the weirdest copter you will see today

Drones help with public safety

https://www.newsledge.com/drones-public-safety-technology/

"NYFD’s interest in drone technology was initially sparked by the 2014 East Harlem gas explosion which killed eight. A local sent up his personal drone which captured an excellent overview of the scene. Two years of research and development later, the NYFD had its own."

Well duh.  When you have a cheap observer that can flit about above from all angles, of course you can see better what it going on.

Neighbor shoots drone out of the sky

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/04/man-takes-drone-out-for-a-sunset-flight-drone-gets-shot-down/

"Indeed, Jones watched as his beloved drone came plummeting straight down onto the property of the Coalfield Seventh Day Adventist Church—right next to a neighbor’s home, where young children were playing in the backyard.
'It didn’t hit the ground as hard as it could have,' Jones said. 'When it hit, it broke the left landing gear arm, snapped the molding off the Inspire. But it was still running. Didn’t damage batteries, rotors were intact. Everything was fine, except the left rear motor with a bullet hole in it.'
Jones became the fourth reported drone shooting incident that Ars has been made aware of in nearly two years."


If you're going to fly your drone around your neighborhood, it might be neighborly just to let your neighbors know, in case they might have an issue.  And be armed.

US army can zap your quadcopter

https://www.rt.com/usa/385441-drone-killing-laser-weapon/

"Amid concerns about Islamic State’s use of weaponized hobbyist drones, the US military is testing a laser weapon designed to take out the aerial menace, and small enough to be mounted on a Stryker armored vehicle.

The Mobile High Energy Laser (MEHEL) fires a 5-kilowatt beam that can either scramble the drone’s circuits and sever its communications with ground control – a 'soft kill' – or destroy it outright in a 'hard kill,' according to the military publication Stars and Stripes.
Vehicles equipped with the MEHEL took part in the 10-day Maneuver Fires Integration Experiment exercises at Fort Sill, Oklahoma last week. A total of 50 drones were shot down, some just a few seconds after being engaged, Army spokeswoman Monica Gutherie said."

first-hand account of a drone strike in iraq

http://digg.com/video/isis-drone-attack

"At the front lines of the fight in Iraq, ISIS drones outfitted with grenades are an incredibly menacing presence to battalions."

DJI Spark; new smaller camera quadcopter