My shortcut through our community college, revealed 6 people standing on the baseball field 10 feet apart. They flew drones to the outfield, then back. This was a class in Wilderness Firefighting. Here in Oregon, aerial surveillance can be a safer way to view a burning landscape.
It seems Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are infiltrating jobs done by dogs, horses, men, and heavy equipment. I hooted at what my crochety family would yap about using drones to work on the farm and ranch.
And…a story was born. Actually, an entire novel,. Hardly Any Shooting Stars Left came to life with a lot of cranky community members in mind, and a little murder to keep it twisting. (Coming April 2022).
So … how does a beginner learn to fly?
First, let me say that if you’re like me, and have barely held a controller, then you’ve got a STEEP learning curve, familiarizing yourself with button and sticks. AAAAAwk! I’m terrible at video games. What was I thinking? My instructors make it look so easy. I suppose it’s like riding a bike or brain surgery—the more you do it—the better you get at it.
Second, consider starting with a flight simulation program. Crashes can get expensive.
A sissy like me can muddle through with minimal damage to the drone by keeping it LOW to the GROUND and going slowly. I was told ….crashes for a beginner are inevitable—sigh…but I have no idea why my drone is attracted to the one and only tree in the open field, over and over. Crashing the drone doesn’t hurt like falling off a horse, but it can maim your wallet…and that’s how the 3D printing (replaceable parts) was added to the storyline. I suppose I’d get better at flying if I could learn how to make a drone dump moss-remover on my pointy roof—OR chase the bone-burying, crap-depositing stray dogs out of my garden. But then I read about…
Drones that Bark Like Dogs…
My cheap drone doesn’t have this feature and the drones fly quietly in my small-town-mystery. But let me tell you, it would be really satisfying to use this technology to curse my darn drone-eating tree.
Enjoy this short New Zealand video for a quick taste of ranching and barking drones.
Before Morning Breaks 
Those competitions are pretty interesting, eh? They make it looks so easy.
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Very interesting. I guess young people do have a better eye/hand coordination to operate a drone. Glad to see that dogs are also used in conjunction with herding.
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Heavens! I hope thy never stop using dogs.
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My hubby bought a cheap ‘starter’ drone and had a lot of trouble making it fly. Then he bought one that was a bit more expensive (the same kind our son-in-law has). It was a lot easier to use!
In our part of the world, farmers are using drones to check crops for insect damage and maturity, among other things.
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I want one of those drones that you just toss it into the air and it follows you because you have a locator in your pocket. That sounds easy to me.
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I love this! Drone surveillance of the farm made so much sense when I read about it in your book, and this brings it into real life. The cowboy on his horse with the dogs will still get ou through a blizzard better than drones and an ATV, but with modern weather predictions, you can bring the herd down to winter pasture before the blizzard hits.
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I jut want it to do errands for me. Like pulling weeds.
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I saw drone competition on tv. Very large room, a gym or empty supermarket, with players navigating some obstacle course. The future is overtaking me!ary Jean
Sent from my iPhone
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