5A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016
Drone racing’s thrills and
spills draw pilots of all ages
By CHADD CRIPE
Idaho Statesman
BOISE, Idaho — It was
just another morning in the
park for Chris and Cadence
Haskins. Chris arranged his
\earoOd daughter¶s À\-
ing station — lawnchair,
video goggles, controller and
antenna.
Cadence began piloting
a drone across Boise’s Syca-
more Park and through a row
of trees like a slalom course.
The goggles showed her the
view captured by a camera on
the front of the drone (called
¿rst-person view, or )P9.
And little kids wandered
over from the playground to
inquire about her new sport
— drone racing — as they
always do.
“To me, it feels like I am
in the drone,” said Cadence,
whose pilot name is KrazyK.
“... I’m inside, Àying it.”
Drone racing has become a
worldwide phenomenon — a
race in Dubai featured $1 mil-
lion in prize money — with a
growing niche in the Treasure
9alley.
Chris Haskins (pilot name:
Hazak ¿nished si[th in
the Drone Racing League’s
December race at the Miami
Dolphins’ stadium. Conrad
Miller of Boise (pilot name:
)uradi ¿nished ¿fth.
Miller began racing in
1 and started a )acebook
group (Boise )P9 that pro-
vides a community for pilots
to share videos, tips and orga-
nize races. His 12-year-old
son, Sorell (pilot name: =ero,
races, too.
“Probably the ¿rst real
drone race was drone nation-
als last (summer,” said E.-.
Duarte (pilot name: Amped-
Out, who designs racing
drones for the company he
founded, Boise-based Thrust-
8A9. “That’s really when
drone racing e[ploded. There
was racing before that, but
not at that scale. Less than a
year later, and drone racing is
on an enormous scale, and it’s
only growing e[ponentially.”
Miller traveled to Dubai to
compete in the recent World
Drone Pri[. Thrust-8A9
entered one of its drones, too.
Drones are a natural ¿t
for kids who grow up play-
ing video games — in fact, a
15-year-old pilot from Great
Britain won the Dubai event.
Chadd Cripe/Idaho Statesman
Cadence Haskins, 11, works on her controller in Boise,
Ore. Haskins has been flying racing drones for about two
months. She competes against adults on weekends, rac-
ing in the “B” group.
GETTING STARTED WITH DRONES
Equipment you’ll need: A racing drone, video goggles, con-
troller, extra batteries, battery charger, extra props and some
hand tools (screwdrivers, pliers, etc.). Thrust-UAV soon will
release its “ready to fly” package — everything you need to fly
for $1,200-$1,300. Racing drones typically are 250 millimeters
diagonally with power-to-weight ratios from 5:1 to 8:1. Camera
drones, in contrast, have power-weight ratios of about 2.5:1.
Try a simulator first: A game like Liftoff (liftoff-game.com) can
train you to fly a drone and work through many of the rookie
mistakes without damaging any equipment. You’ll want to use
your drone controller so you get used to the controls. It con-
nects to the computer via USB.
Add a GoPro: An HD video recorder, like a GoPro, is an
important drone add-on because you can review your flight and
gauge progress.
Reach out to Boise FPV: The Facebook group is a community
of Idaho drone pilots. “That’s the best way to get started,” pilot
E.J. Duarte said. “You have so much support. Everybody likes
helping each other. It will really make you better faster.”
Start slow: Some people “fly well beyond their means” when
they’re learning, Duarte said, and frequently break their drones.
“They get discouraged and quit.”
They also appeal to people
like Haskins and Miller, who
transferred their interest in
radio control airplanes and
helicopters to drones.
Duarte has sold drones
to customers ranging from 7
years old to 63.
“There are no boundaries,”
Duarte said.
Thrust-8A9,
which
recently was acquired by
STEM-education
com-
pany PCS Edventures, is
about to release a new drone
model (the Riot 25R Pro.
The “ready to Ày” package
— everything you need to
get started — will be in the
$1,200 to $1,300 range.
The price is softened a bit
by the fact that racing drones
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are resilient. Damage can be
¿[ed relatively cheaply —
sometimes for a couple bucks.
“They’re built to crash,”
Duarte said. “It’s not like a typi-
cal toy where you crash it and it’s
broken. We build these things to
be able to take impacts.”
Still, you don’t want to
learn with a brand-new drone.
The best way to get the
feel for Àying is through a
computer simulator. Cadence
spent about two weeks play-
ing Liftoff (liftoff-game.
com, using the computer
screen as the goggles. Drone
controllers plug into the com-
puter via USB.
)lying requires mastering
two joysticks that each control
two inputs — throttle (speed
and yaw (leftright spin on
the left and pitch (forward/
backward tilt and roll (left/
right tilt on the right.
Cadence became inter-
ested in drones by watch-
ing her dad, who works for
Thrust-UA9.
“(The simulator helped
me a lot,” Cadence said. “It
feels e[actly the same to me
but I’m not breaking all of the
parts. ... I crashed a lot.”
Her ¿rst day Àying for
real, though, she only crashed
once. “It just felt like I was
Àying the simulator,” she said.
Robert Grover, e[ecutive
vice president of PCS Edven-
tures, says drones are a terri¿c
vehicle to teach students sci-
ence, technology, engineer-
ing and math (STEM. Boi-
se-based PCS Edventures, a
public company founded in
1988, installs engineering and
robotics programs in schools
worldwide.
Duarte built drones for
the education program before
PCS Edventures acquired
Thrust-UA9.
“Drone racing is a perfect
¿t for STEM education,” Gro-
ver said. “I call it STEM edu-
cation at 100 miles an hour
because it really grabs kids’
attention.”
In races, the drones zip
through gates (think hurdles
that you go under and around
Àags (like slalom skiing.
Pilots watch the live video
feed from their drone, as if
they’re in the cockpit, to help
them navigate the obstacles
at speeds that can e[ceed 100
miles an hour. It’s like being
in an amusement-park ride
where you feel like you’re
turning and spinning even
though you’re sitting still.
Races usually last a few
minutes because the battery
life on racing drones isn’t long.
Duarte used to race
trucks on dirt tracks and off-
road. Miller used to own
motorcycles.
“The adrenaline is insane,”
Duarte said. “... When you get
done, your body feels like you
have run a marathon and you
haven’t even gotten up.”
Added Miller, who Àies a
Hovership Zuul Racehound:
“Your body runs through the
same range of emotions as it
would if you were Àying or
racing or going high speed
through a forest. It’s totally
e[hilarating.”
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Jeff Manning, an architect of the iconic Got Milk? cam-
paign, speaks about the lasting effects of the cam-
paign during the Intermountain AgTech Conference in
Pocatello earlier this month.
Got Milk? architect
describes campaign’s
lasting legacy
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
POCATELLO, Idaho —
Hoping to boost demand for
a well-known product facing
declining consumption, -eff
Manning and the California
Milk Processor Board gam-
bled in 1993 on a campaign
that ignored the central theme
of virtually every other milk
marketing program.
Speaking earlier this month
during the inaugural Inter-
mountain AgTech Conference,
Manning described how the
now iconic “Got Milk?” cam-
paign he helped create suc-
ceeded by viewing the prod-
uct differently, and how it’s
challenged long-held notions
about marketing.
“Complacency is just a
killer for ideas,” Manning said.
)rom -apan to Germany,
Manning said, milk campaigns
all emphasized the beverage’s
nutrition, which succeeded in
convincing 96 percent of the
public that milk is healthy.
Nonetheless, consumers opted
for soda, sweetened teas and
sports drinks.
“It didn’t matter how much
money you spent on ‘good for
you,’ it did not change behav-
ior,” Manning said.
So Manning and his team
ignored milk’s calcium and
protein and instead came up
with a “deprivation” strategy,
based on the realization that
milk is usually consumed as a
complement to food, such as
cereal and cookies.
“When you’re on the ‘good
for you’ strategy, you don’t
want to talk about Oreos,”
Manning said.
LISTINGS
A - Charter Astoria/ Seaside - L - Charter Long Beach
Simple is powerful
Got Milk? commercials
depicted the possible tragedies
of depriving consumers of the
commodity.
The ¿rst commercial,
“Aaron Burr,” featured a his-
tory museum curator who
received a phone call from
a radio station promising
$10,000 for the identity of the
man who shot Ale[ander Ham-
ilton. With a bite of sandwich in
his mouth, he replied, “Awaan
Buhh!” but failed to claim his
prize because his words were
indecipherable, and he had no
milk to wash down his food.
Got Milk? was picked up
by the National )luid Milk
Processor Promotion Board
and used through 2014. The
campaign remains active in
California, where Manning
said industry analysis shows
it’s had a 10-to-1 return on
investment and helped Àatten
declining milk demand.
Got Milk? became one of
the most parodied slogans in
history. A survey found it was
the most recognizable slogan
associated with a beverage,
known by half of respondents.
“Two words and a question
mark. Simple is a powerful
concept,” Manning said.
Manning e[plained a key
to the campaign’s success was
that the board gave the slo-
gan away rather than impos-
ing licensing fees to those who
wished to use it. Got Milk?
appeared on soccer balls, baby
out¿ts and cereal bo[es. The
slogan was embossed on Oreo
cookies, and Mattel released
a Got Milk? Barbie doll. His
team also encouraged the
parodies.
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