The FAA is among the organizations that are encouraging folks that found a drone under the tree to take a bit of time to learn some tips safety and otherwise before getting airborne.
The FAA posted the following info graphic to guide new users and remind all of precautions to take:
Wired has a good article, appropriately titled: How to Avoid Immediately Destroying Your New Drone. If you just received a drone that retails for ~$1000 you would be well served to read it.
There is not much we can add other than to echo the spirit behind these suggestions. Failing to get yourself properly oriented and informed can bring unwanted results. These are being documented by Faine Greenwood. Ms Greenwood is an assistant researcher at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, focusing on how UAV and satellite technology can be used in humanitarian contexts. As she notes on Twitter, tracking drone calamities “has been my holiday tradition for three years now for #dronecrashmas: somewhere in between hilarious and deeply terrifying!”
Here are a few of her tweets (click on the image for original tweet):
Frank Schroth is editor in chief of DroneLife, the authoritative source for news and analysis on the drone industry: it’s people, products, trends, and events.
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