So what goes into building one of these devices? Christopher Vo, director of education for the D.C. Area Drone User Group, an community organization of amateur and professional drone users, offers a brief tutorial.
Washington, D.C., resident Timothy Reuter's interest in drones started with reading about low cost do-it-yourself kits. He went ahead and ordered one, but quickly learned it wasn't as easy to build as he predicted.
"I realized if I did this in isolation I wasn't going to succeed," he said. "So, I thought if I created a community then I could find people that would be able to teach me and I'd have a lot more success."
Last August, Reuter founded the "D.C. Area Drone User Group." Originally, he wasn't expecting to gain more than a couple dozen members, but their ranks are now approaching 300 operators.
"We have a lot of people who are interested in photography. We have some long-time engineers. Some who even work professionally on drone projects. You have long-time RC flyers. And then you have people like myself who have no engineering background, have never done this before, but are excited by this as a new technology."
The group recently traveled to Leesburg, Va., for an event they call a "fly-in." About 40 members spent a sunny Sunday afternoon flying a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles or UAV in a local park.
For more information about the "D.C. Area Drone User Group" you can visit their Meetup page.
