Cleveland, Ohio’s Drone for the Holidays a HUGE Success!

[SleepyC]

Hey guys, this past Saturday I was fortunate to attend my home town “Drone for the Holidays” event. This was a nation wide event started by the Roswell Flight Test Crew and hosted across the US by many clubs, companies and organizations.

Here in Cleveland it was hosted by Droneworx and NOUASA with a slew of guest speakers. Matt from Droneworx put together a recap that covers it all.

Matt from Droneworx says,

We still need to tally, but the turnout is definitely well above 50. Much enthusiasm and interest by the attendees in being responsible drone pilots - many AMA memberships expected from this event.
This was a great event. Not without room for improvement, but a huge success.

Where do I begin?

The team of presenters and coaches was fantastic:
Drew Ferguson - commercial rotorcraft pilot, UAS flight instructor, co-founder of Phastar Corporation and outspoken proponent of the forthcoming re-emergence of Aviation High School at Burke (STEM/drones, etc.) - spoke on mutual regard for manned and unmanned aircraft system pilots. See http://www.phastar.org/
Jose Borges - FAA inspector in the Cleveland FSDO - Jose spoke (unofficial capacity) on the history of radio control and FAA rules for model aircraft. Jose is an avid RC modeler and brought his new fixed-wing Discovery FPV rig - very impressive. Jose made the acclaimed "Near Miss" video with Paul Koziol and Mike Hanna featured in our presentations. Jose's son, Emilio, former student in my drone class and victorious single-member-team dynamo of the Dayton 2014 Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Competition, accompanied him. See https://collegian.lorainccc.edu/2014/09/09/team-orbit-student-places-third-in-national-competition/
Thom Beller - FAA Cleveland Center ( Avionics) (your tour guide) avid RC / FPV modeler - spoke (unofficial capacity) on AMA regs, prepared info on LiPos and spoke on his recent, significant work on the NOUASA website. - compiling resources for visitors. Thom also showcased his beautiful FPV racing rigs and FPV video gear. http://www.nouasa.org/pilot-resources.html
Patricia Austin - certified flight instructor and creator of "Curious About Flying" and basic ground school for hobbyist drone pilots - Patty spoke on classes of airspace, including prohibited and restricted, TFR's and NOTAMS. https://www.facebook.com/events/142825352587051/?ref=22
Neil Mabrouk - 32 years of RC flight experience, Neil participated in the drone tech demo at the Cleveland National Air Show. Neil coached on the Real Flight 7.5 Sim and on small quads and helis. Neil served as the "show me how my copter flies because I can't fly it guy." http://www.morningjournal.com/gener...-to-elyrias-crawford-field-for-model-air-show
Mike Hanna handled registration, media relations and did a TV interview. https://www.facebook.com/Dronewerx

Bruce Bishop, dronetographer, did documentary video for event (forthcomin). https://www.facebook.com/brucebishopphotography

Paul and Vicky Koziol represented Discovery Aviation Center - Super cool people who love aviation. Paul is a commercial airline pilot and provided commentary from pilots perspective. http://discoveraviationcenter.org/

Ishaan "Bam Bam*" Bakhle is an aeronautical engineering student at Purdue and loves drones. Ishaan interned with NASA last summer. I firmly believe the he will find his place in the industry, even better if in Cleveland. Ishaan is the proud new owner of a Skyhero Spyder "Mini" (soon to be equipped with Pixhawk). *http://www.cleveland.com/westlake/index.ssf/2012/08/westlake_high_school_senior_sc.html
MANY excellent regional contacts:
Steve Cinch from Multirotorforums.com is a local and was there. He brought a large collection of a rugged aerial rigs (self built) to the compliment the robust Dronewerx collection. A site to be seen (pictured). Steve works at a 3D printing company, has a history of building and flying large models and I sincerely hope will play a part in the future of NOUASA. Steve is a proponent of representation, through pooled resources of Multirotorforums group members, in the major-player Small UAS Coalition. Steve also has Airhead Media. See http://www.airheadmedia.com/

Bret Gould - the brains behind the Carbon Flyer (to be featured by Indiegogo at the consumer electronics show). Killing its goal with more slaughter to follow. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/carbon-flyer-the-ultimate-crash-proof-video-drone Bret has an interest in developing drone frames.
Howard Thompson - Ohio Aerospace Institute - proposing a bold plan to transform a retired 300.000 sq. ft. NASA communications facility (the Apollo backup to Houston) into an elaborate UAS technology center. Visionary and ambitious. http://www.oai.org/
Much interest in my proposal for a build, program and fly class for Ardupilot/Pixhawk - train the trainer course (debuting March or April 2015).
Magic is happening in Cleveland. DFTH moved us forward today.
The developing team of human resources in Ohio should be highlighted. I really think it could make a great story.

Thank you,
Matt

Well done guys everyone involved hosted a great event!

Some pics from the event:
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More Pics from the NOUASA guys!


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This event was seriously good. I personally talked to around 20 people about rigs, AV, AP and FPV racing.
And I will be working with Matt in the near future. Really glad I went!

Did any of you attend a Drone for the Holidays event? If so please share your experience!

 

[Motopreserve]

Nice recap Sleepy! Sounds like a good time. I was out of town for the holidays, and not sure there was an event here in Vermont. Next year for sure!

 

[Old Man]

An ideal event would have a group of multirotor people at an outside open area the public was invited to to view demonstrations of the various levels of equipment and functions we have in use. We spend far too much time educating ourselves about things most already know and ignore the people that have the ability to deny our access to the airspace and businesses we could serve.

 

[Motopreserve]

Not sure I've ever been to a gathering of any kind that I'd claim was "ideal" ("did you see Aunt Martha get sauced at the wedding and hit on the groom?"), and would appreciate the idea of speaking with others [in person] who might turn me on to new ideas, insights or even just some fun stories.

I don't believe that I ignore the people or organizations that can deny my access, but I certainly don't want to allow their existence to eliminate my ability to have a good time either.

 

[Old Man]

Thing is, it's the public that is getting poisoned by negative media so it's the public that needs the positive accentuated. From there goodwill runs uphill to local and higher lawmakers, and the media. We, and those closely associated with our products and aircraft, are generally already aware of what good we can do and how to go about doing it.


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[Motopreserve]

Agreed. You make a valid point. But I also see the value, in following with the very need you point out above, for a venue that helps "those in the know" to craft and disseminate a more positive message to the public.

These types of 'conventions' could easily go the route of a circle jerk (with coke and hookers of course), but they just might provide a place for interested individuals and companies to come together to discuss and create a message, that will hopefully be more powerful when united to some degree.

This forum has been very good for allowing people to express their ideas and develop opinions. But I personally think it's more difficult to corral ideas and people in the cyber environment than with face to face meetings.

Admittedly, this could also be a product of my personality. I am fine with reading, researching and developing opinions initially based online. But when it comes to really feeling solid about a unified plan and message, I personally would be most comfortable having spoken directly with those that may help me solidify what I'm comfortable with, and how I might help in spreading a positive message.

 

[Old Man]

Agreed, anything like this that initiates online eventually has to be fleshed out in person to make stuff happen. Trade shows and internal conventions are great things and serve an important purpose but as you noted they can have a tendency to become a little circular. Many of those same events could be arranged where public demonstrations were performed, with advance notice to the public inviting them for viewing. One can look at AUVSI, CES, and the NAD as prime examples where the public could be exposed to a lot of really great information but for the most part all of those cater to people already in the business. Great for one group but nothing to the other.

It would not be all that big a deal but I fear the public is being deliberately poisoned to our aircraft in order to make it easier to push regulatory efforts. Since there is little or nothing for collision conflict history it could be very easy to instead use public opinion as reason for onerous restrictions. If the public was exposed often enough to bad news their perception of our activities and aircraft would run the same course. Conditioning works.

 

[Motopreserve]

IF the public was exposed? IF? Good grief! Have you heard Wolf Blitzer lately? He made it sound like a roving band of Multirotor pilots were sitting at the end of JFK runways with Bazookas.

I know this thread was not meant for this purpose, but I've been catching up on (was out of the loop for a bit) a lot of what has been posted by the members here about these issues - and I truly believe the major problems are not related solely to a few bad apples (pilots), lack of education by manufacturers or retails, but an awfully bad PR nightmare.

Holiday dinner I heard my step-father regurgitate some misinformation from the news about MRs. And this is a guy who I bought a Blade nano for last year and grew up around RC planes. But currently his only info comes from major news outlets, that shockingly seem to gravitate toward disaster stories instead of facts.... Not uncommon I'm afraid.

 

[Old Man]

The problem in a nut shell, and how to reverse the negative publicity trend.

 

[Motopreserve]

Indeed. Of course it's not surprising to see that big media outlets go for the more "sky is falling" type coverage. It's what they thrive on. But the fact that there is currently no (or very little) alternative will ensure that they continue on the only path presented to them.