This month’s edition of Banfield Recommends – our monthly snapshot of fun stuff the #BanFam is up to – features Digital Strategist Reid McCrory and his passion for flying drones.
Quarantine drones on
The Government of Canada recommends six feet of space between us, but lately I’ve been aiming for closer to 60 (or 400 if it’s not in controlled airspace). Quarantine has given me the chance to get away during a time when flying anywhere feels impossible. To date, I’ve flown my drone more than 100km, over 150 flights, with only 2 major crashes; mostly as a hobbyist, but I did write my SFOC and ROC-A commercial UAV pilot’s licenses a while back just in case. For now it’s been a great creative outlet that I use for shooting generic sunsets, forest fly-overs at the cottage, and sports shenanigans. It may not be the most accessible pastime, but it is ridiculously fun and there’s less of a learning curve than you’d think. So, I wholeheartedly recommend you go grab a cheap one from Best Buy, build your own, or invest in a cinema-quality super-drone (ha) and fly it until the props fall off — just remember, the minimum individual fine for misbehaviour is $1,000.