We, as a group, can do better than this . . .

[BigAl07]

Here's my 2 cents on the matter. I started the drone hobby fairly late, into my 60's. I kind of did things in reverse, I started off in real aircraft, got my pilot's license and flew for decades. After 9/11 things changed in the aviation industry and the cost of each flight hour had almost tripled and ever increasing regulations made flying challenging. So after messing around with crappy drones for another 10-15 years, I laid off of them until I thought that they were advanced enough to warrant my attention again. For me, that was last September and as a new drone pilot, I was excited to get into this hobby full force. And with this hobby, I, like many others before me, sought guidance from forums such as this one. At first look it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for and I went full monty and paid for a premium membership. And I have to tell you for the first time in my life I second guessed that decision. This forum does tend to have snarky, arrogant responses and it is a MAJOR turn off!! I contemplated asking for a refund. You folks that have been at this for decades might have forgotten what it was like to be wide-eyed and truly excited to be taking on something fun and new in your life, but many of us newer drone pilots are just like kids at Christmas time with this. And then we run into some seemingly very jaded, condescending, arrogant judgmental members who seemingly behave as if this a good-old boys club, new members are "maybe" welcomed. I will wholeheartedly support what the ADMIN stated and I for one can tell you that it is true, and maybe some of you can't see the forest for the trees, but all I am asking is that you do tone down your keyboard warrior responses and maybe probe a little deeper before giving an answer that most would consider negative. And if I can tone my rhetoric down after spending decades in the military leading battle-seasoned, hardened weaponeers on nuclear powered warships, I'm sure most of you should be able to do likewise. Thanks for letting me share this rant.

Well stated and Thank You for your service to our country!!

 

[SJGMoney]

Agree totally with the Author of this thread. I've only joined this board recently and the tone of waaaaayyyyyy too many posts is almost always ****** Every time someone posts something interesting we get a board full of narcs badgering the poster about VLOS, you shouldn't fly that way, you did this wrong, you did that wrong etc. Word of advice, if you can't tell who the ***** is in the thread it's probably you.

 

[mobilehomer]

I have a 5 year old grandson. When I fly my Air 2S with him around, the first question is "can I fly it?" I hold the controller. So far, I have allowed him to Auto Take Off and Auto Land. Some very short straight forward and back flying. He wants SO BAD to take full control! But he knows that is in the future. I bought him a Red Ryder a few months ago. We shoot together, SAFETY always!! He does not shoot without me and we have a great time. It will be the same with the drone. SAFETY first. Oh yeah, he can shoot pretty good! I highly recommend teaching the very young ones in your life the hobbies that you enjoy. One of the most rewarding things in my life.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

I definitely agree with your assessment. Hobbies, good work ethics and many other things like this should be passed down in exactly this manner. If one does not have a father then we who have the ability to mentor them, then we should step up to the plate. How we rather act snarky, short, rude, and DISCOURAGING. That I don’t understand.

Drones in particular need great ambassadors to the younger generation and the public at large.

I agree with you totally. I let my grandchildren fly all my drones, including my FPV which I control and they look through the goggles. I take them camping in dangerous bushland where there are the worlds most venomous snakes and spiders, and let them use my Kayak on beaches with stinging Jellyfish. After all, I live in Australia and that's life here. They do all this under supervision and all without being a danger or nuisance to others, but so that they can learn lessons in living that will set them up for the future. Also, whenever a young family passes nearby and shows interest, I often let the kids have a go. I believe in furthering the hobby through educating others and letting anyone have a go with any of my drones, all within the rules.

Some of the people on this forum forget that the rules are not only designed to deter dangerous behavior, but also to provide an environment for the flying of drones by people of all ages to promote a hobby that in so many ways is the future of our lives and economies. I applauded the OP for getting 100% involved his sons life and developing a bond that no doubt will see the boy through to his own old age.

Only 2 days ago, I wrote a post expressing frustration at, and how I was "over" the sarcastic, ill mannered and arrogant response to a friendly and supportive comment I had made to a post, and in the sarcastic, ill mannered and arrogant responses to many other peoples posts and responses I was seeing in this forum of late. Many of the OPs are new to the hobby or forum and ask questions that some individuals of many years experience (or in one case just a few weeks) reply to with humiliating sarcism and elitism. In the end I deleted the post because I did not want to deal with the inevitable backlash.

Many long time and also new members provide a valuable service to others on this forum by data analysis and well intentioned advice. Meta4 comes immediately to mind. Some members are also a joy to read as they provide general info, non aggressive humour and a "bit of a chat". But there are small number of others who can think only of belittling people.

I came to this forum believing that it was a place to chat and learn about drones and flying from like minded people. Of late, it is becoming a place to avoid. This forum does at times seem to be filled with elitist "old men". Bye the way, I am 67 myself.

I deal with this by having a growing list of "ignores". I suspect that, after this post, its about to get longer, however, I know in advance who those persons are so their responses wont even appear on my screen.

 

[ScottTX]

This thread hit home because I was a former moderator on (2) large boards and I really enjoyed it except I was spending an inordinate amount of time breaking up fights between members.
The snarky comments got so bad that a professor with doctorate on board's subject matter was being shouted down by 90 day wonders. He ended up leaving the board. So people with a real passion for the subject matter and lots of real world experience to offer, just got tired of the "negativity".

 

[GFields]

First off I'll start by saying this is potentially a long and boring read.

Secondly I'll say this is 100% my point of view and is NOT coming from a position of ADMIN and may or may NOT be the philosophy of the other Staff Members here or the site Owner. This is strictly from ALLEN on a personal level.

I was just reading a thread started this morning by a father who enjoys sharing his Drone Fun with his 5-year old son. So much so he's asking what would be a good "First Drone" for a 5y/o. When I first saw that thread I was THRILLED because it's an opportunity for a Father and Son to BOND on something that they can do for years to come together. What an amazing opportunity to help and promote Drones . . .
Drone for 5 year old son, too young?

***** Allen's Story ******
As stated in the thread, my father started me at 4 years old (1974). He started me with Control Line and then Free Flight and we were in the process of moving up into R/C when I lost him suddenly. Fortunately, by the time he passed away he had already planted the seed for Aviation and specifically R/C aviation so I had the desire to continue on with it. Even though it was "Our Thing Together" I wanted to learn and do more.

Thank goodness there were other men in our community who would take me in and help me to learn to fly R/C because I was NOT doing very well "teaching myself". This was long before GPS, Gryo Stabilization, and Electronic Flight Controllers. It was a time where you learned to fly or you learned to crash, rebuild, crash, rebuild etc etc. If you didn't have the skills, attention span, or dedication it was a VERY short hobby experience for you. On my 13th R/C airplane (the first 12 I was "teaching" myself) was the first time I took off, flew the airplane, and landed it without "rekitting" it. That was thanks to a gentleman who happened to be driving by the Cow Pasture and seeing a young boy struggling with the hobby. He pulled over, gave me some lessons, then we flew the airplane (Cessna 182) to test it out. In about 4 flights I was able to take off, fly, and land with almost no damage. That man and several others invited me to join their R/C Flying club and through them I learned to design, build, fly, repair, airplanes but I also learned manners, SAFETY, Aviation terms and methods all while just having a lot of FUN.

I was fortunate to stay in this "hobby" up into High School and beyond. A couple of friends of mine got into Gasoline powered airplanes (much LARGER size) and developed a process to convert Chainsaw motors into light weight, high power, R/C Airplane engines. We were converting them and shipping them all over the world. We sold that company and several years later (keep in mind I'm still flying R/C airplanes and helicopters many years later) we started putting small cameras on our R/C helicopters. Fast forward a couple of years and my wife and I started (officially even though we had been doing this as a paying hobby for several years) an Aerial Photography company (now on year #9). Because of this "Aerial Photography" endeavor my wife was able to retire from her desk job and start working for our Aerial Photography company at just age 50.

Today we are making a very nice income from flying R/C aircraft. I'm able to teach and mentor local kids into this hobby. And the best of all is I am able to assisst/teach Searcn-n-rescue using drones to help others who are possibly having the worst time of their life. ALL of this is because my father wanted to get into and share a hobby with me, at 4 years old! Imagine what kind of difference we COULD make in a young person's life if each of us picked just one young person to MENTOR and work with going forward. . . .


***** End Of Allen's Story ******

And then I started reading more of the thread I mentioned above and I'll be honest.... I was more than a little disappointed. I was down right SADDENED by what I was reading. Instead of encouraging this member to embrace the bond with his son, develop it and grow in it WITH his son, and maybe create a Life-Long avenue of enjoyment we were snarky, short, rude, and DISCOURAGING. Exactly the opposite of what we SHOULD have been doing.

That's wrong on so many levels. This hobby is meant to be shared and enjoyed by many. Through this hobby we can be SOCIAL and interact with so many beyond just our "Keyboards". This should have been a GREEN LIGHT to be positive, give him advice on best ways to do this WITH his son, and help PROMOTE our hobby/industry.

We ALL need to be Ambassadors for Drone/UAS and encourage the younger generation to go outside and FLY WITH US!!

Well said. I agree 100%

 

[Sharky05]

I agree with you totally. I let my grandchildren fly all my drones, including my FPV which I control and they look through the goggles. I take them camping in dangerous bushland where there are the worlds most venomous snakes and spiders, and let them use my Kayak on beaches with stinging Jellyfish. After all, I live in Australia and that's life here. They do all this under supervision and all without being a danger or nuisance to others, but so that they can learn lessons in living that will set them up for the future. Also, whenever a young family passes nearby and shows interest, I often let the kids have a go. I believe in furthering the hobby through educating others and letting anyone have a go with any of my drones, all within the rules.

Some of the people on this forum forget that the rules are not only designed to deter dangerous behavior, but also to provide an environment for the flying of drones by people of all ages to promote a hobby that in so many ways is the future of our lives and economies. I applauded the OP for getting 100% involved his sons life and developing a bond that no doubt will see the boy through to his own old age.

Only 2 days ago, I wrote a post expressing frustration at, and how I was "over" the sarcastic, ill mannered and arrogant response to a friendly and supportive comment I had made to a post, and in the sarcastic, ill mannered and arrogant responses to many other peoples posts and responses I was seeing in this forum of late. Many of the OPs are new to the hobby or forum and ask questions that some individuals of many years experience (or in one case just a few weeks) reply to with humiliating sarcism and elitism. In the end I deleted the post because I did not want to deal with the inevitable backlash.

Many long time and also new members provide a valuable service to others on this forum by data analysis and well intentioned advice. Meta4 comes immediately to mind. Some members are also a joy to read as they provide general info, non aggressive humour and a "bit of a chat". But there are small number of others who can think only of belittling people.

I came to this forum believing that it was a place to chat and learn about drones and flying from like minded people. Of late, it is becoming a place to avoid. This post does at times seem to be filled with elitist "old men". Bye the way, I am 67 myself.

I deal with this by having a growing list of "ignores". I suspect that, after this post, its about to get longer, however, I know in advance who those persons are so their responses wont even appear on my screen.

I can't agree with you more mate I myself joined the forum for the same reasons you did, finding help information and learn from others. I still remember my very first post asking for help when I first got my drone, I asked about help with my first flight planning a job for a real estate agent and got the same response on here. Got told in more ways than one if you don't have a clue what the (Mod Removed Language)are you doing on here, hence the only thing I do is reading some of the posts look at some of the videos if they peak my interest and have never bothered to post any photos or videos to the forum. I have enough to worry about in my own life let alone worry about other peoples brash and snarky even to a point sadistic comments being made. As mentioned in a few threads above ask some questions first then answer in a polite manner and don't always judge or jump to conclusions. I wish my dad had the time or the interest in the rc world. I was over 21 when I first got involved in the hobbies and learnt from strangers, thanks to those people I'm still excited about the hobby and what can be done with drones especially. More of us dads and grand fathers out there can do more to get the kids into something other than playing games of a violent nature and stealing things in the game and thinking that it is a good idea in the real world. Far from it. Just my opinion and if whoever wants to take advice from the message you're welcome, for those who want to attack me for this don't bother, we all have a voice in the world.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

Well stated and Thank You for your service to our country!!

100% agree. I too spent years in the British military directly facing the then Soviet Union, with the finger on the button of weapons that the incorrect firing of could have started a war. Thank goodness some members fingers are only on keyboards.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

First off I'll start by saying this is potentially a long and boring read.

Secondly I'll say this is 100% my point of view and is NOT coming from a position of ADMIN and may or may NOT be the philosophy of the other Staff Members here or the site Owner. This is strictly from ALLEN on a personal level.

I was just reading a thread started this morning by a father who enjoys sharing his Drone Fun with his 5-year old son. So much so he's asking what would be a good "First Drone" for a 5y/o. When I first saw that thread I was THRILLED because it's an opportunity for a Father and Son to BOND on something that they can do for years to come together. What an amazing opportunity to help and promote Drones . . .
Drone for 5 year old son, too young?

***** Allen's Story ******
As stated in the thread, my father started me at 4 years old (1974). He started me with Control Line and then Free Flight and we were in the process of moving up into R/C when I lost him suddenly. Fortunately, by the time he passed away he had already planted the seed for Aviation and specifically R/C aviation so I had the desire to continue on with it. Even though it was "Our Thing Together" I wanted to learn and do more.

Thank goodness there were other men in our community who would take me in and help me to learn to fly R/C because I was NOT doing very well "teaching myself". This was long before GPS, Gryo Stabilization, and Electronic Flight Controllers. It was a time where you learned to fly or you learned to crash, rebuild, crash, rebuild etc etc. If you didn't have the skills, attention span, or dedication it was a VERY short hobby experience for you. On my 13th R/C airplane (the first 12 I was "teaching" myself) was the first time I took off, flew the airplane, and landed it without "rekitting" it. That was thanks to a gentleman who happened to be driving by the Cow Pasture and seeing a young boy struggling with the hobby. He pulled over, gave me some lessons, then we flew the airplane (Cessna 182) to test it out. In about 4 flights I was able to take off, fly, and land with almost no damage. That man and several others invited me to join their R/C Flying club and through them I learned to design, build, fly, repair, airplanes but I also learned manners, SAFETY, Aviation terms and methods all while just having a lot of FUN.

I was fortunate to stay in this "hobby" up into High School and beyond. A couple of friends of mine got into Gasoline powered airplanes (much LARGER size) and developed a process to convert Chainsaw motors into light weight, high power, R/C Airplane engines. We were converting them and shipping them all over the world. We sold that company and several years later (keep in mind I'm still flying R/C airplanes and helicopters many years later) we started putting small cameras on our R/C helicopters. Fast forward a couple of years and my wife and I started (officially even though we had been doing this as a paying hobby for several years) an Aerial Photography company (now on year #9). Because of this "Aerial Photography" endeavor my wife was able to retire from her desk job and start working for our Aerial Photography company at just age 50.

Today we are making a very nice income from flying R/C aircraft. I'm able to teach and mentor local kids into this hobby. And the best of all is I am able to assisst/teach Searcn-n-rescue using drones to help others who are possibly having the worst time of their life. ALL of this is because my father wanted to get into and share a hobby with me, at 4 years old! Imagine what kind of difference we COULD make in a young person's life if each of us picked just one young person to MENTOR and work with going forward. . . .


***** End Of Allen's Story ******

And then I started reading more of the thread I mentioned above and I'll be honest.... I was more than a little disappointed. I was down right SADDENED by what I was reading. Instead of encouraging this member to embrace the bond with his son, develop it and grow in it WITH his son, and maybe create a Life-Long avenue of enjoyment we were snarky, short, rude, and DISCOURAGING. Exactly the opposite of what we SHOULD have been doing.

That's wrong on so many levels. This hobby is meant to be shared and enjoyed by many. Through this hobby we can be SOCIAL and interact with so many beyond just our "Keyboards". This should have been a GREEN LIGHT to be positive, give him advice on best ways to do this WITH his son, and help PROMOTE our hobby/industry.

We ALL need to be Ambassadors for Drone/UAS and encourage the younger generation to go outside and FLY WITH US!!

Very well said

 

[Atkas]

Agree with all, and it's toxic through most forums now. Most of you see the utter garbage that occurs over at the DJI Forum also. Anything I say has already been said. The keyboard makes peoples heroes in their own home. But when I read some of these comments on some threads, and see how downright nasty or rude they start off at, I can't help but think the poster must have a pretty disappointing life if they are sitting there feeling that angry to just lash out for most of the time no good reason.

I too spent 21+ years in the Australian Military, and maybe that career and riskier profession made me think a little different...is it worth it? Does someone else's opinion really matter that much if it's not your point of view? Do you think that your rubbish response is going to change someone else? When I see post or opinions I don't necessarily agree with, I just don't respond, leave the thread. My time and energy is more valuable to me than wasting it on a troll. They feed on this. probably all they have in their life. Don't give them satisfaction.

Always been my view, don't type anything you wouldn't say to someone's face.

Rant over, and I still enjoy this board in part, just find myself exercising my rules above far too often.
Thanks BigAl

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I've always TRIED to 'talk' to people online like you were sitting around a campfire together having a few beers.
No one attacks each other there.

This forum is pretty good really.
The 2 times I TRIED Faceache in the past, the drone groups there, well, let's just say this place is downright polite and helpful 99% of the time.

So too, being a worldwide forum, an awful lot can be lost in both language, grammar, and local speech peculiarities.
Especially, with no facial expressions, tone of voice etc, the written word is totally open to interpretation by the individual.

I find the analytical people can sometimes appear cold and blunt, but that's just analytical minds at work.
Facts, and nothing much more than the facts . . . if it was pilot error, they'll sometimes spell it out.

The Turkish fellows thread, where he crashed in the snow, seemingly on purpose for fun . . . did he ? Or did he mean he crashed when having fun flying his drone ?

Lots of things to keep in mind.

A shame a member seems to have left, or been 'deleted', was a constant contributor, and I'd try imagining reading his posts in a broad UK accent.

 

[Clintoops]

The great melting pot.
Different back grounds experiences most of all raised differently. Some good some bad.
We tend to raise our kids by how we were raised.I grew up in a time we were supposed to look after one another. Andy Griffith time.
All tv shows were good messages.
What we can be I made that choice.
Be nice to one another.
Look for the good in everyone.
Don't sweat the small stuff.
If I can't say anything nice I don't say anything at all.
We all have pressure's in our lives.
We can all have off days .
Most look at things from through colored glasses and different points of view.
I have seen the world change.
Some good and not so good .
I love this site it's the best striving to be better and better thank you all . Be kind

 

[dirkclod]

I've always TRIED to 'talk' to people online like you were sitting around a campfire together having a few beers.
No one attacks each other there.

This forum is pretty good really.
The 2 times I TRIED Faceache in the past, the drone groups there, well, let's just say this place is downright polite and helpful 99% of the time.

And the other 1% is because staff don’t see it and it should be reported so we can stop it before it gets out of hand.
We‘re not just pretty good but are the best.
You should see what staff keeps you from reading.
It’s the internet we get all kinds.
But we deal with them.

 

[VenomXts]

I am breaking a rule and saying two more thing after I said I was done commenting on this all. First, most respect for the mods and staff here, really why I signed up to pay money to be here in premium.

Two, Fly and respect people and rules that keep people safe. Good days bad days, but I always like to come in here and chat with people that like to fly responsibly in regards to peoples safety.

 

[NG Wildman]

5 year old nephew flies Phantom 4
Took this video 5 years ago. Stand by the premise responsible young people are capable pilots. As I wouldn't allow a young person to handle a firearm unsupervised, same for piloting a drone.

Great video. Children should be (evaluated??) individually not by gender or age so much. Nurturing ANY interests at a young age with positivity is a great thing and will stick with children as they progress through life.

 

[Skwirl]

I agree with BigAl.
I hope that member already ordered a drone for his son, I think its great.
I do have 1 question though, do you think the he would adopt me?
His 5 yrs old is probably better than me, lol.

 

[EricJT]

I let my granddaughters (7 and 4 years old) fly my M2P in wide open areas in Tripod mode, keeping close to the SC to ensure no issues ensue.

We are away from people, buildings and cars. They thoroughly enjoy this one on one time with Grandpa, as much as I do.

Safely sharing this hobby with my granddaughters makes it all that more rewarding.

 

[Barbara]

I normally tend to avoid these kind of things, but I will chime in and say I support and agree with BigAl in his original post.

I've never been keen on Social Media and only use it when I must. There are too many folks out there that hide behind their anonymity to avoid accountability for what they say. The written word can also be easily misconstrued if one isn't careful with what one writes as it lacks visual cues as to the emotion behind it.

I follow some simple rules on any social media:
-Don't give unsolicited advice.
-Nothing positive to add, don't say anything
-make sure people understand that my response is my opinion only, unless I can back what I'm saying
-Be nice

To the mods, kudos for your hard work.

Barbara

 

[OliveViewImages]

First off I'll start by saying this is potentially a long and boring read.

Secondly I'll say this is 100% my point of view and is NOT coming from a position of ADMIN and may or may NOT be the philosophy of the other Staff Members here or the site Owner. This is strictly from ALLEN on a personal level.

I was just reading a thread started this morning by a father who enjoys sharing his Drone Fun with his 5-year old son. So much so he's asking what would be a good "First Drone" for a 5y/o. When I first saw that thread I was THRILLED because it's an opportunity for a Father and Son to BOND on something that they can do for years to come together. What an amazing opportunity to help and promote Drones . . .
Drone for 5 year old son, too young?

***** Allen's Story ******
As stated in the thread, my father started me at 4 years old (1974). He started me with Control Line and then Free Flight and we were in the process of moving up into R/C when I lost him suddenly. Fortunately, by the time he passed away he had already planted the seed for Aviation and specifically R/C aviation so I had the desire to continue on with it. Even though it was "Our Thing Together" I wanted to learn and do more.

Thank goodness there were other men in our community who would take me in and help me to learn to fly R/C because I was NOT doing very well "teaching myself". This was long before GPS, Gryo Stabilization, and Electronic Flight Controllers. It was a time where you learned to fly or you learned to crash, rebuild, crash, rebuild etc etc. If you didn't have the skills, attention span, or dedication it was a VERY short hobby experience for you. On my 13th R/C airplane (the first 12 I was "teaching" myself) was the first time I took off, flew the airplane, and landed it without "rekitting" it. That was thanks to a gentleman who happened to be driving by the Cow Pasture and seeing a young boy struggling with the hobby. He pulled over, gave me some lessons, then we flew the airplane (Cessna 182) to test it out. In about 4 flights I was able to take off, fly, and land with almost no damage. That man and several others invited me to join their R/C Flying club and through them I learned to design, build, fly, repair, airplanes but I also learned manners, SAFETY, Aviation terms and methods all while just having a lot of FUN.

I was fortunate to stay in this "hobby" up into High School and beyond. A couple of friends of mine got into Gasoline powered airplanes (much LARGER size) and developed a process to convert Chainsaw motors into light weight, high power, R/C Airplane engines. We were converting them and shipping them all over the world. We sold that company and several years later (keep in mind I'm still flying R/C airplanes and helicopters many years later) we started putting small cameras on our R/C helicopters. Fast forward a couple of years and my wife and I started (officially even though we had been doing this as a paying hobby for several years) an Aerial Photography company (now on year #9). Because of this "Aerial Photography" endeavor my wife was able to retire from her desk job and start working for our Aerial Photography company at just age 50.

Today we are making a very nice income from flying R/C aircraft. I'm able to teach and mentor local kids into this hobby. And the best of all is I am able to assisst/teach Searcn-n-rescue using drones to help others who are possibly having the worst time of their life. ALL of this is because my father wanted to get into and share a hobby with me, at 4 years old! Imagine what kind of difference we COULD make in a young person's life if each of us picked just one young person to MENTOR and work with going forward. . . .


***** End Of Allen's Story ******

And then I started reading more of the thread I mentioned above and I'll be honest.... I was more than a little disappointed. I was down right SADDENED by what I was reading. Instead of encouraging this member to embrace the bond with his son, develop it and grow in it WITH his son, and maybe create a Life-Long avenue of enjoyment we were snarky, short, rude, and DISCOURAGING. Exactly the opposite of what we SHOULD have been doing.

That's wrong on so many levels. This hobby is meant to be shared and enjoyed by many. Through this hobby we can be SOCIAL and interact with so many beyond just our "Keyboards". This should have been a GREEN LIGHT to be positive, give him advice on best ways to do this WITH his son, and help PROMOTE our hobby/industry.

We ALL need to be Ambassadors for Drone/UAS and encourage the younger generation to go outside and FLY WITH US!!

Kudos to you. You’re spot on!

 

[Surferdog]

First off I'll start by saying this is potentially a long and boring read.

Secondly I'll say this is 100% my point of view and is NOT coming from a position of ADMIN and may or may NOT be the philosophy of the other Staff Members here or the site Owner. This is strictly from ALLEN on a personal level.

I was just reading a thread started this morning by a father who enjoys sharing his Drone Fun with his 5-year old son. So much so he's asking what would be a good "First Drone" for a 5y/o. When I first saw that thread I was THRILLED because it's an opportunity for a Father and Son to BOND on something that they can do for years to come together. What an amazing opportunity to help and promote Drones . . .
Drone for 5 year old son, too young?

***** Allen's Story ******
As stated in the thread, my father started me at 4 years old (1974). He started me with Control Line and then Free Flight and we were in the process of moving up into R/C when I lost him suddenly. Fortunately, by the time he passed away he had already planted the seed for Aviation and specifically R/C aviation so I had the desire to continue on with it. Even though it was "Our Thing Together" I wanted to learn and do more.

Thank goodness there were other men in our community who would take me in and help me to learn to fly R/C because I was NOT doing very well "teaching myself". This was long before GPS, Gryo Stabilization, and Electronic Flight Controllers. It was a time where you learned to fly or you learned to crash, rebuild, crash, rebuild etc etc. If you didn't have the skills, attention span, or dedication it was a VERY short hobby experience for you. On my 13th R/C airplane (the first 12 I was "teaching" myself) was the first time I took off, flew the airplane, and landed it without "rekitting" it. That was thanks to a gentleman who happened to be driving by the Cow Pasture and seeing a young boy struggling with the hobby. He pulled over, gave me some lessons, then we flew the airplane (Cessna 182) to test it out. In about 4 flights I was able to take off, fly, and land with almost no damage. That man and several others invited me to join their R/C Flying club and through them I learned to design, build, fly, repair, airplanes but I also learned manners, SAFETY, Aviation terms and methods all while just having a lot of FUN.

I was fortunate to stay in this "hobby" up into High School and beyond. A couple of friends of mine got into Gasoline powered airplanes (much LARGER size) and developed a process to convert Chainsaw motors into light weight, high power, R/C Airplane engines. We were converting them and shipping them all over the world. We sold that company and several years later (keep in mind I'm still flying R/C airplanes and helicopters many years later) we started putting small cameras on our R/C helicopters. Fast forward a couple of years and my wife and I started (officially even though we had been doing this as a paying hobby for several years) an Aerial Photography company (now on year #9). Because of this "Aerial Photography" endeavor my wife was able to retire from her desk job and start working for our Aerial Photography company at just age 50.

Today we are making a very nice income from flying R/C aircraft. I'm able to teach and mentor local kids into this hobby. And the best of all is I am able to assisst/teach Searcn-n-rescue using drones to help others who are possibly having the worst time of their life. ALL of this is because my father wanted to get into and share a hobby with me, at 4 years old! Imagine what kind of difference we COULD make in a young person's life if each of us picked just one young person to MENTOR and work with going forward. . . .


***** End Of Allen's Story ******

And then I started reading more of the thread I mentioned above and I'll be honest.... I was more than a little disappointed. I was down right SADDENED by what I was reading. Instead of encouraging this member to embrace the bond with his son, develop it and grow in it WITH his son, and maybe create a Life-Long avenue of enjoyment we were snarky, short, rude, and DISCOURAGING. Exactly the opposite of what we SHOULD have been doing.

That's wrong on so many levels. This hobby is meant to be shared and enjoyed by many. Through this hobby we can be SOCIAL and interact with so many beyond just our "Keyboards". This should have been a GREEN LIGHT to be positive, give him advice on best ways to do this WITH his son, and help PROMOTE our hobby/industry.

We ALL need to be Ambassadors for Drone/UAS and encourage the younger generation to go outside and FLY WITH US!!

Well said and I couldn’t agree more