Dave Rozdeba South Alberta Flight Academy student Evan Jesske pilots his drone through the obstacle course at Drone Games on June 5, 2023. (Photo Courtesy Kevin Kyle)

By Chris Brown

‘The sky’s the limit’: Prairie Rose Public Schools hosts second Drone Games

Jun 5, 2023 | 2:44 PM

DUNMORE, AB – The Dave Rozdeba South Alberta Flight Academy hosted its second annual Drone Games Monday, but the day was about a lot more than just fun and drone games.

Academy lead Dana Marshall says there are many ways for the students to apply the drone skills they’re learning.

“People can hire drones out to do things anywhere from real estate to do virtual home tours, they use drones for aerial applications of say crop chemicals. You can go from your small backyard garden all the way up you can spot hotspots within a large farmers field to see where the fertilizer is working and where it’s not working,” Marshall says. “And so all of those different types of applications are now open to the students that have completed our training.”

Academy students have been training for the past two months to get their advanced drone pilot certificate and on Monday competed in circle fly, figure eight, obstacle course and scavenger hunt events. In total, 70 students from the flight academy and other area schools participated in the games.

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Grade 12 student Evan Jesske took part in drone games and says being in the academy has opened up a world of possibilities for his future.

“The sky’s the limit. You can go into drones, you can go into commercial, you can go fly up north like bushcraft kind of idea,” he says. “You can do different, it all kind of depends what you feel like doing with aviation. You can go on the technical, or mechanical side, flying side. Just whatever you feel like doing.”

Drone photography is another avenue open to operators. Marshall says knowing how to fly a drone at the right angles and altitudes to get that picture that is worth a thousand words would be valuable training.

She adds Drone Games will be an annual event open to operators of all ages.