Drone flyaways happen all the time for a wide variety of reasons. They can happen with no warning and at any time when you are using your drone. Drone Enthusiast reported on a poll of 774 owners of DJI Phantoms. Of those, nearly 1/3 reported a drone flyaway incident with 122 users reporting that they were unable to find their drones again. A flyaway incident can happen to any model of drone from any brand, which is why it is so important to consider GPS tracking for your drone.

What Causes a Drone to Fly Away?

A drone flyaway can happen for any number of reasons. Those listed below are among the most common reasons drones fly away:

• Bad GPS Data
• Faulty Upgrades to Firmware
• Fighting the Wind and Other Elements
• Loss of Connection to the Controller
• Drone Flies Beyond Line of Sight
• Pilot or Operator Error
• Radio Interference
• Glitches in the Software

Understanding why drones fly away is only half the battle. The bottom line is that when they do, they can be extremely difficult to recover, especially if they fly beyond your line of sight.

Preventing Drone Flyaways

Prevention is the best cure for most things. It holds true for avoiding drone flyaways and the heartache that could be yours when these things happen. Taking these actions may not prevent all drones from flying away, but it can help you maintain better control of yours.

• Learn your drone before you fly it outdoors. Take the time to read the instructions and practice in an enclosed environment before opening up and experimenting outside where wind and other variables may cause problems.
• Choose your brand and model of drone wisely. Look at the existing data and find drones that have fewer incidents of flyaways (relative to the number of that brand and model sold).
• Pay attention to weather reports. Since weather, wind in particular, is a contributing factor, consider not flying on windy days.

GPS Tracking Benefits for Drones

While the ability to track the location of your drone in the event of a flyaway or crash landing is great, it isn’t the only reason to consider GPS for your drone. GPS can be used to establish GEO fences or perimeters and to notify you, via text alert or email, whenever your drone flies beyond its designated area. You can even track your drone if it has been stolen to aid in the recovery of your drone.

Now, before you’ve lost your investment of time and attention in your drone, is the perfect time to invest in GPS tracking for your drone to aid in recovery if you experience a flyaway.

A 7-year old girl from Fort Myers has found a way to help bullied kids.

Soon to be River Hall Elementary School’s second grader, Paisley Chapman, says she doesn’t like it when she sees her classmates being bullied. Therefore, she’s decided to create a smart bracelet that will help with this issue.

Paisley first announced her bracelet at a science fair in which she calls the “Bully Bracelet”. Although she walked away at the science fair with first place, what really inspired her to come up with her invention came up close to her home where she went through a certain experience.

She said, her friend was being bullied at school and this bothered her tremendously. Therefore, she came home from school upset and asked herself what she could do about this. She came up with the idea of making a bully bracelet that helps children stop getting bullied and stop killing themselves.

She then went on to begin brainstorming her Bully Bracelet and how it will work.

Each bracelet will be equipped with a GPS tracking device, she said and whenever a kid is being bullied, that kid can press a button on their bracelet that alerts the school’s main office informing the office where the bullying is going on so they can step in and stop the bullying in its tracks.

However, according to Paisley, that’s not the only thing her bracelet will do.

In addition, the bully bracelet will also have the child’s parent’s phone number on it, the child’s lunch money on it and the child’s allergies on it.

Not to mention, if anyone tried to steal the kid’s Bully Bracelet in order to buy their school lunch with it, they won’t be able to since the bracelet will have the picture of the owner on it and that picture will pop up on a screen each time it’s used to buy lunch.

But, the main goal for Paisley with this bracelet is to stop bullying.

“To get the word out and to get the bully bracelet to have someone make it would be nice and where they can buy it so that we can help stop bullying,” she said.

She went on to say that she loves when she does that since she knows she’s helping other kids worldwide.

The Bully Bracelet, at this point, is simply a concept; however, she has a provisional patent as well as a close friend of the Chapman’s working on a prototype of the bracelet so they are able to market it to investors.

Paisley is hoping to be able to introduce her “Bully Bracelet” on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to the nation someday.

And, she believes that with help from investors, kids will wear the Bully Bracelet one day all across the country.

Investigators in Tennessee are on the lookout for would-be crooks who just might be trying to blend in with the rest of the crew in the construction environment.

According to Chattanooga police, a skid steer, which looks similar to a miniature bulldozer or Bobcat, was taken by thieves from a construction site.

However, it’s how the neighbors described the way the robbing crews were dressing that could be more frightening.

The neighbors, who Officer Tetzel Tillery and other officials spoke to, said it appeared as though the thieves were potentially posing as the construction crew. They loaded the truck up with the heavy equipment and simply drove off. And, according to Tillery, it’s not surprising since a great deal of construction fills the area at the moment.

A truck was reported stolen by Chattanooga Public Works back in May, although recovered shortly after. At the scene of the theft, construction crews said they’ve heard of thieves dressing up as official workers before.

“They’ll put their hard hats on and their safety vests on, pull up in the middle of the day, left as up a piece of equipment and just take them from with it,” Shawn Gilchrist with Thomas Brothers Construction said.

The neighbors are saying the same thing to police as well.

Some neighbors told police they did see a large white truck after hearing a large noise and thought it was just the crew out there working, said Officer Tillery said.

For construction crews like the one Gilchrist is with, this could become a huge problem.

He did mention that they had insurance on the machine, but, they’ve only been working on the 9 month Greenway project for only a couple of months. Another thing he mentioned is GPS tracking for equipment, which is a way to stop these crooks.

Gilchrist said that anyone who is doing construction and owns a piece of equipment that they have to leave on-site, GPS tracking for powered assets and heavy equipment is highly recommended.

Also, if anyone lives on a street where construction is in the works, Chattanooga police would like them to keep an eye out. If they see something suspicious, give the police a call. According to Officer Tillery, “that’s all they have to do.” It’s always been the tried-and-true formula.