quite some time now. Initially, we were expecting the DJI Mavic 3 to be r...

Near Drone Crash During Detroit America Strong Flyover, DJI Drones for Spying?, Brendan Schulman talks about DJI and Data Security, Drone Show in Rotterdam on Liberation Day, Drones for Disinfecting Sports Stadiums Our big story this week is about a drone that came dangerously close to the Blue Angels during the recent Detroit America Strong Flyover. Drone U's Vic Moss managed to download this foo...

Assessing the Image Quality and Commercial Viability of DJI Mavic Air 2 In today's show, award-winning photographer, Vic Moss reviews the all-new DJI Mavic Air 2. DJI has been touting this new drone's ability to capture 48 MP images. But, can you really capture 48 MP images with a half-inch sensor? And, how do these 48 MP images compare to the regular, 12 MP images? Vic edits 12 MP and 48 MP live...

Expert Tips for Building Accurate Drone Maps and Models Today's question is about ground truthing your drone maps. Our caller, Jon from Arizona is a new ADU listener who is learning the nuances of drone mapping. Jon's question today is about ground truthing. How can you ground truth if you are using a drone like Phantom 4 RTK which relies on a NTrip network? Will your mapping accuracy go down if y...

Is the DJI Mavic Air 2 a Good Drone for Commercial Applications Like Videography and Drone Mapping? Today's show is about the DJI Mavic Air 2. Recently, DJI released its new drone, the Mavic Air 2 with much fanfare. We were one of the first ones to report leaked specs and give you a sneak peek even before this drone was released in the market. Now that this new DJI drone has been officially launch...

DJI Matrice 300 Released, DJI Mavic Air 2 Battery Issue, Drone Deliveries Possible Under Part 107, FAA Announces Technology Partners for Remote ID Our biggest story this week is about the DJI Matrice 300 RTK. The rumors mills had been abuzz for quite a while now and even we have been sharing regular updates about this enterprise drone on previous shows. All these speculations were finally proven t...

Expert Tips for Preventing a Drone Flyaway Today's show is about preventing a drone flyaway. What steps can you take to mitigate risk and ensure safe drone flight? Our caller for today, Tom is dealing with interference issues that almost caused a flyaway - twice. Tom was attempting to takeoff from a construction site, and he lost control of his drone inspite of calibrating his IMU. While Tom manag...

What You Need to Know Before Flying Your Drone Over a National Park Today's question is about flying your drone in national parks. Our caller, Adam has come up with an interesting question about flying drones in national parks. While we know that taking off and landing your drone in national parks is prohibited by the law, can you fly from private property inside a national park? And will you get...

DJI Mavic Air 2 In-Depth Review, FAA Makes it Possible to Renew Your Part 107 Online, Benefits of Flying in Atti Mode, DJI Matrice 300 Delayed due to Coronavirus, Drone Deliveries Under Part 107 Our biggest news story this week is about the DJI Mavic Air 2. DJI has released this much-awaited drone, albeit in difficult market conditions. We managed to get our hands on one of the first pieces of thi...

How has the ongoing virus affected the drone industry and its stakeholders? What are drone service providers doing to protect their business? Can we expect any new launches in 2020? Welcome to another awesome episode of Ask Drone U.  Today we are going to be discussing the state of the industry. How has the virus changed things? Where does remote ID go from here? Who’s winning and losing in the wa...

LiDAR vs. Photogrammetry - Which is the Best Option for Surveyors? Today's question is about replacing LiDAR with photogrammetry for surveying purposes. Can photogrammetry prove to be a feasible option? Our caller for today, Issac is using ground-based LiDAR for surveying purposes. Regular ADU listeners might be aware of the difference between LiDAR and photogrammetry. LiDAR is an active technolog...

Today's question is about renewing your Part 107 certificate in the wake of the virus outbreak. Our caller, Jaime works as an emergency manager in public health in South Carolina. When he is not on the frontlines bravely fighting the virus outbreak, Jaime also takes up drone jobs as a Part 107 pilot. Now, Jaime's Part 107 license is due for renewal shortly. But with the lockdown in effect, he cann...

Best and Most Efficient Workflow for Creating a Navigable 3D Real Estate Model for Interiors and Exteriors Today's question is about creating 3D models for real estate interiors AND exteriors. Our caller for today, Luke is a project manager who restores old buildings. He owns a Phantom 4 Pro V2 that he wants to use for drone mapping and modeling. However, due to the nature of his work, Luke wants...

Today's question is about the best and most affordable computer system for drone mapping. Our caller for today, Scott is a real estate appraiser who is keen on getting into drone mapping. Being a longtime ADU listener, Scott is well aware that he needs a powerful computing system for processing drone maps. But such high-end systems can be really expensive and end up costing thousands of dollars. S...

Sneak Peek at the DJI Mavic Air 2, New DJI Drones, Drone Deliveries, Drones for Enforcing Social Distancing, 3D Modeling and VR for Real Estate Marketing Our biggest story this week is about the DJI Mavic Air 2. Recent FCC filings have corroborated our initial reports that a new Mavic Air 2 is indeed in the works. Like its larger cousins, the Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom, these filings suggest that this n...

Pricing Strategies for Drone Mapping Professionals Today's question is about pricing a drone mapping job. What variables do you need to consider so that you don't end up underbidding and losing money? In today's show, Paul and Rob join us from an awesome Netflix movie set in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This is the location of our forthcoming Drone U Fly-In which we had to postpone due to the virus outbr...

Today's question is about Pix4Dcapture. Our caller for today, Chris thinks that Pix4Dcapture is a "piece of garbage". Somehow, he is unable to load a Pix4Dcapture mission to his drone, a Mavic 2 Pro. Now considering that we are swear by Pix4Dcapture, Chris wants to know why this mapping software is running into glitches. Well, Paul shares some basic mistakes that Chris is making which are causing...

Today's question is about using someone else's demo reel. Our caller for today, Eric from New Hampshire has come up with a rather interesting question today. Eric, a new pilot is in a hurry to kickstart his new drone business. He wishes to know if he can use an experienced pilot's reel to acquire new clients. What if Eric is upfront with his prospective clients about the reel's creator? And, what...

Today's question is about using thermal in your drone business. Our caller for today, Gabriel's question wishes to use thermal in his drone business. Thermology is an incredibly complex and nuanced field. So, Gabriel is wondering whether he should consider getting a thermology certification. And is a thermology certification mandatory if he wishes to work with marquee clients in certain niche indu...

Today's show is about is about creating the best possible aerial videography for your clients. Our caller, Matthew is a journalist and photographer keen on improving his aerial videography skills. He is looking for some expert tips so that he can create aerial footage that perfectly caters to his target demographic. On a technical level, Matthew has some specific questions about color grading, sho...

New DJI drone, the DJI Mavic in summer 2020, the impact of coronavirus on the drone industry, how drones are helping contain the pandemic, drones being used to kill pests in remote islands in New Zealand, drones for protecting surfers in Australia In today's drone news, you will get a sneak-peek of the all-new DJI Mavic. Chinese drone pilot, OsitaLV released some images of this new DJI drone on hi...