New Atlas

Have you ever heard the buzz from a swarm of a thousand bumble bees? I have, it’s an experience I’ll never forget, but I would have rather experienced the buzz of a thousand EHang Ghostdrone 2.0s lighting up the night sky. The new world record for single pilot drone flight was made in China, with a technological take on the lantern festival to ring in the new year.

You watched the drone presentation by Intel from the Super Bowl. Flying above Lady Gaga’s head was a measly 300 Shooting Star quadcopters. EHang is known to me for the 184, a personal transportation sized drone, but the Ghostdrone 2.0 is a unit I need to get more familiar with. Now that a thousand of them are in the history books, that shouldn’t be hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QR_ks_xcxk

(Original video taken down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJGm-sB69Lo)

Large drone formations are a rare thing thus far. The primary obstacle is the FAA regulation stating one drone to one pilot. Obviously, special certification can be had for one pilot in command to orchestrate a swarm. ‘Swarm’ is my word to describe it all.

Intel’s world record run of 500 Shooting Star drones in the air at once held since last fall. Of course, most will only know of the Super Bowl 51 exploits, in which, as mentioned, 300 drones made fun shapes above the stadium.

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EHang broke the record in January, taking to the sky with LED lit drones to form images and words. The big ones included the map of China and a rooster, in honor of this being the year of the rooster, of course.

EHang is a relative unknown in the retail drone space. We only just added them to one of our best lists, and that was for this very drone. The Ghostdrone 2.0 is an affordable alternative to the current DJI Phantom line, and a really easy drone to operate.

We are looking forward to covering the EHang Ghostdrone 2.0 more as we go, we hope you’ll stick around for the journey. Be sure to stay tuned for the announcement that the 184 will be flying in Dubai later this year. If you’ve seen enough, you can grab the base model Ghostdrone 2.0 for about $370 on Amazon today.

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Things to know before you fly

• You must register your drone with the FAA before you fly
• You must affix your drone registration number to your craft
• Coming soon: The FAA will require you to pass a test before you fly your drone
• You must acquire your Part 107 certificate if you are to receive any compensation for your flight
• You must follow all of the FAA’s airspace rules if you are flying outdoors
• Hobby flights have different requirements from commercial flights
• In the eye’s of the FAA, drones are aircraft. Period.
• You need to acquire authorization to fly in controlled airspace

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