STEWART Riddell is the first person on the Fraser Coast with a certification to fly an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) drone.
He flies his $5000 drone 120 metres into the sky, working alongside real estate companies and developers from across the Fraser Coast to showcase the region from a different angle.
But it’s not as easy as one may think.
Stewart leant to fly a helicopter style drone after watching a YouTube clip back in 2010, which has progressed into being the first with a certification to fly his UAV drone in the region.
“I believe I am the only one with a certification between Noosa and Gladstone,” he said.
Registered under the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Stewart said it wasn’t easy to learn.
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“I remember talking to real helicopter pilots and they actually said to me that learning how to fly the helicopter drone is harder than flying a helicopter itself,” he said.
When he’s about to fly his drone, Stewert must activate an aviation warning to all other aircrafts that a UAV drove is launching.
While it usually goes to plan, Stewart said the craziest thing he has come across was an incident involving crows.
“They were chasing the drone, trying to attack it while I was doing a job on a commercial property at Maryborough,” Stewart said.
He said people need to know that when they see the commercial aircraft, he wasn’t doing anything malicious, it was all in the name of showcasing properties from a different view.
Watch Stewart’s above drone footage overlook Torquay.