The Drone Trainer Podcast

On a weekly basis, I receive a bunch of questions via email from people just like you in the drone community. So far I've just been answering them via an email reply, but thought it would be a better idea to share them all with the drone community! So, now I'm putting it out there to you, to send me your drone questions. Anything you want to ask about drones, I'm here to answer for you, and I'll share with all of the podcast listeners via a mega Q&A episode. Ok, I hope to hear from you soon!

Tim Eccles is a drone pilot from Cape Town, South Africa, who had an interesting start in the drone world. He was gifted a drone in January 2018, but wasn't able to fly it at that time due to a bad battery. He let it sit for a while, but once getting it going he's been having a blast flying and selling his prints.

Ryan Walsh is the CEO of Valqari, a drone delivery solution based in Chicago, Illinois. Ryan and his team have developed a drone delivery solution to solve the last mile or last meter problem. I have to admit, before speaking with Ryan today, I had been very skeptical of drone delivery as a whole. I could predict it's success in rural environments, but the urban environment was where I predicted it would be difficult to impossible... listen in to see how that's changing!

Erin Knoetig is a high school teacher from Nashua, New Hampshire, teaching her students about all that is drone. It started off as an idea with one of her co-workers, and is starting out as a part time program until the end of this school year. So far the program has been a great success, and starting in the fall it will be a full time credited class at Nashua High School North!

Phil Alder is a drone pilot based in Victoria, Australia, running Gippsland Drone Services. While Phil doesn't have his commercial licensing, you'll hear that he is still able to work as long as he is obeying all the Australian drone rules. He is obviously limited in what he can do, but he's still making it happen while operating legally in rural areas.

Sparky Sorenson is a drone pilot form Dallas Texas, currently fling the DJI Phantom 4 Pro and DJI Inspire 2 models. Sparky has been flying since 2014, when he was in a band and taking a lot of cross state roadies. During these trips he started to explore video editing, and eventually added on a drone! His first drone, like mine, was the Phantom 2.

What is CES 2019? CES 2019 is the world’s gathering place for consumer technologies, and I will be there to check out all of the new and existing drone tech. The show runs from January 8-11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (and many other venues), and I'll be hitting the exhibitor floor every day to take in all that is drone. With 4500 exhibitors, and over 180,000 attendees, this is going to be massive!

Walt Snider is an IT professional and Office 365 trainer based in Miami Florida. He is a photographer that has a lot of interest in drones, and has a LOT of questions! In this episode we're going to turn the tables a little as Walt will be asking most of the drone questions, and I'm answering them off the cuff. Yeah, no prep so you can hear me fire off answers in real time instead of having a lot of time to prepare.

7 Essential Winter Drone Flight Tips Flying your drone in the winter can be one of the most rewarding times to fly, however you must be adequately prepared! We fly our drones in the often brutal Canadian winters, so have decided to share our top winter flight tips with you! Yes, these tips come from experience, not just what we've read on the internet 

Houston Brown is a luxury real estate photographer and drone pilot, who has carved out a niche shooting multimillion dollar ranches in the Dallas area. He started off as a ground based photographer, and branched out into drones once realtors started expecting aerials added to their marketing materials. In addition to just shooting luxury real estate, Houston is marketing himself as a luxury photographer.

Camilla Dellion is a currently living in the Maldives, flying and capturing some dynamite ocean shots. She is originally from Sweden, but as you hear in this interview she's a world traveler who already has her sites set on her next location. She is currently selling her beautiful prints back home in Sweden to help support her lifestyle in the Maldives, and taking every opportunity that she can to go to Indonesia for projects.

Tony Gardiner is a drone pilot and director on the Australian television show, Home And Away. Tony has been working on the show for a few years, and has worked his way up to director. Don't let that fool you into thinking that he's just directing all the awesome drone shots that you see on the show though. He's also on the drone controls, flying and capturing all the shots that they need for the show!

Mika Kurkilahti is a Finnish drone pilot based on Turku. He is one of the partners at a digital agency, and is incorporating drone flights and footage in his creative work. He has been working in his digital agency since 2002, and has been working with drones since 2014 when he picked up a DJI Phantom 2. Since starting with the Phantom 2, Mika has upgraded to the Phantom 3 Pro and now the Phantom 4 Pro. He discusses how well the P3P worked for him, and how beneficial DJI Care was.

Just a quick bonus episode of the podcast, where I speak with Marc Monteiro, who recently found a drone while out on a hike with friends in Australia. Marc played detective and got it back to the rightful owner, so listen in to see how he made that happen!

Mike Poore is based in Pembrooke Pines, near Fort Lauderdale and Miami in south Florida. He's a drone pilot, and the brains behind Mike's Aerial Photography LLC. Mike has been flying and operating for about a year now, and started off with a Phantom 3 Standard that he picked up on Amazon. Since then he has upgraded to the Mavic Pro, and recently to the Mavic 2 Pro.