26. Oscar’s Drone

One cold morning in June last year I found Oscar in his usual spot, which is in the shelter near the pier. He was sitting on a bench with a small drone on the table in front of him and I was immediately intrigued.  I’d never seen a drone up close before and I was very interested in why he had it there and, also, in what he knew about drones. It turned out that he owned this particular one and that it was not his first one. I was even more intrigued when he explained that he uses it for photography and amazed at the results which he showed me.

I have found from talking with Oscar, that he’s lived an interesting life and that he has some great stories to tell. He often sits in the shelter in the early morning, together with Chris and Dick, and the three of them have lively discussions on a wide range of subjects. I sometimes stop to listen, and, occasionally, I make my own small contributions to the debates which inevitably develop between them. All three hail from New Zealand and have lived in Australia for many years but they still retain the attractive quintessence of Kiwis the world over. Yes, I know, quintessence is a big word and I hope I’ve used it correctly.

Oscar told me that he bought his first drone some years ago but that it didn’t have a very long life. Sadly, it crashed suddenly into the water somewhere off the Gold Coast. It was made in China, like most of the drones which are sold here, and when he reported the crash, the manufacturers were able to access the flight record. They were also able to determine that it had happened as a result of a fault and, therefore, that it was not Oscar who had caused it to crash. Thankfully, he was given a completely new one to replace it.

The drone which was on the table in front of us was, therefore, Oscar’s second one. It has a small in-built camera and Oscar showed me how he can follow everything on his mobile phone, which is connected to a special controller unit. He showed me how he was able to launch it and guide it and how much we could see of the Bay in front of us. I had no difficulty understanding how this could be a lot of fun!

Oscar told me that similar drones are being used for surveillance and combat in the war in Ukraine. I have read that there are even drone-on-drone fights taking place there, where the drones ram into each other. This sounds like the stories in old comics, like those I used to buy for my son when he was young. Sadly, the use of drones in these roles has now become an awful reality.

Luckily, Oscar’s drone is for recreational use only. There are some restrictions on what he can do with it, but not many. For example, he must not fly his drone higher than 120 metres above ground level, nor can he fly it at night, or through cloud or in fog. He also needs to keep the drone in sight and he must never fly it in restricted airspace.

Drones used at, or for, work involve additional regulations and they must be registered. They also, apparently, require the operator to get a licence or accreditation. However, this has not stopped businesses from using them. Oscar explained that they’re already delivering pizzas with drones in Sydney! But sometimes, as with other new technology, accidents do happen. Some time ago, there was a headline on the ABC which stated that a light show featuring hundreds of drones had ended up with as many as 350 falling into the Yarra River in Melbourne.

In March last year they had an “Amsterdam Drone Week” in Holland and also an event titled “Women behind the Drone Revolution”, to focus on the role of women in this male-dominated industry. It featured a “series of talks with female leaders working to co-create the advanced air mobility industry”.

It probably sounds great but let’s allow these highflyers to move somewhere else for a moment and let us land back safely into a more manageable story about the presence of New Zealand-born people in this part of the world.

Apart from Oscar, Dick and Chris there are quite a few more New Zealanders among the waterfront and pier “regulars”. At least one of the council workers, Russell, is a Kiwi and, I suspect, I will get to know many more.   In Sandgate itself, according to the 2016 Census, New Zealanders were the third largest group here, after those born in Australia and England.

Sue and I like the New Zealanders we’ve come across. They’re also a clever lot! Early one morning, when we saw the vapour trail of a plane high in the sky, Oscar worked out on his mobile phone that it was an Airbus 380 on its way from Sydney to San Francisco. Do I need to say more?

O.P.

P.S. Next Sunday we’ll talk about possums escaping in a hurry and about Orange Roughy.