Fly Safe This Holiday Season

When I was a kid, there was nothing I wanted to see under the Christmas tree more than something to do with aviation; a radio ­controlled plane, a model rocket, or the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator. It’s great to know that kids, and the young at heart, will be opening the latest generation of consumer level drones all over the world this holiday season. Even though these benevolent little aerobots, these wonderful machines that sit at the intersection of aviation and robotics are seemingly easy to fly ­ they have potential to cause harm in the hands of an uneducated operator.

Learn the rules of the road that professional pilots and their passengers count on. Take time to hold the responsibility of sharing airspace and educate yourself.

Whether you’re an experienced pilot or you’ll be receiving your first aerial robot this season, host or attend Drone for the Holidays in your city on January 3, 2015.

If you can’t make it to an event ­ there are plenty of ways to learn the rules of the road. You can read up on safety tips and regulations ­ there are resources everywhere, from the FAA to the AMA to the Know Before You Fly campaign.

Respecting the rules of aviation and the airspace is top of mind every time I get in the air ­ via a helicopter or flying my quadcopter. The joy I’ve always felt through flight starts from a grounded feeling that what we do in the air is safe. In aviation, you can trust the system, rely on the system, and then enjoy the system.

When you come down the stairs this Christmas, here’s hoping you get to unwrap a Drone for the Holidays.

Jonathan Evans is the CEO of SkyWard and a self proclaimed “Geeky Pilot,” with 17 years of experience as a professional aviator.