The FAA Shuts Down Every Drone Club Within 30 Miles of Washington, DC?

I'm fascinated by -- and don't quite know what to make of -- the FAA's decision to create a 30 mile no-fly zone for drones around the capital.

The FAA created the ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone) around Washington, D.C. back in 2003. The DC FRZ (Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Flight Restricted Zone) is a smaller, even more restricted airspace that prohibits all but "governmental,  certain scheduled commercial and a limited set of waivered flights."

The DC FRZ radius is 15-17 miles (13-15 nautical miles), but the new FAA rule doubles that radius for drones.

Am I reading this right? The FAA is more worried about something like a DJI Phantom 3  [B&H|Amazon] weighing a couple of pounds with a 20 minute roundtrip flight time than a plane or a helicopter capable of carrying people and weapons?

What do you make of this?

DJI Hammers 3DR with Its Version of Smart Shots

It may have been 3DR’s “Smart Shots” which captured my imagination and gave me the courage to try the 3DR Solo  [B&H|Amazon] and DJI Phantom 3 Professional  [B&H|Amazon] , but it was the DJI’s superior flight performance and my sense that they’d catch up to Smart Shots faster than 3DR would catch up to the Phantom’s performance which led me to purchase the Phantom. With Intelligent Flight Mode now available on the Phantom 3 Professional and Inspire 1, DJI indeed delivers first.

In a case of "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," we try out DJI's answer to 3DR's Smart Shots - their new Intelligent Flight Mode -- on a Phantom 3 Professional. Pretty great!

You can read the rest of this post on planet5D, where it was originally published.

Europe's Biggest Kickstarter Project Implodes

Noted as the largest Kickstarter funding to date in Europe, the Zano mini-drone promised too much – and has now tanked. Completely. But this is part of a larger pattern emerging in the imaging industry, as we now offer the next installment of what we’ve decided is a new series entitled, “Not Everyone Likes the Concept of Minimum Viable Products,” or perhaps “What Works for Software Companies May Not Work Quite as Well for Hardware Companies.”

After raising more than £2 million on Kickstarterplus taking additional pre-orders even before the Kickstarter campaign began, British company Zano was well-positioned to make a big splash in drone photography and videography.

As long as it delivered what it promised.

Epic fail.

The CEO has resigned and the company just announced they’ve halted the project altogether and are pursuing “a creditors’ voluntary liquidation...”

You can read the rest of this post on planet5D, where it was originally published.