This week in drone news, PG&E is under scrutiny for possibly flying a drone that halted fire operations on the first day of the dixie fire, A new DJI Osmo has been leaked, two drone and airplane mid-air collisions this week, and finally a drone that located a missing kayaker.

Dixie Fire and PG&E Butte 

County, CA is investigating the reports that a drone interfered with firefighting operations during the first hours of the Dixie fire (now more than 700k acres).  The county has accused PG&E of both starting the fire and flying the drone that caused air attack operations to be suspended.  PG&E denies having a drone in the area during the time and we were unable to find TFRs that coincided with the time and location of the fire.  https://www.kqed.org/news/11884337/investigators-probing-pges-possible-link-to-fateful-dixie-fire-drone-flight 

New DJI Osmo

 DroneXL reported that DJI’s next-generation Osmo could have been leaked in a series of photos. The device appears to be a run-and-gun type of camera, equipped with a 3-axis gimbal and an additional z-axis. The camera appears to be similar to the Zenmuse X7 designed for the Inspire 2. It could feature a 8k Super 35mm sensor with interchangeable lenses.   https://dronexl.co/2021/08/23/djis-next-generation-osmo/ 

A C172 in Toronto, Canada has experienced substantial damage after it collided with a police drone on approach to land. There were no injuries and the aircraft landed normally.  The drone (Matrice 210) hit the C172’s nose and propeller and will result in a complete engine overhaul for the Cessna.  NAV Canada, the country’s air navigation service provider (We assume similar to LAANC) had NOT been notified about the flight.  https://dronexl.co/2021/08/24/canadian-police-drone-collision-cessna/ 

A second airplane and drone potential collision this week was reported in Michigan involving an Embraer E175. Envoy Air flight 3961 (AA3961) was operating Chicago to Detroit when it struck an unmanned aircraft at ~2500’. ATC recordings show they were aware of a possible drone in the area. When the controller asked the pilot if they saw the drone the pilot replied that they’d just hit it.  No injuries and minimal damage to the plane.  https://simpleflying.com/envoy-e175-drone-strike/ 

A drone was used last weekend to help rescue an 18-year-old kayaker who became separated from his group. The incident happened on the Des Moines River Sunday evening during a day trip where the kayakers were drinking. After responding to the call, an off-duty police officer who was certified to fly located the missing person using a thermal drone at 11:15 PM, heavily intoxicated but otherwise unharmed. https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/iowa-news/drone-helps-in-rescue-of-kayaker-reported-missing-on-iowa-river/