Orion Drones

Transitions

It used to take me 50 job applications in order to get a bite. I can blow a Zoom meeting in a New York minute. I had a job interview at the end of last week that sort of left me feeling nauseous. I interviewed for a dream job, and I rambled during the interview. With the kids out of school, the Homescape is cluttered with odd reterritorialization. There always seems to be a boy underfoot who needs some dadmode activities. At the same time, I have a very critical week ahead, and the drone gigs are going to be few and far between until next weekend. I have to deal with college issues, job HR, interviews, and automotive maintenance.

My younger peels off for summer school in the mornings, and I have an hour or two to try to handle my business. The event horizon of a new job is approaching, relatively speaking. It is throwing my family into straits. The housing market is not making anything easier. Where is the American Way? Is this it, the pursuit of pasteboard cutouts of poorly rendered 8-bit carrots? So, to wrap up: the only thing that endures is change. Tumbleweeds do.

I have been driven to distraction by the specter of global war and personal financial struggles. My laptop is struggling again. I had trouble last week using the WordPress word processor. Same story. It freezes for long durations and makes the process unrewarding.

The image in the heading

Photos of late

Directly overhead, although not noticeable in the photo at the top of the blog article, the sky was a mix of indigos and yellows while the distant horizon cast an eerie orange glow over everything. As I understand it, mammatus clouds are experiencing a convection where crystalline ice is sinking into a warmer body of air. The crystals evaporate and flow outward and then back up into the blob of colder air above. They are like apertures of an underpressurized fountain. This circulation can become self-reinforcing. You end up with these drippy appendages from the blanket of cold air above. It had been sweltering before these clouds appeared. Soon after, it was about thirty degrees cooler, and the respite from the humidity lasted for a few days. Pennsylvania is a green engine in the summer.

The greeter image is taken from my yard. The images in Figures 1-3 are taken at dusk with a drone. The light was so eerie. Two days ago, a hummingbird flew up to me while I sat on my stoop. Our area is festooned with honeysuckles. They pour from the hillsides in fecund waves. Dawn can be overwhelming because of the stillness of the night air allows the perfume to accumulate locally, and it drifts away. I get everything that carries in the wind off a nearby hillside that rises some two hundred feet or so to the WSW. In Figure 4, black raspberry brambles that local deer fondly spread though the hills begin to put forth fruit.

Verticals Community Learning Center

Verticals is a local community development center that gives kids a choice of after-school programs that enrich young lives and provide a sense of pride in community. A link to the organization is provided. Some school districts have been able to secure transportation. The students get a veritable launch point for careers in technology and media. I like what Verticals has going on, and experiences there keep me grounded.

Drone Cinematography Class

• How to fly recreational drones with basic and advanced maneuvers.
• How to plan flights for capturing media.
• Get the soon-to-be mandatory – and EASILY OBTAINED – TRUST flyer certificate from the FAA, online for free.
• How to film, edit, and share a video you make with drone footage and apps.
• How to fly a drone with Scratch Python block code.
• Provide information about industrial drone applications and jobs.

Local Resource in Action

Community groups will have some authority to determine the nature of its flight operations in local airspace come this fall 2022. As long as a responsible pilot is connected to the group, the area can develop flight operations that best suits the needs of the group. A FRIA is basically an area supported by a Part 107 drone pilot or more qualified pilots. The FAA determines the location and quality of FRIAs.

I can see a drone academy being a part of an 21st-century community, so I am studying what we need to do to qualify to become a FRIA.

Sharing Knowledge and Skills

Verticals Youth Empowerment Center is designed to stimulate young minds, give parents an inclusive environment in which to socialize, and to offer youth a sense of pride in themselves and their community. There will be a second facility in Uniontown soon.