by Clay | Jul 12, 2017 | Manned Flight, Unmanned Flight
Understanding an airport’s traffic pattern is fundamental to aircraft pilots and remote pilots (drone operators) alike. As more and more authorizations for drones to operate near airports are issued, remote pilots are encouraged to monitor the radio traffic with...
by Clay | Jun 21, 2017 | Unmanned Flight
An alarm was blaring. It was loud and unfamiliar. My drone was well out over the lake, a couple hundred feet high. I was standing on the shore, trying to make an immediate assessment of what was going on. I’m used to hearing a low battery warning. I have...
by Clay | May 3, 2017 | Manned Flight, Unmanned Flight
Sometimes, movies that depict the future end up getting it right. Of course, the only way to know for sure is to wait and see. In the movie Back To The Future, the famous DeLorean blasts into the future and lands on October 21, 2015. For a 1985 movie, that’s...
by Clay | Feb 15, 2017 | Unmanned Flight
“You need to have a license to fly that drone?” If I had a nickel for every time I was asked that – well, let’s not be dramatic, I could buy a Coke or something. When I have my drone out at various gigs, kids come up and talk to me about the...
by Clay | Feb 8, 2017 | Manned Flight, Unmanned Flight
When I took the check ride for my Private Pilot certificate, I sat in a conference room at a little airport in South Carolina with the FAA examiner. Before getting in the plane for my flight test, I had to pass an oral exam. For about an hour, he got to pick my brain...
by Clay | Jan 5, 2017 | Manned Flight, Unmanned Flight
It’s easy to look up to the sky and see a bunch of nothing. I’m always in wonder when there are lots of unusual clouds because it gives great dimension to an otherwise endless blue void. On the ground, we draw imaginary lines all over the land, making...
