Weeks around 21-May-2023


Yeah, okay.

I finally bit the bullet and bought a drone.

Kind of impressive that it took me this long, if you think about it. I mean… my work at Insitu was on full-scale UAVs, but they were still drones, at the end of the day, right? Our CTO did his PhD on the aerodynamic equations around quadcopters, leading to the tech that balances those little toys you see at a gas station, for Pete’s sake!

How have I survived this long without one??



Well…

It’s pretty easy, actually. See, the first step is to not buy a drone. Then… just don’t do anything.

It’s literally the easiest option, and it’s the default setting! Doesn’t require any effort at all, in fact!


But still. Engineer in aerospace. So I finally bought one.

This one is the Autel Nano+, a small little quad copter with a fairly nice camera, some good autopilot options, and decidedly existent collision detection software. It’s small, it’s light, and it’s absolutely not a professional-grade piece of equipment. It’s actually a gram or two too light to count for FAA Part 107 classification. Which is fancy terminology to say that I don’t have to take a class to fly it, nor do I have to register it. Simple, light… I like it.

I’m still getting used to it, I freely admit. Which, I also freely admit, involves repairing it on more than one occasion. Sometimes with help from engineer friends.

But hey – repaired rotor spars build character, right? Right. Please tell me I’m right.


With all that in mind – sit back, relax, and enjoy the trial photography!