Being an advocate is the best way.
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:39 am
Yesterday I put my larger drone up to get a photo of a local school football field (artificial turf so it looks good) and was bringing the drone back to land it when a Jag with NM paper tags pulled up. The driver was somewhat confrontational and informed me that he was a pilot and I couldn't fly as close as I was to the local airport. I explained the airspace (and airport) were class golf which means that with my remote airman certificate I was legal to fly but a hobbyist was supposed to attempt to notify (I also explained that the airport is usually unattended and depending on where the manager was you might not be able to contact him). We then a "Show me your's and I'll show you mine" moment with air respective certificates which lead to a discussion about what I had to know in order to pass the exam. I then offered to let him fly the drone, and he became very interested in it, especially once he saw it wasn't a 'toy'. I walked him through taking a picture of his shiny new Jag that he drove four hours in to visit his daughter and son in law then did post processing on it using my notebook. While I was doing the post work on the photo I learned he owns an oilfield company and they typically hire helicopters to get images of a most sites they work. Now he is looking to integrate drones into his own operation in place of the helicopters they hire. He is planning to get an sUAS rating himself and put me in touch with his son-in-law who works for a company that could very easily use my drone services.
This went from a potentially dangerous, and definitely hostile, encounter to making a new friend along with getting some business contacts and potentially even a consulting contract to help him develop his own in house drone program. It's just like taking someone to the range and letting them see the gun isn't going to kill them, and best of all it is fun.
This went from a potentially dangerous, and definitely hostile, encounter to making a new friend along with getting some business contacts and potentially even a consulting contract to help him develop his own in house drone program. It's just like taking someone to the range and letting them see the gun isn't going to kill them, and best of all it is fun.
