Pat Gaffney has always been a high flyer.
He’s OMRF’s newest research program chair, a renowned geneticist and a skilled woodworker. He plays the Irish drum and is in formation to become a deacon in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
Now he’s taking his achievements to new heights—literally—with his latest hobby: building drones.
“It’s the perfect combination of aviation, computers, electronics and the skills of actually trying to fly the thing once it’s finally airborne,” Pat says. “I’ve got the first three down; now I’m working on my piloting skills.”
Ready-made drones are available for purchase at Best Buy, Walmart or Amazon. But, Pat asks, where’s the fun in that?
“It may take longer to build one, but that’s the fun part,” he says. “I’m a geneticist. I want to know how every part of something works from the ground up.”
And that do-it-yourself attitude has added an element of adventure to the whole ‘from the ground up’ part.
“I was testing a drone the other day, and it burst into flames right on my desk,” he says. “As I ran out of the house, my wife was just shaking her head.”
As simple as drones might seem, Pat says the learning curve is steep.
With hundreds of choices available for each component, it can be daunting to start, he says. It took him a while, but now he knows what he likes and what he doesn’t.
“I work on small racing drones, and I put cameras on them, so I got to watch footage of me crashing one of my drones straight into my neighbor’s house. Luckily it did nothing to the home, but my drone was smashed to pieces,” he says.
After that unfortunate accident, Pat quickly familiarized himself with the Federal Aviation Association’s regulations for drone-flying.
But like any good scientist, despite the fire and the crash, he’s persevered. He’s learned the different variations on hundreds of components and familiarized himself with a variety of open-source software to program the flight board, including everything from GPS to flight stabilization.
Sometimes, Pat says, his biggest obstacle is the Oklahoma wind. “It can be frustrating when strong winds blow on the day you want to fly.”
Despite the hurdles, Pat has quickly refined his specific area of interest within a hobby that has exploded in the past few years.
“The world of drones is huge now. There’s a whole section of the internet for people who are into drones and drone racing. There’s also a lot of competition and a lot to learn,” he says.
Think you might like to dabble in drones? Pat says he’ll give you a rundown of his favorite hobby. He’s even contemplated starting an OMRF drone club.
“I’ll be happy to share some helpful dos, as well as a whole lot of helpful don’ts.”
