Skydio Inspires Next Generation of Women Drone Pilots with Youth Fly Day

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Images, courtesy Skydio.

Drone manufacturer and leader in autonomous flight Skydio recently held its Youth Fly Day, an event that brought together 75 Freshman students from ICA Cristo Rey All Girls Academy of San Francisco for a hands-on learning experience with drones.

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The Skydio team held Youth Fly Day in an effort to help inspire the next generation of women pilots and engineers. According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s annual statistics, women made up only 7.6% of registered Remote Pilots at the end of 2021. Building off of the previous year’s Women’s Fly Day, Skydio provided a space for young women to engage with drones and learn more about the technology.

Skydio chose ICA for the event due to the school’s proven record of supporting young women to and through college, as well as its focus on new fields of academics, such as STEM and programming.

“I was incredibly lucky to be exposed to drones and robotics at a young age, and we are super passionate about sharing that opportunity,” said Skydio CEO Adam Bry. “By hosting events like this for our local community and youth groups, we’re hoping that what we do day to day can inspire the next generation of pilots, engineers, and technologists of the future.”

Students traveled from station to station, each offering information on a variety of topics ranging from the physics of drones and use cases to photogrammetry scanning and cinematography with drones. The students were also given the opportunity to fly the drones themselves, receiving hands-on experience with Skydio technology such as tracking and 3D Scan. The event also included a career panel, with many of the women of Skydio offering their advice and insight from their own experiences in STEM careers in the drone industry.

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Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.