A test Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned combat aerial vehicle deployed recently in a first-ever joint force data link integration test during Emerald Flag 2024. The Marine Corps’ “Loyal Wingman” drone provides targeting data to F-35Bs and other aircraft. “The XQ-58A effectively demonstrated its capabilities as a forward deployed sensing platform – providing critical threat targeting […]
The latest in an occasional column on bringing products to market in emerging technologies, by industry marketing expert Amy T. Wiegand: Go-to-Market Propeller. Go-to-Market Propeller is the practical support a growing industry needs – getting from innovation to sales. In this article: the importance of market and customer discovery. by Amy T. Wiegand Imagine this: […]
Drone mapping, photogrammetry aid recovery in wake of Helene devastation By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill (Part of a series on the drone community’s response to natural disasters) Hurricane Helene, the massive and deadly storm that tore through a large swath of the U.S. Southeast in late September, triggered a tremendous response from the drone-flying community, as […]
Dryad Funding Will Help Develop Drone-Based System for Early Wildfire Response Berlin’s Dryad Networks announced new funding to accelerate its wildfire prevention solutions, focusing on innovation and development. The company has received a €3.8 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), administered through Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB). This grant will support the […]
As the Drone Girl, I’m always getting questions from new pilots! To help me answer this fun topic — meeting up with local drone pilots — I’ve enlisted the help of Patrick Sherman. Like me, he’s a long-time drone enthusiast who has risen to become a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University specializing in, you guessed it, drones!
One reader wrote in to say: I just passed my Part 107 exam, and I am excited to start flying! However, what I would really like to do is to meet up with other drone professionals near me drone professionals, which is Pacifica, California, just south of San Francisco.Do you have any connections/suggestions for any groups or individuals that I can meet and learn from?
Patrick Sherman, who is also the author of the book “Getting Started with Drones and Model Airplanes” knows a thing or two about launching a drone business. Given that, I asked him to help me answer this question
Here was his response (and if you want more of his insights, grab a copy of his book today!):
Congratulations! It sounds like you’re starting out your career in small uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) operations on the right foot! Finding your tribe and learning to fly using an inexpensive aircraft are two of the best things you can do when you’re just getting started.
First of all, in terms of finding other pilots in your vicinity, I’d encourage you to use the magic of the Internet. I did a Google search for “San Francisco Drone User Groups” and immediately identified half a dozen groups on Facebook, Meetup and other online forums that are based in your region. Check ‘em out. You might also consider using the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Club Finder tool to identify model airplane flying fields in your area. This can be another great place to meet fellow pilots with a range of different interests.
-Patrick Sherman
Are you starting out as a remote pilot? Do you have other questions you’d like Patrick to answer? The chances are that he already has answered it! Check out his new book, “Getting Started with Drones and Model Airplanes,” published by Aviation Supplies & Academics – the leading publisher of aviation-related books in the United States. Copies are available on Amazon!
Connecting Mobility, AI, Big Data and Robotics to Build the Future Daegu, one of South Korea’s major industrial cities, is undergoing an exciting transformation – and FIX 2024 is a tech conference that’s uniting four key industries to help shape the future. Under Mayor Hong Jun-pyo, FIX 2024 represents the city’s mission to reinvent Daegu’s […]
DRONELIFE is on the ground at FIX2024 in Daegu, South Korea, where some of the coolest innovations in drones, robotics, and AI are being unveiled. FIX2024 has become a hotspot for emerging technologies that push the boundaries of what autonomous systems can achieve. We’re usually all in on the drones – but from the newest […]
– Silent Arrow has announced that it has been selected by AFWERX for a SBIR Phase II contract in the amount of $1.25M focused on the Silent Arrow CLS-300 (“Contested Logistics System, 300nm Range”) powered cargo drone to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). The Air Force Research […]
The unmanned aerial system (UAS) SKAT 350M, developed by Izhevsk Aviation Plant LLC (IAZ)—a subsidiary of the Kalashnikov Group—has been officially entered into the register of products manufactured in the Russian Federation. This major step, achieved under Government Resolution No. 719 of July 17, 2015, allows the SKAT 350M to participate in public tenders and […]
– General Atomics is leveraging its experiences in hypersonic, railgun, and drone development in its new Long-Range Maneuvering Projectile (LRMP), a precision artillery round with wings that the company claims could hit moving targets 120 kilometers away in GPS-denied environments. The entirely self-funded project has been in the works for the past three years and […]
A test Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned combat aerial vehicle deployed recently in a first-ever joint force data link integration test during Emerald Flag 2024. The Marine Corps’ “Loyal Wingman” drone provides targeting data to F-35Bs and other aircraft. “The XQ-58A effectively demonstrated its capabilities as a forward deployed sensing platform – providing critical threat targeting […]
