Drone pilot and educator Scott Gabbard shows a small drone to Miranda Durham of Danville in a class held Monday, July 24 at the Hancock County Purdue Extension office in Greenfield.
Shelley Swift | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — Scott Gabbard thinks flying drones is a whole lot of fun.
He also knows they can be highly useful in ways few other tools can.
Gabbard, director of Purdue Extension Shelby County, spent 16 hours this week teaching future pilots just how useful and fun drones can be, in a class offered through Hancock County’s Purdue Extension office in Greenfield.
The seven participants came from all parts of the state, driven by the desire to fly drones for a variety of reasons.
Troy Davis came to learn how to utilize drones for his solar panel cleaning business.
“It’s incredibly helpful,” said Davis, who drove over two hours from Demotte to attend this week’s class, which took place July 24 and 26.
He said the use of drones can be instrumental for his business, KV Solar Power Cleaning, which he launched in March.
Having the ability to view problem areas from overhead using a drone in a solar park that spans over 10,000 acres makes maintaining and servicing them much more efficient, he said.
Heath Harris said the same is true for farming.
The Morristown man is learning to fly drones to better serve his wife’s family’s farm in McCordsville.
Being able to spot trouble areas from above is much more efficient than walking the fields on foot, said Harris, who also plans to use drones for spraying and scouting crops.
Gabbard said farming is one of the most popular applications for drone use.
“You can see things so much better and faster with a drone than you can sitting atop a combine. You can cover a 90-acre field in 25 minutes,” he said, which can’t compare to walking the land on foot.
“Plus when the corn is 10 feet tall, so much is hidden that you can’t possibly see everything,” said Gabbard. “A drone helps you be able to do that from above.”
Drones allow users to pinpoint certain locations using Global Positioning Systems (GPS).
Some are equipped with a handheld GPS locator which enables the drone to follow an individual on the move, whether snowboarding down a mountain or biking through trails.
As the agricultural educator for Purdue Extension Shelby County, Gabbard has used drones to fly over numerous farm fields and local landmarks. He once used a drone to fly over the courthouse in Franklin County to help facilitate a roof repair.
“Drones are great because they give you a different set of eyes and a useful vantage point to work from,” he said.
Drones can help farmers, municipalities and landowners track down and eradicate invasive species by spotting which areas retain their leaves longer in the winter, “because invasive species will keep their leaves longer than natural species,” he said.
Harris said he’s thoroughly enjoyed this week’s drone class, especially learning to read aerial maps. He’s looking forward to taking the pilot exam and beginning to utilize drones on the family farm.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a drone pilot must obtain a Remote Pilot Certificate from the FAA which demonstrates an understanding of the regulations, operating requirements and procedures for safely flying drones.
“It’s basically a driver’s license to fly a drone. It makes you a safer pilot,” said Gabbard, who obtained his license in 2017.
The class he teaches — called the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology Program — prepares students to take the required pilot exam. It covers FAA test preparation, flight instruction, camera settings, flight plans and record keeping, data management, image quality and troubleshooting, sensors and artificial intelligence, and emergency preparation.
Gabbard has taught the class about 10 times so far, but this was the first time he did so in Hancock County.
He’s seen exponential growth over the past several years in the use of drones, which are now commonly used by farmers, agricultural experts, marketing firms and other businesses, as well as law enforcement searching for suspects or conducting crash scene investigations.
They’re also increasingly being used for personal applications, like taking aerial photography or viewing communities from above.
Many are able to take high-definition video, which is great for a number of applications like creating marketing videos to promote tourism or real estate. Filmmakers often use drones to record wide, sweeping shots, Gabbard said.
Gabbard said drones can range in size from tiny pocket-size drones to six-foot-wide commercial drones. There’s a size and style to suit every need.
“The sky’s the limit,” he said.
