Extreme Heat 

Temperatures soared in July, with the UK average exceeding 30 degrees on the 18th and 19th of July. We shouldn’t moan about this year’s heatwave of course as it’ll be back to short daylight hours and constant rain again before we know it! But the heat did mean most of our operators took a well-deserved break. In extreme heat there are risks of the electronics or batteries in drones suffering damage, so temperatures must be taken into account for safety.

Instant Quotes are on the rise

We’re very pleased to see increasing quote requests coming through the Drone Safe website. This is down to a number of factors including the ongoing investment to keep the site ranking as high as possible in Google, increased social media marketing activity and the simple fact that warm weather means more events are taking place.

Drone for events is an area of huge potential for commercial operators - we receive quote requests for everything from local sporting events to large music festivals. Summer is also a peak time for weddings of course and more and more couples are seeing the benefit of drone wedding photography. For a wedding at a rural church or country house, there’s no better way to capture the scenery than from the air. 

Roof Inspections are also still in demand and we expect to see a lot more of these as we go into autumn. Homeowners will be looking for aerial inspections to make sure their properties are in sound condition before the weather turns. The long dry spell means some buildings will suffer subsidence and movement and drones are a great tool for looking for cracks and signs of damage in hard-to-access places.

Drones being used at major events are an increasing trend

It’s very evident that the use of drones is becoming more mainstream, and this is great for our members. Events like the 4th of July celebrations and Queen’s jubilee all made use of drones and this helps increase public perception and make it clear that they are safe when in the right hands. The odd local newspaper story of a drone crashing in a local park and incidents like the Gatwick drone mystery are now fading into the past, fortunately.

UK Drone Superhighway Approved

Another great step forwards in the public acceptance and commercial use of drones was announced in July in the form of the UK’s drone superhighway. Planned to go live in two years' time this 164-mile skyway will be the largest in the world. It will connect towns and cities including Rugby and Cambridge and will create huge opportunities in the UK drone industry. There are also other projects including using drones to deliver medical supplies across remote parts of Scotland and mail to the Isles of Scilly. 

At Drone Safe, we’re really excited to see major projects like these and ultimately they benefit all of us working in the drone sector.