Building on the success of last year's first International Drone Day - which featured more than 40, 000 participants in 150 cities in 50 countries spanning 5 continents - organizers are preparing for even more events and participants at this year's worldwide events set for Saturday, May 7. International Drone Day, or #IDD2016 as it is known in the drone community, is the brainchild of a California couple - Sarah (by way of her native England) and David Oneal - who write and produce That Drone Show, featuring news and products of interest to the drone community.
The international event was born of the couple's desire to counteract the negative media image of drones and to attract people from outside the drone community to learn more about the positive side of drones. Those positives, say the Oneals, include uses as diverse as search and rescue, crop monitoring and photography. They also believe that International Drone Day serves to highlight the economic boost provided by drones and to show that they are fun. A list of the May 7 drone events can be found by scrolling down to the map link here and clicking on a location near you.
According to Ms. Oneal, this year's lead event is in San Diego and will include "the International Drone Day Cup [a drone racing tournament], activities and games for those new to drones, and the Academy of Model Aeronautics SUAS4STEM search and rescue competition." This year the organizers have teamed up with the AMA, the largest model aircraft group in the country with more than 180, 000 members. Ms. Oneal expects more participants this year than last : "There are a number of new teams, events and locations this year and drone racing features more prominently than last year."
I will be participating in New York City's International Drone Day events at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology where I teach. Vaughn's events - which are all free and open to the public - include indoor drone flying in the College's netted aircraft hangar, drone design and build workshops led by our student UAV Club and a panel of drone experts discussing everything from updates on the drone law front to drones for STEM education to jobs in the burgeoning drone industry. Among the featured speakers are, attorneys Loretta Alkalay (who teaches Drone Law at Vaughn) and Peter Sachs, editor of the well-known www.dronelawjournal.com, Stephen Cohen, President of the Drone User Group, and Jimmy Olivera, a noted drone cinematographer.
If you're looking for something to do with the kids next Saturday, consider attending an International Drone Day event at a venue near you and learning about drones.
