Drones and CoVid-19

Welcome to dystopia. What once seemed to be remote events have now come close to us all. What once merely affected the delivery dates of my new drone, has now resulted in more local manifestations; my ski season was cancelled early, the resorts forced to close again their (and our) will. Our right to peaceably assemble has been suspended…for ‘our own safety’. (I somehow thought the Bill of Rights was meant to protect our rights in times of disaster, when we really need them. Silly me).

So, here we are, virtually ordered to practice social distancing (not interacting with our fellow humans, in this time of uncertainty and fear). We are told to stay home, and never mind the family fiances. So what’s a good citizen to do? What’s a remote pilot to do?

Should I hunker down in fear, avoiding my fellow human and patting myself on the back for my efforts to prevent the spread of a disease that has killed less than alcohol or flu? Should I shake my fist at the authorities and carry on like normal, whistling past the grave like usual? I want to be a responsible citizen, after all, but not a blind sheep.

Again, what’s a person to do?

I think I will carry on doing a lot of what I do normally, such as:

-Help people if and when I can

-Try not to harm or disrespect people

-Add to the positivity, instead of the negativity

and, perhaps most importantly of all….

Fly my drone.

Ride my motorcycle out to fly my drone.

Hike up the mountain to fly my drone.

All the above, added to remembering to enjoy the spring, to not let a nebulous fear of events I can not foresee or change ruin my spring.

Yep, that’s what I’ll do.

When I’m out flying, I am already ‘socially distanced’, since I am out in nature, away from people.

I know I’m not spreading (or getting) disease, since all I’m touching is my remote control and the stuff in my pack. (I don’t go around fondling Nature).

For I think what we all need is to get away for a moment, to do something we enjoy..to get out in nature, where we can get a little shift in perspective.

Yeah, fly my drone. That’s the ticket.

Look, I feel like my time flying legally is limited, anyhow. Within three years the FAA will effectively put the kibosh on free flying in the Land of the (formerly) Free. So, I’m not likely to let many things (aside from rain, sleet, hail, and high winds) stop me from flying in the precious little time I have left.

I think the world would rather have a me fresh back from flying, a smile on my face, than they would have a me who is pale and wracked with cabin fever, one who has been immersed in the stormcrow ravings and disaster propagating media. (You can sell a lot of beer and cornflakes with chaos and confusion). (Ratings love a disaster).

I feel that disasters faced together are better handled than disasters faced alone.

We can fly together, and still do it safely, still be socially responsible. We can decline the invitation if we have a fever. We can go if we don’t, and maintain a bit of safe space, if nothing else, then to keep those with us in their comfort zones. We can forgo the normal hugs and handshakes. We can turn away and cough into the crook of our elbows, if we have to cough.

But we can still fly together. Heck, if we’re really worried, we can place a ten foot safety buffer between us as we fly, and yell and smile across that distance.

I discovered a few things in my relatively long life. One of them is this;

-Circumstances can’t beat you. Only YOU can give up. Those circumstances may grind you into a muddy and bloody spot on the planet, but only we can give up and give in. Only we can decide to quit. We can hunker down, fearing all the many things that could conceivably ruin our day

So me, I’ll fly.

Yeah, I’ll wash my hands. I’ll avoid large gatherings and even play along with the social distancing bit, to a degree. I won’t protest at the suspension of our right to assemble, for I don’t think we need protests and gatherings just now (aside from them required for us to fly and to celebrate spring sensibly).

So, for the duration, you know where you can find me (when the weather is good enough to fly or hike, which is always)…I’ll be out flying. Riding. Hiking. Mostly alone. But one thing I won’t be doing is huddling inside, in fear.

Sure, many times I will be at home; after all, I need to charge my batteries, and write these blogs, and figure out this apparent ESC problem I have on my cine-whoop. Oh yeah, and uploading pictures of the world outside…a reminder to the home-bound that the world still exists outside, that it is blooming, and it carries on, with us or without us.

So, I wish you the best during these trying times. I wish safety and health, prosperity and peace to you and yours.

Oh yeah, I also wish you lots of time flying…

…experiencing the miraculous gift of a bird’s eye view, while it is still ‘allowed’ to us.

Be well.

Fly.

Keep your spirits up; for even the worst disasters, we eventually reach ‘the other side’. We want to make sure we meet that other side as healthy, happy, and sane as we possibly can..the future might need us…

…to rebuild, to help, to get back to normal…

…to fly.