The story of human flight has come a very long way since the Montgolfier brothers sent a sheep, a duck and a chicken up in their hot air balloon on 19th September 1783. Just over a century later the Wright brothers took off in their Kitty Hawk airplane. Less than 70 years after that the first man walked on the moon! The amazing speed of the progress of the story of flight has picked up again in a matter of a few years with the introduction of drones to our world. UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) or drones as they are commonly known literally make flight a possibility for almost anyone.
Like all technology drones can be used for good and bad, to destroy life or to save it. The issue is not the technology but the human being who is controlling it, and whether their motives are for the good of others or for their harm.
Although they have had a bad press drones are an exciting and rapidly developing technology that could help save lives, cut pollution, manage the environment…and of course catch criminals. Here are some examples of the real life constructive uses of drones:
- Photography
- Film making
- Emergency services
- Surveying
- Checking electricity cables and railway tracks
- Racing
- Delivering medicine and even organs to remote places
- Lifesaving at sea
- Search and rescue
- Helping arable farmers use fewer chemicals on crops
- Helping livestock farmers keep a track of animals
- Collecting data
- Planting trees
- Tracking wildlife
- Monitoring nuclear waste
- Spotting forest fires.
For resources, reviews and the rules about flying drones and much more, see https://tamesky.com and https://dronesafe.uk
