Panel Discussion on the Future of Drone Safety

The future of our ability to fly is under threat. Dangerous accidents are stealing the headlines, shifting public opinion, and serving as a wake-up call to those of us who want to use drone technology to benefit society. Safety needs to be paramount to everything we do, but in the rapidly-developing world of flying robots it's not always clear what best practices are.

With a technology that's changing this fast, how do we develop and adhere to meaningful safety protocols? What guidelines SHOULD we be following? What are the best practices that we as a community will adhere to in order to prevent these avoidable incidents? What precautions should we be taking when we fly? And how can we develop safer technologies?

Join DC DUG in a panel discussion as we try to answer some of these tough questions, and field questions from attendees.

The panelists are:

Brandon Jones, DC DUG Director for Technology Outreach. Brandon is an Aerospace Engineer specializing in flight test and evaluation of experimental prototype autonomous aircraft. In his free time, he is a contributor to the APM:Plane open source autopilot, the brains behind many of the craft flown by DC DUG. He is a graduate of the United States Navy Test Pilot School, Class 133, and University of California, Los Angeles. In addition, he holds a commercial pilot certificate and instrument rating.

Gerald Richards, long time RC flier. Gerald was Vice President and field manager for the Howard County RC club, which eventually became the Free State Aeromodelers Club. He built Free States current field and was field manager there for 7 years. Gerald has flown his mix of nitro, gas, electric; fixed wing, and helicopter models for approximately 25 years.

During his 23 year tenure at the FBI, Gerald specialized in forensic imaging. In the late 80s he attempted to establish the first photographic "drone" platform for the FBI, but was unsuccessful do to the limits of that technology at the time.

Allan Jespersen, Navy test pilot. He actually has to get inside the experimental aircraft he works with.

Kevin Good, DC DUG Director of Flying Robot Arts, will moderate the panel.

We hope you will join us for this important discussion as we examine the future of safety both for our organization and what needs to be put in place to ensure that this technology can reach its full potential in our society.