In 2022, QRET attended the very first Launch Canada rocket competition, and the following year, I tagged along with my DJI Mini 3 Pro to capture some footage.
In doing so, I unintentionally took on a key role as the head of drone operations.
Why was this role important?
Well, when you are located an hour away from the closest city (of 45,000 people) and the launch pads are 2km from each other, it is important to understand and see what is going on at other sites.
For example:
So yeah, that was from a rocket pointing its blast plate towards the brush. Luckily, with the drone's help, we were able to quickly direct the fire department out there to extinguish it.
The following year, Launch Canada purchased a DJI Mavic 3 Pro for me to fly and provide livestream coverage with. So for the last couple of years, I have been the holder of the SFOC for the drones in the competitions, and I coordinate all RPA activity within the 5 nautical mile airspace during the competition.
Below are a couple of videos and some pictures from the last couple of years.
Launch Canada 2024 Recap Video
Launch Canada 2025 Recap Video