Flying Drones and Their Use for Tomorrow

With that new bill to modernize the aviation system, drones – camera-equipped robotic planes and helicopters – are gonna be seeing a lot of attention over the next few years. Mainly known for their wartime uses (spying on and attacking militants in Pakistan), it’s easy to lose sight of their very handy nonlethal uses.

Realtors in LA have used them to provide clients with sweeping views of properties and iPad-based newspaper The Daily used one to capture aerial footage of tornado aftermath. The former was forced to stop after the LAPD informed them of U.S. law restricting use of air-space to hobbyists flying model aircraft below 400 feet. If you’re looking into buying a drone to spy on whoever it is that warrants spying on, be ready to spend anywhere from $300 for the Parrot AR Drone to $30,000 for the Draganflyer X8 (the real deal). Recently, videos of protests overseas have surfaced and the news stations that broadcasted them used drones such as the Robokopter to capture high-quality, news-chopper-worthy video of the clashes. This, along with drones that film concerts and festivals, is what we can expect to see from commercial drone markets in the near future.