Greetings & welcome, Michael! Hope that you enjoy the community & than you for joining us.
Take care & be well
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Michael, welcome to the group here and thanks for the introduction.
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Hi I’m Dennis and live in Imperial, MO. I’ve been shooting since I was 15 years old and really enjoy target shooting. I carry a S&W 9mm and look forward to learning as much as I can.
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Welcome!
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Greetings & welcome to the community, Dennis! We’re glad that you’ve chosen to join us.
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Welcome!
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Hello everyone enjoy your posts and the chats among members and friends take care
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- Who are you : I’m Karl, a photographer/videographer that also flies drones.
- What got you interested… : I been going out with a queer community group every other week at the range where we get acclimated to rifles and handguns as well as learning some of the safety guidelines, and able to ask questions. It got me thinking about myself when working in the field with expensive equipment as well as my community affiliation and how I may be a more attractive target.
- How long have you been training : non-gun wise a few years in terms of spatial awareness, de-escalation techniques, avoiding bad situations, etc. Gun-wise a couple months now with my CPL certification completed.
- Formal Training : Currently only formal training has been the CPL certification. Otherwise information comes from friends and my dad who is retired special forces and 82nd airborne.
- Best advice: Probably just be aware of your surroundings, having grown up deaf my head is constantly on a swivel when I’m out and about as I’ve known plenty of people who would take advantage of that limitation. It’s the same mindset that’s required to fly a drone, scouting your surroundings, be aware of hazards, don’t put yourself in a bad situation, etc.
- Favorite Gun: Still on the fence about that, I’ve been given my dad’s Beretta 96G Brigadier Elite .40 S&W which is a bit hefty but I like the slide on it. My friend’s favorite is a Keltec P17, which is nearly the opposite of the Beretta with .22 rounds (but also very affordable it seems). Having shopped around, so far I like the feel of the Sig P365 or the Glock 19 if I were to pick one as an everyday carry.
- How Often Training : I’ve been using the bi-weekly meet up to get range time and to practice stance and such, I been looking thru the videos to get more ideas as well as differentiate between target shooting and defensive shooting.
- Friend/Family Involved: I would say it was the other way around for me where they got me involved rather than the other way around. I’ve also sought out personal advice from those who had police or military background such as my dad or the former marines neighbor across the street. Some of the advice seems timeless, others also address challenges of modern technology, like how many friends or family I see glued to their smartphone when walking around downtown.
- Hope from USCCA Community : I see myself engaging more with the prepared training material at USCCA rather than focusing on the community, my community affiliations and stereotypical ‘gun culture’ tends to clash. Community/Forum wise I may lurk more to learn what’s relevant to my interest and focus my participation when it’s relevant in kind.
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Welcome to the community!
Deaf?
And flying drones?
I used to fly fixed wing line of site RC, not sure how situational awareness works with the focus it takes on the machine yet without hearing? But I suppose if you’ve made sure your area is secure, and you’re not alone….
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Well once you got the quadcopter up in the air more than 100 feet it’s pretty blended to background noise, especially with the MAS props I use. Since we’re talking about a drone that’s still around a pound in weight and not something commercial.
Though I would have to ask what exactly lack of hearing would prevent me from flying a drone that is for the most part, a visual activity. You scan the horizon visually, you inspect the UAS visually, you operate it visually, you scout your location visually. As they would teach with a Part 107 certification, your face isn’t glued to the phone/tablet/remote the whole time, you have to keep the drone within visual line of sight as well as scan the area around the drone for obstacles and inbound aircrafts (not as likely with a 400 ft ceiling, but helicopters, and tourist planes do sometimes drop low). By comparison, I do operate a car while deaf, and yes I’ve heard people say stuff like “how can you drive if you’re deaf” despite them blasting their music til they can hear nothing else.
Also sometimes I have no choice but to be alone for a job, but that’s also why scouting the location is important. I don’t need a VO (Visual Observer) unless I’m flying a FPV (first person view , such as the goggles) style of drone. For flight safety I have to choose a clear open area for take off anyways, and I also have ways to automate a return flight to a checkpoint if needed.
Edit: Also unlike fixed wing RC, taking attention off the drone for a moment just means the drone hovers in place.
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Nothing, I was more asking about maintaining situational awareness while flying.
Though I agree, you can potentially take your eyes off a drone for a moment.
I haven’t flown since the FAA got involved. Which was just after I had started shooting more regularly.
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RE: FAA , yea just in the last year alone things got overhauled, recreational fliers now even need to adopt and follow a CBO (community based organization) guidelines for their flights. Though recreational fliers can now fly at night even in controlled airspace. And the other biggie that you probably won’t be a fan of, since I think a little over a year ago, all drones over 250g (or being used for part 107 operations regardless of weight) now must broadcast Remote ID, which even phone apps can be used to not only identify the drone’s location, but also the operator’s location (it gives the GPS coordinate of the remote). So that’s something else to consider when you’re flying a $4,000 drone and someone can just use their phone to see that you’re just half a mile done the road as the owner of that model of drone.
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Great introduction, thank you.
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Greetings & welcome to the community, Karl!
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Welcome to the community, and thanks for that great intro.
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Welcome. Great introduction. Looks like you have a plan with a goal. Good luck. There’s always advice here, just evaluate it as you need.
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