How did I end up here?
This is a question that I had asked myself many times. Why drones? Why not something else? After having spent over 20 years in the Law Enforcement/Security profession I just needed a change. Don’t get me wrong, I loved what I did. But if you have spent any time in that profession, you know the toll that it takes on you, and more importantly, your family. I wanted something where the sacrifices weren’t so costly. Yes, I was being selfish. After working for 3 government agencies and 2 Fortune 500 companies, I don’t feel bad about it. At all.
Some people would say that it was a mid-life crisis. I had neither the looks or the money for the standard mid-life crisis. You know what I’m talking about: the sports car that you can barely afford or the wife/girlfriend that is half your age plus costs more than a Bugatti in upkeep. Besides, I have a wife that I actually like. She loves me (or so she says), she works (and it’s not on a street corner), and she doesn’t put me down or talk badly to/about me (to my face). She’s the perfect woman.
Upper Covered Bridge, Northfield Falls, VT
I needed to so something that I love. Something that I was passionate about. Most importantly, something that I could afford. That got me thinking: What do I love and what am I passionate about? The answer to these 2 questions was very easy for me. I love photography and I love aviation. Growing up I wanted to be an astronaut, just like most kids at that age. I wanted to fly. See the world from up above. Well, the Good Lord had other plans for me and at the age of 18 I had an accident that left me with 2 compressed vertebrae after falling off a railroad trestle and landing on my ass about 50’ down on a dry riverbed while rappelling. People thought I died. I walked out of the hospital that night. There’s a reason why I landed on a canvas bag that still had plenty of rope inside. It was the only padding in that riverbed. Everything else was rocks/small boulders. Perfect landing. Stuck it. 10/10. I won the ass/canvass bag Olympics that day. Astronaut/pilot was out of the question. Like I said, the Good Lord had other plans for me.
Fast forward a few years and now I am working for one of the government agencies. Part of what I had to do was drive around the beautiful roads of Vermont and go check on people. My wife at the time had a camera that was just laying around. I started playing with it and got hooked. I read everything that I cold get my hands on. This was the pre-Google days so it was all books. Some of the best pictures that I had taken were done while I was working. I have loved photography ever since. So, back to my current situation.
I needed to find a way that I could incorporate aviation and photography. Like many people, I thought of drones as toys that kids play with as well as those kids at heart. It wasn’t until I started looking into it that I discovered how wrong I was. A whole new world opened up right in front of my eyes. You mean to tell me that I can use a drone and take kickass pictures??? I sure could. I started reading and learning as much as I could. First thing that I learned was that if you wanted to do this for anything other than pure recreation, I was going to need to get my Part 107 from the FAA. Anyone that tells you that they don’t need it since they are not getting paid, is full of it. Run the other way. They are the reason why we have so many regulations for drone pilots.
So how do I get my Part 107? I had a few options. I could read everything that I could, try to make sense of it and then take the test or I could sign up for one of the many classes/websites that offer to teach you the material so that you can be prepared for the test. I went with the latter. After doing weeks worth of research, I ended up choosing to sign up for the course through Pilot Institute. Best decision I could have made. Passed the test the first time around.
Union Pacific Big Boy #4014 coming into Houston, TX
The second thing that I learned was that I needed to pick a drone. This led down a rabbit hole. From all the drones out there, which one did I want. Most importantly, which one did I need. I quickly realized that there is a BIG difference between the 2. The real question was “what did I want to do with the drone?”. Once I had answered that question, the options narrowed down. I wanted to do mapping. I wanted to take great pictures that people would be able to enjoy. I wanted to do inspections. At the end of it all, it came down to 2 simple options: The DJI Mavic 2 Pro or the DJI Phantom 4 Pro v2. Now that the drone selection question had been answered, it was time to find one. I would have been happy with either one. I just so happened to find a “used” Mavic 2 Pro at a far better price than the Phantom 4 Pro v2. Mavic 2 Pro it is. Got it ordered and then the waiting game began. I was like a kid waiting for Xmas day. I was checking the tracking number so often that I had it memorized. I’ll be the first to say that I was completely pathetic when it came down to it.
The day had finally arrived. IT WAS HERE!! I unpacked it, got the batteries charged and then I remembered that I had to get it registered through the FAA’s Dronezone website. That’s an absolute must if you are going to fly it commercially. If it’s just recreationally, then you’d only need to register it if it weighed more than .55lbs or 250 grams. Since it was going to be used commercially, weight didn’t matter. It needed to be registered. Easy peasy. Only cost $5 to get it registered. If you come across another website that is going to charge you to register it for you, make sure that you are reading the fine print. Yes, some of them will send you some other items to go along with your registration. It only costs $5. The only website is https://faadronezone-access.faa.gov. Don’t be fooled.
Now that all of that had been done, it was time to learn how to fly it. These drones are super easy to fly at a basic level. You actually have to try to crash it. It was practice, practice, practice. Any chance that I got. Once I felt comfortable enough with it, then it was time to learn the rest. How to map. How to do inspections. And on a selfish level, how to take great pictures. Learning the settings for the camera on the drone was relatively simple. It was remembering what to do and when to do it. Again, it all came down to practice. As you can see, I got lucky with Big Boy when he came rolling through.
Honestly, at the end of the day you need to find what you love and just do it. Nothing in this world is guaranteed, except death and taxes. Learn a new skill. Enjoy the moment. Besides, how else could you get something like this?
