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Editor’s Note: Drones are still a new technology, and while more operators are licensed all the time, it is critical to use a checklist to insure every flight ends as it should, with the drone safely on the ground where it was planned to be. Poynter has re-published a piece from the Missouri Drone Journalism Program, part of the respected Missouri School of Journalism laying out the five steps they recommend enacting every time you fire up a machine.
Cross-posted from Poynter.org
[by Judd Slivka]
The Missouri Drone Journalism Program has flown more than 450 sorties since December. Our drones have spent more than 38 hours in the air. We’ve had 32 different student pilots fly our drones, and they’ve flown our drones for more than 38 miles. In that time, we’ve had no serious incidents. In fact, our most serious incident was two broken propellers.
We’re proud of our safety record, but we’ve learned some hard lessons along the way. I wanted to share them here, because they’re particularly applicable to pilots who don’t have a lot of time on the sticks — which describes the Section 107-qualified operators at many media outlets.