It looks like the new hotness in drone technology — which many of us associate with quadcopters — is wings. Parrot, the company most well-known for its AR Drone and various mini-drones, is bring an all-new entry into the drone space: the Disco fixed-wing drone.
If you’ve ever wanted to fly your own remote-control plane and haven’t gotten into the technology yet, this just might be your time.
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The Parrot Disco is a consumer-level, airplane-looking drone that can fly for up to 45 minutes at speeds of a little under 50 miles per hour. There’s an amazing 14-megapixel camera that shoots in 1080p resolution at the front of the Disco, the same one in Parrot’s highly recommended Bebop 2 quadcopter.
https://youtu.be/imtqooJj0I4
You’ll be able to fly this baby from Parrot’s FreeFlight app, which works on your iPhone or iPad as well as other smartphones and tablets, although Parrot recommends its more professional $499 Skycontroller for best results (of course).
The main difference between this winged drone and a quadcopter is that the Disco must measure airspeed, something it does with a pitot tube, and it’s a little trickier to take off and land. Parrot promises that you’ll be able to shake the Disco and toss it into the air to take off, along with an automated landing system that should help newbies keep their fancy new drone with wings from crashing.
Speaking of pricing, Parrot gives no hints, but if the controller is $500, you have to assume this will at least be in the same price range as their more popular quadcopter drones, in the $1,500 range.
