Jake Tremmel recently piloted his drone to take pictures of cardboard box racing at Mount Joy Snow Resort and has a summer job using the drone to photograph chuckwagon races. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
Young Jake Tremmel is flying by the seat of his pants with a bird’s eye view of the world.
The 12-year-old Grade 7 student at Bishop Lloyd Middle School is practising to be a better drone camera pilot while earning a few bucks taking aerial photos and videos.
The youngster recently took some video of a cardboard sled derby at Mount Joy Snow Resort where he talked about his passion for drones.
“It’s something I really enjoy,” he said while holding a portable drone in one hand.
He was invited to use it to record the derby by his elementary school principal, Sheldon Gallagher, who is on the Mount Joy board.
“That will be fun having Jake taking pictures of the event,” said Gallagher on derby day.
Jake bought himself an updated DJI Mini 3 Pro portable drone that weighs just 249 grams.
The larger propellers, an aerodynamic body tilt, and a powerful obstacle-sensing system contribute to its increased flight time and safety.
The gimbal has a large tilt range for low-angle and vertical shots for endless creative possibilities.
“It’s pretty good,” said Jake, who is turning it into a paying hobby.
“I take aerial photos of properties. I check on livestock, I do gutter checks and roof checks and special events. It’s a real good money-making thing.”
Micro drone pilots like Jake don’t need to register their drones or get a drone pilot certificate to fly them based on their weight, but Transport Canada requires they be flown safely.
Jake says the learning curve for him was pretty quick on his family’s rural property.
“It probably took me a couple of days. It’s pretty easy to fly if you get the right one,” he said.
His DJI drone retails for about $1,200, which he paid for as a member of 4-H.
He’s also purchased an iPad to edit the footage.
“I edit it at home and I send it to whoever wants it,” he said.
Jake says he’s not usually busy in the winter, but he’s starting to get a lot of advance bookings.
He has landed a summer job as a drone camera pilot with the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association (CPCA).
“I will follow them around this summer with their tour,” he said.
“It will be a good time because I actually did it for the finals last year. If you saw the drone up there, that was me.”
He teamed up with Videre Images’ Jason Whiting, who he is quick to credit for helping him to capture the drone video footage at Halstead Downs for live-streaming.
“I really appreciated his help because, without him, I probably wouldn’t be here where I am today,” said Jake.
Whiting says they worked together to showcase the CPCA finals with him operating the livestream and Jake flying the drone.
“His drone control and capabilities are quite impressive,” said Whiting.
“It seems like he’s done well at practising and is able to operate that drone very smoothly and effortlessly, which is pretty cool.”
He says drones are such a big part of today’s world in both photo and video.
Whiting downplays his mentoring role, noting he and Jake didn’t dive too deep into technicalities being so focused on covering the races that day at the Downs.
“If anything, I just gave him some good tips on what people might want to see if they were watching a live race or something like that, to slow the pace down to keep things centred,” he said.
