MSU Extension Specialist Louis Wasson on Flying Lessons and Safety

MSPB recently chatted with Louis Wasson, MSU Senior Extension Associate about his experience with drones and what a flying lesson with him would entail. Learn more about UAVs below.

Why should growers consider using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)?

Miniaturization of electronics has revolutionized imaging convenience for the grower. A grower’s main purpose for using UAVs is the convenience of flying over an entire field to have a bird’s-eye view of what’s going on. You don’t need fancy sensors or expensive processing software, just your eyes, experience and knowledge of the field. If you see something that’s not what you would expect — anything from planter skips, hogs and deer damage, to crops being knocked down from wind — then walk out and have a look. It’s amazing what you can see from 100 feet as you look down at the field.

What is your background with UAVs?

I have been in this area for 25 years and in remote sensing for a long time. I have a pilot certificate and used to be a sensor operator in a plane. I have worked on technology as big as satellites and planes and now all the way down to small drones. I retired from MSU in 2012 and worked at Aurora Flight Sciences who manufacture one of the world’s largest UAVs, the Orion.

I was a cotton scout in the 70s and most of my education was in meteorology, so I do some weather work by putting sensors on the aircraft. As all farmers know, weather and agriculture go hand in hand.

A lot of people started asking MSU about UAVs in 2014-2015, and they asked me to come in to provide information on proper use. I saw a lot of selling hype being forced onto growers that simply wasn’t accurate. I accepted the job and have spent the past three years telling and demonstrating to the Mississippi ag community the most effective ways to use UAVs in your operations.

What would a flying lesson with you entail?

Growers ask questions about the technology and a lot of them are flying them, so at grower meetings I really stress safety and privacy. Getting certified would be the first step. After that certification, I can have someone flying purposefully in less than five minutes. It’s not difficult at all, you just have to be smart about it. I have a lot of faith in the aircraft — it is designed to be safe.

In a lesson with me, I would teach basic flying skills. Up and down. Left and right. Forward and backward. Once producers get a little time with the sticks, then I focus on them flying by looking at the app screen, not the aircraft. Now you’re getting your boots off the ground and seeing what the UAV is seeing. We can also go into automated flight with other apps and image processing, like Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which is the most common index used in remote sensing and shows near-infrared and red light. Learning what those different colors mean on a NDVI image is informative. With a bit of training, it’s all pretty easy stuff. It just takes some background knowledge and a commitment to dive in.