•••
KO L LI G
that con on the screen and in
a matter of split seconds we
are looking at an aerial view of
his property which spans 1860
hectares for crop production
and 2648 hectares for grazing
(inclusive of hired land).
Ashley uses Google Earth as a
management tool. He shows me
how he uses an area calculator and
how he decides where the fences
will go, how to accommodate
run off ditches, separating grass
types etc etc. The one thing
that is crystal clear is that this
man knows his technology and
he makes it work for him.
“So do you think drones are
the future,” I ask, hoping to throw
him a curve ball. “Pfff,” he replies.
“I prefer my Gyrocopter. I fly over
my land regularily in just over
an hour, where as doing it in the
bakkie would take more than a
day. Ja but what about drones?
Well I think they definitely have
a role to play, but there are two
issues around drones that all
aviators are struggling with. A
unmanned flying object does
not give a position report and
does not do radio calls, so
how would a manned aircraft
know where an unmanned
drone is flying around. I don’t
want to fly into one with my
Gyrocopter. And the other
thing is you need to be able to
see the drone while operating
it, which will limit its range.”
So mu