Hi everyone, I’m Vlad - a fresh LSE graduate who lives near Billericay, Essex and has recently decided to get into drones. So far, I’ve just set up my Operator & Flyer ID and practised drone skills on Orqa’s FPV SkyDive for 8 hours. I want to bridge into real flight time as soon as possible.
I want to work as a freelance drone pilot — for example, surveying buildings/roofs (for Roof Hawk), doing cinematography (for FilmFolk), and/or swarm/light-show piloting (like FlightShows). I also want to have fun and enjoy the learning curve of drone piloting
A couple of questions for the group:
For anyone who has attended a meetup - any tips on how to prepare beforehand? What’s worth bringing, and is there anything specific beginners should practise or know before showing up?
On the career side - I’d really appreciate any advice on what actually helped when applying for drone pilot or ops roles and what employers actually look for from someone early on.
Looking forward to meeting people and coming along to events near Essex/London — thanks in advance!
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Looking for recommendations of places to fly? Check out our interactive map on Drone Scene and please feel free to add locations of your own too
Flying a drone is great fun but sometimes you feel the need to have a purpose for doing so and the Challenges category provides some great reasons for you to fly.
There are regular challenges which are open to all, that attract members of all abilities. Support, advice and constructive criticism is freely available; still photography, video and the techniques for editing both are involved in the challenges. Suggestions, for subjects or for complete challenges, are always welcome - take a look in the Challenges category for more information.
We’re a well established club with many knowledgeable members so it’s very likely that any issues you come across will have been discussed here before. Our discussion forum has very powerful search features which should help you find what you need but if you get stuck you can post a new question in the Questions & Answers category.
Our Bronze Members are able to enjoy a lot of great services for free but our Silver and Gold Members are eligible for a whole lot more! Read all the details about our Membership Benefits?
And finally, if you are new to drones and wondering what it’s all about, have a look at Resources for a beginner.
There are many meets setup by members of this great club, you can even setup your own.
Personally I take the below to a meet (I’ve only been to 1 myself so far!).
Drone
Drone spare batteries
Drone battery charger
Drone spare props
Drone controller
USB-C power supply (for charging the drone batteries and controller. Substitute this to the connector you need for your setup).
Large battery pack/s, or a way to charge your drone batteries and controller. Some people use their EV car, some use a 12v car adapter, some have mains battery packs, some have solar panels.
welcome @vlad-mykhailov
take a seat such as a camping chair.
a means to charge your batteries if you intend to fly alot.
refreshments.
Take your sense of humour.
