In an age where technology is seemingly moving at hyper speed, many see two appropriate courses of action—keep up or fall behind. Roslyn High School senior Jordan Bernstein has opted to go with the former, having taken up an interest in flying drones to take photos and videos of events and locations that are of interest to him, while also building flying and racing drones as a side project. Bernstein notes that the appeal of drones stems from not only their various functions, but their potential as well.
“A drone can be used for a variety of things because it is essentially an eye in the sky,” Bernstein said. “They can be used for photography, search and rescue, landscaping, inspections, delivery and countless other ways that haven’t been thought of yet.”
While there are several types of drones, the drone Bernstein works with is known as an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV. Originally, UAVs were seen mostly in the military,but over the years, civilian usage of UAVs has become more and more popular, eventually outnumbering military UAV usage by a wide margin. Today, drones can be used for anything from surveillance to food delivery. While the technology may seem complicated on the surface, Bernstein assures that, with practice, almost anyone can learn how to fly a drone.
“The drones available on the market make flying easy,” Bernstein said. “When you let go of the controls, it will automatically stabilize itself, and recent drones have an obstacle avoidance technology, which means that if you’re about to crash, the drone will stop itself. However, in order to get those smooth aerial shots and make fluid maneuvers, one will need to practice.”
Bernstein, who had a fascination with flight from an early age, found the process of learning to fly drones rather intuitive, and quickly realized that he could use the technology as a way to combine flight with his other interest: photography. And though Bernstein is unsure of what he plans to study in college, he expects his work with drones to continue in some form or another, be it as a hobby or something more.
“Ever since I was young, I have always been interested in flight,” Bernstein said. “I’d make paper planes and flew remote control planes. At age 13 or 14, I graduated to quad-copters, which are smaller drones, and, soon after, I got my first ‘real’ drone. It started out as a hobby, and I still fly drones for fun, but hopefully photography and drone technology will be applicable to my future as well.”
