The other day, three generations of experts showed up at the western Post Office. While my brother-in-law and nephew worked on the plumbing, my great-nephew, Nicola Tesla Hoggett, carried out his promise to help me learn to fly a drone.

The drone is actually a minidrone: a Fairy007, to be exact, billed as 'the world's smallest drone'. Fortunately, it weighs far less than the 250 grams required for registration with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). I don't think an FAA number would fit on the side of the drone. Anyway, I'm a lousy pilot, and was glad for the help.

The first thing N.T. did was to 'recalibrate the accelerometer'. At least, that's what I think he said. As far as I'm concerned, he could have been recalibrating the lateral sensor array. I left him to it while I fetched supplies for the plumbing team. When I came back, N.T. had the tiny aerial menace humming.

We decided to launch it using the centre of a fidget spinner as a launch pad. The drone is so small, the fidget spinner can be spinning at the same time. This gave us a chance for photo ops. It performed satisfactorily. Molly went and hid, but Lola the Doglet was unconcerned – even when the dronelet landed on her back. She just shook it off.

Technology is making great advances these days: thankfully, we have the younger generation to explain it to all of us from the Dark Ages.

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Dmitri Gheorgheni

08.01.18 Front Page

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