Ian McNabb is a thirteen year old drone enthusiast and son of DRONELIFE’s CMO, Harry McNabb. Ian writes about his first drone experience in “Drone Memoirs of a Teenager.”
Most kids only have a vague idea of what a “drone” is. However, when your dad works for Dronelife, that’s what you hear most about. I had always sort of shied away from the big, scary looking Parrot AR drone my dad borrowed, until, one day about six months ago, it happened.
“Hey! Ian! Want to fly the drone?”
I was nervous, but I took my dad’s phone, where you control the drone from an app, and I looked at the controls. First, I needed flight training. Parrot has great tutorials online, (and they make it look so easy, too), and I soon understood the basics – or so I thought. Pressing the takeoff button for the first time was scary. Finger wobbling, I stabbed the button, and off it went: straight into the grass. Scared and nervous, I ran as fast as I could to the drone, which I worried might have been damaged. Actually, it was my dad worrying. I was worrying that I might be paying debt and interest until I was 74. Luckily, it wasn’t, and my college fund was safe. I took the phone, and I tried to launch it again. It was a little easier this time, and soon the drone was hovering about 3 feet in the air.
Having not broken any windows or the first drone, I got another chance. The second drone I ever flew was a Parrot Bebop. It was smaller than the AR, and it looked a little less scary. That was, until I flew it. It was much more powerful, and it also had a cooler controller, a big bulky R.C. type thing with joysticks and buttons that looked like they’d been ripped from a plane dashboard. It was new, and you could see how quickly the technology was improving. This one was the only one where I got to feel its power close up. I held it while my dad had the controller, and he turned it on. (I haven’t decided if it was an accident.) It ended up being a lot of fun.
A few months later, as my dad had long ago handed the main controls to me, I got to fly yet another new drone. This one looked like it should have a missile on it, as it was a Yuneec Q500. Same initial apprehension, but as my fear grew less, I began throwing the drone around a bit more, even attempting a dangerous landing on top of my dad’s car. (Resulting in a $18 dollar purchase of new propellers.) I felt better after my dad ran it into our house 20 minutes later and broke 3 of the four props.
I haven’t played much with the camera, but as far as I can see, it isn’t hard to use the tools. The drone itself was not hard to fly. I’ve flown the drone with friends, taught them, and they did fine. Drones aren’t too hard to crash though, so I’ve kept away from trees and fences. So far, besides the car landing, I’ve been fine, and I’m still having fun.
I’ve flown three drones: a Parrot Bebop, a Parrot A.R., and a Yuneec Q500 Typhoon. All of them are at different prices, but all of them have been unique and fun. Thirteen year olds probably aren’t huge drone buyers, (although Parrot, I am told, is releasing mini-drones which are marketed to kids), but try telling me and my friends that when we’re messing with a drone. It’s just a flying ball of awesome, and lets face it, they are more active than an iPhone.
And more fun.
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