A construction site in Northern Nevada photographed by Rick and Talon 1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cBefore I could even start, I met with the airport manager to get permission,\u201d Rick says. \u201cPilots were notified of the time I was scheduled to fly. On the flight day, I kept a required radio with me so I could listen for any pilots in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite following guidelines, his drone would not start.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe software shuts it down when it\u2019s in the vicinity of an airport,\u201d he says. \u201cI had to get online to learn how to override it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another time he was asked to find a dog lost during a picnic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI flew but didn\u2019t see it,\u201d Rick says. \u201cSeveral days later, it was found at someone\u2019s house about 17 miles in the opposite direction of where they thought it would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rick says he has been impressed with Talon 1\u2019s ability to handle diverse assignments and flying conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s stable in windy conditions and can fly 30 miles an hour,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve never had a problem with it being carried away or losing sight of it. It\u2019s programmed to return to its launch site.\u201d<\/p>\n
A battery lasts about 30 minutes, so Rick takes five with him and keeps one plugged into a charging system in his vehicle so he can stay onsite as long as necessary.<\/p>\n
Rick says he is available for search-and-rescue missions and whatever a person needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many ways to use a drone,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s really enjoyable to fly one. \u201cSince we\u2019re both retired, we can set our schedule to fly whenever the weather cooperates. We\u2019re doing what we like to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Drone operator\u2019s career takes flight after retirement By Dianna Troyer When a bird\u2019s-eye view of a project or building is needed in Northern Nevada, Rick Anderson and his drone, Talon 1, whir into action. The 64-year-old Carlin resident bought Talon 1 after retiring in 2016 and has used it to photograph potential mining sites, search […]\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,220],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}