so apparently people are getting flown out of floods by drones in China now
like literally hanging beneath a giant DJI drone and getting flown to dry ground
it was during the recent floods in Guangxi, more than 400 drone pilots showed up with over 300 aircraft
> most of the drones carried food, water, and medicine into villages that roads and boats couldn’t reach
> then rescuers started using the biggest ones to carry people.
> one of them was DJI’s FC200, a cargo drone built to lift up to 440 pounds
> the drone lowers a cable and harness, the person gets strapped in, and a human pilot flies them out remotely using the live camera feed
> one rescue was absolutely insane
> a man was stranded on a roof in Liulan village with floodwater rising around him.
> the pilot swapped in a full battery, kept a second drone ready as backup, and sent the FC200 over the water.
> the man was secured with roughly four wraps of the harness.
> then the drone lifted him nearly 150 feet, threaded him past power lines and treetops, and flew him almost 3,000 feet across the flooded village.
> he reached dry ground 9 minutes later.
> the battery was down to 23%.
the obvious question for me is...
if a cargo drone can fly someone across a flooded village, how long until a purpose-built passenger version can fly me across a city?
i want drone Uber so badly lol
imagine opening the app, call a drone, buckle in, and fly straight over traffic
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