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| Rome, NY, USA

A Day in The Life of a Microdrones UAV Pilot


Piloting Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is a growing career path.  At Microdrones, there is a team of professional pilots testing and improving the commercial mapping solutions that we produce.  Here is an inside look at one of our pilots Brad Booth, from our office in Rome, New York. 

Microdrones Pilot Brad Booth, had a passion for flying at a young age.  With a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Degree and an Aircraft Maintenance Certificate, Brad saw the opportunity to be part of the up and coming business of unmanned aircraft taking flight.

“We get to see a lot of different industries; agriculture, utility inspections, power lines and gas lines… and being in Rome… it’s right in my backyard so it’s cool to see that,” Booth said.

Brad said when he first started his career in flying, he didn’t expect the technology to evolve so quickly. But the transition from traditional aircraft to unmanned was seamless and easier than expected.

“Equipment is so advanced, it’s really easy to fly… they basically fly themselves,” Booth said out in the field Thursday morning.

While the Microdrones systems can do much of the work themselves, it takes strategy, planning and testing from pilots like Brad to execute and successfully accomplish a mapping mission.

“I’ll pack up the drone and the equipment that we are testing and make up a test plan and checklist to make sure I hit everything. Then I come out to the field and fly it, gather the information, the pictures, GPS files, and I field check that it all makes sense before I leave,” said Booth. 

“After that, I go back to the office and then type up a brief summary of the flight, any issues that may have occurred, and that pretty much fills out a day.”

Microdrones employs a full team of professional UAV Pilots at our offices worldwide. They work diligently to test, refine and improve our aircraft according to customer needs.

We’re always improving and helping our customers so they can “work smarter” on every surveying job.