The Drone Pilot Brief
Checklists, safety practices, flight planning, maintenance, and training.
Never fly an unverified payload. Here is the standardized 10-point field checklist used by the DPB Field Lab to verify GNSS RTK integer fixes, radiometric thermal calibration, and shutter readout skew....
Flying downwind is effortless; returning against a 25-knot headwind spikes amp draw exponentially. Here is the aerodynamic drag math and battery depletion curve that causes sudden forced landingsοΏ½and how to calculate your true point of no return....
Crew miscommunication is the silent driver of enterprise drone accidents. Here is the standardized verbal callout protocol between Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) and Visual Observer (VO) that prevents airspace conflicts and collision hazards....
A simulator is a cheap place to fail at an unfamiliar stick. It is not proof you can fly the aircraft you will take to a job. Treat simulation as a gate for basic control, then prove the same maneuvers on the real airframe....
An Army instructor explains why flying through goggles lacks vestibular feedback, presenting a hurdle for crewed pilots. A training observation, not a new syllabus....
Operating in the dark requires more than three-mile strobes. Learn to combat autokinesis, flickering, and depth illusions....
Keep your batteries warm and your sensors calibrated. Preflight checks for sub-freezing commercial missions....
The weekly operational-intelligence briefing for drone pilots. Filtered down to what actually matters before your next mission.
