There is widespread and understandable concern among pilots about irresponsible fliers of modern hobby drones—often quadcopters equipped with cameras—and the damage these devices could cause to aircraft. Operators of these drones need to be extremely careful about where and how they fly them because they could cause serious damage in a midair with a full-size aircraft. Pilots are right to be concerned: just looking at some of the online footage captured by these drones indicates that many are being flown in areas that are off limits and dangerous.
I recently purchased a quadcopter, the capable Yuneec Q500 Typhoon equipped with a gimbal-mounted high-definition camera. I was introduced to the Q500 by Ben Marcus, co-founder of jet brokerage JetAviva and more recently founder of Drone23.com, which is the exclusive aviation sales outlet for the Yuneec Q500. Marcus is eager to have airmen try quadcopter flying and is providing licensed pilots a $50 discount off the $1,299 retail price for the Q500.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
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