Bob Dempsey (00:00)
Can share a couple crashes, but I think if you're not crashing you're not flying a drone.
Mark Masterton (00:06)
Today on the Drone as the Future podcast, we have a lovely discussion with Bob Dempsey. He tells his story of going from creative personality to drone group leader. His Facebook group, Old Farts with Drones, provides drone info in an inclusive and entirely non-judgmental format. From the magic of Vegas to flying over the Parthenon. Tune in to our conversation that takes off now. Drone as the Future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service.
Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with droneaservice.com. Welcome to the Drone as the Future Podcast, fellow podcast.
Bob Dempsey (00:49)
Cool is this. I I really love being on other podcasts. I don't have to push all the buttons.
Mark Masterton (00:55)
I aspire to one day achieve your level of being an old fart. I think that is that is legendary and I love that you've named an entire podcast and a community offer that. It's it's amazing.
Bob Dempsey (01:07)
It pretty fascinating, you know, and it came up completely generic kind of thing. I would I had gotten my first drone in 2019 and it was the Mavic Mini. And it sat in a box probably for almost a month before I I had the
really the guts and after I've watched so many YouTube videos and everything that I decided I'm gonna go turn it on and and put it in the air. And so my friend Brian who lives with us here he he he came out and filmed me doing it and so that that was a lot of fun. So but I got addicted to it, you know, and I kept watching videos on
on YouTube and different YouTube talk shows and stuff like that. And of course I this is my little my man cave here. I live in Las Vegas for everyone
Mark Masterton (02:13)
I aspire to have a man cave.
Bob Dempsey (02:15)
Yes. Yeah. So
Mark Masterton (02:17)
See how creative you are with all the instruments and everything in the background.
Bob Dempsey (02:21)
Yes, I I've been a guitar player for a long time and just recently started performing again for a couple couple of shows.
Mark Masterton (02:31)
You've got share those tracks with me eventually after this call. I'd love to give them a listen. away from your other artistry, you're also a very experienced graphic designer. You had a graphic design company. but how did that all navigate into you picking up your first drone? What was it, nineteen years ago you said?
Bob Dempsey (02:53)
Well, it may have been that long ago. I'm not sure. It was a f one of the first Phantoms, which was probably about ten what is this? Twenty six, so probably fourteen or fifteen or something like that. you know, twenty fourteen. My c one of my clients in the graphic business, so I I had done this you know, whole thing for this drone
solar business. Th this young man that I knew, he came to me first as an electrician and he just wanted to s you know starting a small business on his own. And then him and his brother created a solar company. They grew to about sixty employees and we were doing all wrapping all their trucks and we were doing designs for all their materials and I mean it just became a super successful business. And but he bought a drone
To go take pictures of the solar install so that he would have evidence that if the something came up a year later, I mean he could go back to the original photograph and see what, you know, what was what, if anything had changed. So anyway, I went out with him a few times with that drone and that was definitely a hook.
Mark Masterton (04:12)
what was the feeling that you got when you first took it out? Was it seeing the world in a different way? What got you hooked initially?
Bob Dempsey (04:20)
I if if you haven't flown a drone, you don't know the adrenaline rush that you get the first time you really understand that I'm flying in the air a hundred and fifty feet. I'm in full control of this and I can direct the camera in any direction I want. I mean it is it's euphoric. I mean it truly is. And I mean I I I got hooked you know relatively soon. I
I took that Mavic Mini out almost every other day here in Las Vegas. I found where the there's there's so many beautiful mountain areas or surrounding Las Vegas that you can go out to and there's so many, you know, i incredibly good looking places in in this valley. we have Red Rock Canyon that's a scenic loop that's thirteen miles through
some of the most scenic red rocks the that exist and you can fly drones there legally and you know there's two places where the rangers will tell you not to fly but it's you know no problem.
Mark Masterton (05:31)
And you you do tours, don't you? You run tours out out into the Vegas, out back, taking other people on drum tours.
Bob Dempsey (05:41)
That a good friend of ours has this business called Unique Unique Drone Experience or something like that is and they take people out to some of the most incredible spots. there's a there's a section here called Valley of Fire, which is
just remarkable. If you Google Valley of Fire, you'll see just some of the most beautiful spots. Well, you can't fly in Valley of Fire. But if you have a really serious off-road vehicle, there is a a side line into that same area that where you can fly, but you seriously need a
an off road vehicle and you need to be able to handle it and I have the know what to do. you know, we stop, you know, about you know, maybe a a mile in and stop and deflate all the tires of the vehicle and then I mean it's it's serious.
Mark Masterton (06:55)
We
got a bunch of we got a bunch of survival hacks from your good friend drone diva Desi. yeah on a previous podcast. We were chatting to her all about the the many ways you can survive in in the outback filming drones. Anyway, you've you've been part of the drone community, as you say, for quite a few years now. but it's one thing to fly a drone and and enjoy it, but you have taken it to the next level and created a whole community of drone flyers.
senior drum fires. What what led you to becoming a a podcaster, a YouTuber, an an influencer?
Bob Dempsey (07:31)
Yeah. Totally by accident. as I was saying earlier, I was watching a lot of YouTube videos. My wife would walk by the door here. She goes, What are you watching? And eventually it became honey, I'm just watching the old farts with drones, you know. And there was like three guys that were I was pretty consistently watching, you know, pod drone podcasters that were out there. Ron Brown, Marcus Crawford.
And Bill Hortz, a Bill the Drone reviewer. Anyway, I was watching these three guys a lot, and then I was chatting in a group on Facebook, and some young guy got into the chat and said, Listen, old man, read the book before you ask stupid questions.
Mark Masterton (08:22)
Away.
Bob Dempsey (08:24)
That was my stimulus to say, maybe I should start a group.
for for old farts, you know, and you know, and so I I created the group and I expected nothing of it. I really I invited about ten people and they all joined and and it stayed at thirty, forty people up until about two months in and all of a sudden a couple drone influencers who I didn't know saw my
saw the name of it and and subscribed and then started recommending it. And you know, I started getting thirty, forty signups a day. And I was just fascinated. Obviously I hit a niche that worked, you know, and so we're at we're over twenty eight thousand members right now in over a hundred countries.
Mark Masterton (09:21)
Wow. Yeah, you've gone global.
Bob Dempsey (09:24)
Yeah.
Mark Masterton (09:25)
28,000
members and counting. And I mean I signed up, but I'm not sure if he'll let me in. But I I promise I wouldn't be as mean as that that initial young guy who inspired it, but I'm glad he was spicy, 'cause that led you to create this awesome community. What's your favorite part about leading a community like that? Twenty eight thousand people.
Bob Dempsey (09:50)
Hearing some stories that I get from people. you know, I've heard from I've heard from multiple guys that have been say they found a drone or somehow, you know, their brother-in-law or their son or stepson or somebody got a drone and they they found this drone. And they said, you know, I was retired, I had nothing to do, I you know, wound up sitting on the couch.
Drinking beer all day and watching watching the news and getting extremely depressed every day, you know, and so it you know and they said, you know, finding old farts with drones gave me a purpose. I've met so many friends, I've now I've got a place to go, you know, and I've you know, I I I'm I'm planning on a trip, you know, we're putting a couple guys together and we're making
making some plans. I'm meeting some drone people in my neighborhood and and a couple of them said I lost about forty, fifty pounds after I started flying drones. So I mean it was it was a great great stories, you know? Great
Mark Masterton (11:03)
It doesn't get plugged enough, the fat loss benefit of of flying drones.
Bob Dempsey (11:08)
But the psychological, you know, community and the the becoming a member and becoming you know you know, a community feeling there. That's and that's what we've strived to continue. We've you know, outlawed any politics on there and and we've also outlawed any negative crap. I mean we'll just really and and also if you
You post more than three or four times a day, we're gonna you know, we're gonna top stop you for a little while, you know, kind of thing. But I mean we just we want f people to communicate there and you know, no advertising.
Mark Masterton (11:50)
It's really inspiring what you're doing. I I I mean, my own personal experience, getting making friends as you get older becomes more difficult. Yeah. you hang out with less people, you you're not going to as many parties and such. but it seems like
Bob Dempsey (12:06)
Stay
in this blinder here.
Mark Masterton (12:08)
But now you're a you're an old fart and you've found your your drone niche and you've got more friends than ever now. Twenty eight thousand and counting. what how how important is it to you being part of a community like this?
Bob Dempsey (12:24)
it makes a big difference to me. It's good's given me, you know, I mean I I'm I tried to retire about ten years ago and it it just really wasn't working, you know. And I w really I still have clients sending me graphic design work, you know, that you know I'm I'm happy and thrilled that that's happening, but but I'm surprised, you know, kind of thing. And I'm now
deeply entrenched in in learning every AI thing I can play with, you know. It's it's definitely the next step in our future, especially in graphic design and web design and everything else, you know, that I've been doing. So
Mark Masterton (13:10)
speaking of your graphic design, Bob, how how do you think your career as a graphic designer sort of benefited you in the drone space? You said that there was that little crossover you had the the solar panel gig and then that led to you flying a drone for the first time. But you being creative, do you think that benefits you when you're flying?
Bob Dempsey (13:29)
I hope so. I think so. I think it you know, I have a better eye. I know I'm always in competition with my wife. She's a stellular I I don't know how to describe it. She's she's a very highly respected photographer in the photography industry. wow. She's been had multiple articles written about her in some of the major trade indust photography trades and stuff and
and when Barack Obama came to Las Vegas, he insisted Audrey was on the photography team, you know. So you know I've gotten to meet him and talk to him you know a couple times actually. So
Mark Masterton (14:18)
My god.
Bob Dempsey (14:19)
so she's a very well respected photographer. And so but I'm I really think that being a graphic designer and understanding the balance and the
and the and the the contrast and the different things that make something appealing and make something enjoyable to watch is something that you know may have helped. And I also, you know, probably about more than twenty years ago, I started in Final Cut. Okay. And I think that gave me a big advantage is, you know, I w I went from Final Cut III was the first version I had.
And then when Final Cut seven went to Final Cut ten, you know, I regrudgingly made the leap there. And then I've been I've I've taken courses in Premiere and I I can work in Premiere pretty much as easy as I can, but I fall back into Final Cut. That's my kind of home base, you know, kind of thing. So I'm
Mark Masterton (15:19)
It doesn't.
Bob Dempsey (15:20)
still I'm still shooting video for I did this past
election we we had a what do you call a primary election here in Las Vegas and I did a number of T V commercials for for a couple candidates here. And so I mean it's it's still part of my love, you know, and
Mark Masterton (15:41)
Are you the go to guy when it comes to drone flying in in Vegas then? I mean you you've got a massive community there already, but why what brought you to Las Vegas in particular? Why do you like that area of the world so much? You're you're a big advocate of it as well. You like going to see the Vegas Knights and you like always a big part of the Vegas meetup? Yeah.
Bob Dempsey (16:02)
Yes. Yeah, how much time we got? I don't know. I'll give you the story as brief as I can, okay? Yeah. I dropped out of college in seventy-two at Southern Illinois University and went on the road with with a a couple bands as a roadie doing sound. And one of the bands I worked with was Ario Speedwagon and
Ario Speedwagon then left Champaign, Illinois, is where we were all based out of. And they went to LA, and that's a whole other story. Anyway, I got I couldn't get a student loan in March. They would only give them out in August, right before the semester. So I had to kill six months. I had six months, I didn't have anything to do, so I could either stay with my parents or my previous college roommate.
Wound up in Las Vegas and I got in touch with him and he said, You can get a job tomorrow here, I guarantee ya. And so I sold a guitar, I bought a plane ticket, I took three cardboard boxes on the plane, and I came to Las Vegas, and I was planned to spend six months here and then go back and finish college. That didn't happen. my
oldest granddaughter is gonna be twenty three years old tomorrow. I've established a family here, you know. I've been you know in I've now been in Las Vegas for fifty two years. And I I don't think I could live any place else. It's it's got everything I want and I'm not really bothered by a hundred and ten degrees, you know. Nice. Forty forty two Celsius or whatever.
Mark Masterton (17:53)
I
have been one summer and it was crazy, crazy hot. I was diving from air conditioner to air conditioner. can we just cycle back to when you first picked up that very first drone? was it nerve wracking? Were you scared? You said you were in control, but we we love a drone incident story here on on the drone as a future podcast. Have there been any funny stories from from those early flights that that you remember that you wanna
Bob Dempsey (18:23)
i I can share a couple crashes, but I I think if you if you're not frashing, you're not flying a drone. I Very true. I think you know everybody has crashed at some point in time. I've done a f I've had a few minor crashes. I've had a few thrilling moments, but you know one of the stories let's see
I was flying in my driveway here, and I was I somehow I I I don't know. I seemed like all of a sudden I was in the middle of a tree, and then the drone came down, and so I walked to the tree where I thought it may be, you know, and it wasn't there. And I mean I I stood there for probably an hour looking for the drone. Uh-huh. And and then
I turned around and across the street on the sidewalk the drone was sitting there just by itself, you know, off I have no idea how that happened. I am what? No idea. I mean it was
Mark Masterton (19:42)
They're smarter than you think, these drones.
Bob Dempsey (19:45)
Well, I had a we had a really unique experience on one of our you know, my wife is now a travel agent. She's kind of put the cameras down. she says it's too heavy for her to carry all this crap around. So she'd become a travel agent and on our first drone cruise. So we were at this little bay in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, there, and there's this little bar that had a little porch, kind of porch kind of thing.
And there's half a dozen of us there. He put up that hover air XL and he put that up and took off. And all of a sudden he says, I've lost the drone. Everything went black. There's nothing here. We thought, okay, well, well, you know, we're all I mean, six people are out there searching the sky, looking for where this thing might be. And after about 10 minutes, we gave up.
And we're all moving going back to the back to the tables and coming from behind us is this little hover thing. About ten minutes later, it came back and landed. I we were fascinated.
Mark Masterton (20:56)
I
mean, better that it came back and didn't fly off somewhere in the middle of a road or something like that.
Bob Dempsey (21:02)
A
lot of fun. A lot of fun. You know, that's all.
Mark Masterton (21:05)
Drone as the future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service. Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with droneasaservice.com.
Bob Dempsey (21:23)
No,
not really. I have I you know, I mean I've like I say, I've gotten to do some amazing drone flights.
Mark Masterton (21:31)
Where's where's it taking you in the world, Bob? I mean, you've it seems like you've traveled to many, many amazing places through the the drone flying. I mean you just got back from Nova Scotia. I will say that that's a beautiful part of the world and our podcast producer, Ryan, is a massive fan of Nova Scotia. Is there any lighthouses you saw that were vacant?
Bob Dempsey (21:50)
Well, of course we went to Peggy's Cove. Yeah. In Nova Scotia. I mean, that's probably the the number one tourist attraction there. And unfortunately, there was about there was three cruise ships docked on Friday. I was that that's this past Friday I was there. And there was way too many people to put a drone up. I mean it was
It was probably, you know, two, three thousand people s roaming around that lighthouse, you know, kind of thing. But we w drove right down the street to this bar that had crab rolls and beer and and we said that that's how they named themselves, crab rolls and beer. That's the or simple lobster rolls and beer. That was the name of the restaurant.
Mark Masterton (22:39)
More people should do that.
Bob Dempsey (22:41)
And
we went there and flew from there and it was beautiful, you know, it was on a little inlet and and we we just had a great time there too, you know, kind of thing.
Mark Masterton (22:53)
Where's where's the favourite place of all time that you've flown a drone?
Bob Dempsey (22:57)
Well you know, Athens probably is the top, I think.
Mark Masterton (23:03)
Tell us about that.
Bob Dempsey (23:05)
I we we're on a cruise. We got off. my wife, you know, what we normally do on a cruise is instead of taking any of the cruise tours, we usually get off and start talking to cab drivers. They're all land lined up, you know, there's drivers all the time.
And we find somebody that really can speak English and and this guy said that he really understood drones and so you know we cut a deal for the day that you know bring us back at five o'clock, you know, you know, take us around the city and all the places to fly drones and stuff. And, you know, it was you know, so he takes us, his name was Dimitri, he takes us to this restaurant immediately across the street.
From the Acropolis. And he says, if you sit outside here, you can fly a drone from there. I'm going, No, you can't. No, you can't. And and so I carried the drone in. Waiter came up and got waters and stuff like that. I said, Can I fly a drone from here? And he goes, sure, no problem. You know. You know, in his Greek accent, of course, you know.
And so I thought it's not even gonna lift off, you know. I I'm not even gonna get it, I'm sure, you know, this not gonna lift off. So I lifted it off and I progressed towards the Parthenon and went across the the auditorium, the you know, from 167 AD or something, and and I I get close to
The Parthenon, and I see there's a crane in the middle of the Parthenon. They're doing repairs. And so, and my wife and a couple other people now have joined me, joined watching it on my screen here. And they're going, do it, fly over, do it, go ahead, do it, do it, you know. And there was nothing stopping me. And so I put it up another 50, 60 feet, and I turned the camera down and I flew right over the Parthenon. And
Then I did a U turn and showed all of Athens. Athens is a huge, sprawling city. I I didn't know that half the population of Greece lives in Athens. Almost half the population. you know, in the it w
Mark Masterton (25:44)
It's wild for such a popular tourist hotspot to just have no rules. 'Cause anywhere commonly in the States or Canada or Europe, you know, you you you're not expecting to be able to fly. But your guy Dimitri hooked you up, didn't he?
Bob Dempsey (25:59)
Yeah. So and when any ever anybody asked me, you know, who gave you permission to do that? I said Dimitri.
Mark Masterton (26:08)
You love Vegas. It's your home, has been for over fifty years, and you're a massive part of the Vegas drone meetup. Yes. why is it such a great place to have a meetup? And I will say I've been through your your itinerary for the drone Vegas meetup, and I want to give you a huge props on the focus that you give to food that's being served, which is very look at you. Shout out.
Bob Dempsey (26:34)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
Mark Masterton (26:38)
Yeah, I like it. It's like conference at eleven, then we're having beer and hot dogs, then there's a pizza break and then we go to the thing. Yeah, you make sure everybody gets fed. But why is why is Vegas such a great place for people to have me ups? And we we discussed Red Rock and stuff earlier, but
Bob Dempsey (26:52)
There there is truly I mean it within a an hour, hour and a half drive from the center of Las Vegas, you are in some of the most gorgeous wilderness areas. I mean, forty-five minutes from now, I can drive up and probably be in snow, right? In heavy pine trees, you know, that's like I said, a very easy forty-five minute drive from here.
And there are places there that you can put the drone up and fly from there. And there's you know, you we like we have this giant lake here, Lake Mead, which is part of the national recreation something or another, and you can't fly there. And but but it the immediately outside of that or a little further south of that, there's some gorgeous, beautiful places to fly that.
That just are mind boggling and looks gives you like you're back in Dune or something like that, you know.
Mark Masterton (27:54)
And you've been doing this meetup every year and it's just been getting bigger and bigger, right?
Bob Dempsey (27:58)
Third year. This is our third year coming up this week. there no this month month next month, November sixth, seven and eight. And it's there's we still have room. it's is filling up fast. We we do have a limit on how many people we can we can sign up, but but it is filling up fast and right now I think
probably half the people signing up are from outside of Las Vegas. You know, so from some from the East Coast and
Mark Masterton (28:33)
Maybe you need to start a a a meetup in in Seattle or Vancouver, somewhere closer where we don't have to travel so far. We'd we definitely can join. You the the drone space in general, it's crazy how fast it develops. There's a new model every week. They can do brand new things with LiDAR scanning, Gaussian splatting, you name it, drones are doing it. Power washing even. What excites you the most about drone tech and where it's going?
is there anything in particular you'd like them to do for you?
Bob Dempsey (29:06)
As far as the technology, the technology is I i I think it's gonna grow where you don't even have to have a controller anymore. You know, I mean I think you're gonna be able to, you know, just open your open your phone and map out a course and it will do all the obstacle avoidance and take all the images and everything and come back to your hand without a problem. I mean I think we're
We're probably a version or two away from that, you know? Kind of thing. That the learning how to fly a drone is, you know, it already became almost nothing when the when DJI came out with these automatic flying drones, you know. Yeah. That you know, it you know, I feel
Mark Masterton (29:55)
I was gonna say, what is the most impressive bit of tech you've seen so far from when you s you got into it?
Bob Dempsey (30:01)
Well the stabilization I think is is massively amazing here. You know, I mean I've I put up this Mini Five Pro in thirty five mile an hour winds and it didn't seem to be vo bothered much at all, you know. I mean it was you know, which you know for that little drone that's fascinating, you know, and you know, so I you know that I think that the it's only gonna improve. I d I do think
The battery technology is probably holding everything back a little bit right now. And I do think that that's going to change. And we may see drones that that can fly for two hours, you know, at some point in time, you know. But and I think that, you know, because of the United States, we're gonna be left behind. You you guys in Canada are gonna be far ahead of us technology wise for quite some time.
You know, I think that's gonna be the case, period.
Mark Masterton (31:04)
Hopefully hopefully domestic drone manufacturers here in the States will will will catch up quick and and be able to push the envelope forward. But we'll see. Who knows going forward what what the future holds. It changes every single week, doesn't it?
Bob Dempsey (31:19)
Yes it does.
Mark Masterton (31:20)
But if where do you see drones doing the best good?
Bob Dempsey (31:26)
I think fire departments are probably I think the number one thing. I mean, obviously you know, that they can assess what's going on f you know f thirty feet above this structure and figure out what where the hottest spots are and and what what you know what what to do long before they even get there. You know, I mean I think that's gonna be the that's probably the
number one thing I think in public service, I think that, you know, we have had multiple, multiple, multiple occurrences of drones finding hikers here in Las Vegas. I mean, we have some beautiful areas where you can you wanna hike up a mountain, you know, and no matter what your qualification is, you know, you if you want to try and there's been a lot of stuck people out there and
Drones have been able to locate them and get them help, you know, rapidly. And I think that we've seen that over and over and over again. And, you know, I I I've you know, I've actually testified in in the legislature here in Nevada that you know, if I get lost, I want a really quality drone to find help find me, you know. You know, if I'm lost and wandering someplace.
You know, which you know might happen, you know.
Mark Masterton (32:53)
Look at you. You're influencing legislature. yeah. Legislation in Nevada. That's incredible. You you are an influencer, Bob. Like it or lump it. You you influence people, thousands and thousands of people across the world. why do you think you know, typically old farts, we the the stereotype we're given is they don't like trying new things, but you you're encouraging a whole plethora of people to join drones and try
out a a new skill and learn a new skill. Why why is that important?
Bob Dempsey (33:24)
Well, I think it's you know, like I said, I mean it it helps it helps not only for the thrill of it, okay, and there's definitely a thrill. Okay, I mean, there's no doubt about it. There is a thrill flying a drone. But the the idea that that that you know you can put you know put on a headset and have a bird's eye view and fly with your hand, one hand
you know, and and get some incredible 3D v video. I'm truly fascinated by that that new aspect of of drones, you know, that that it's not just gonna be a a two-dimensional platform anymore. We're gonna it's gonna merge into this other platform and I think that's just gonna be more and more you know the the future
Mark Masterton (34:20)
Yeah, you're definitely proving that old farts can learn new tricks. yeah. Which is very, very, very cool. What's in the in the near future for the old farts bedrones? More tours, more adventures? We do
Bob Dempsey (34:33)
Yeah, we have another drone cruise in July of next year, in July of twenty-seven. We're starting from Amsterdam and coming down the Rhine River down into Switzerland and and then the the cruise is doing that a river cruise and then from Switzerland we're all moving to to Milan.
for two nights and then going from Milan to Lake Como for a couple nights and we have permission to bring drones on this cruise. So it's you know it's been you know we've we've established a you know this group that we've now done on two or three different cruise lines and we've made a you know an inroad to the in the industry and we have
you know, a reputable name in the industry to that they understand that they're gonna be responsible, you know, serious, professional drone flyers that are gonna be there. And so we've you know, we just did this one in up, you know, from New York to Halifax, which was, you know, really fantastic, except for the return. You know, we had to come back in the nor'easter.
Mark Masterton (35:56)
You might have to change your name from old farts with drones to Mr. Worldwide at this rate. You're you're you're going global with the tourism business. It's amazing. if you just to wrap up here, if if you had a message for an old fart out there, possibly me in the future, who knows? who wants to dabble in drones or try a new thing, what would be your message to them for someone who's like, no, I couldn't.
Do that. No, that seems a little too much work. What what would you say to them?
Bob Dempsey (36:28)
You gotta keep moving, okay? you know, I I I wound up teaching college here in in Las Vegas for eighteen years. I taught graphic design at the College of Southern Nevada here. And I I have to tell you, you've got to keep learning. You can't stop learning because i i life will zoom right by you and you'll be you know, a bump on a log here. But you you you have to keep learning something new.
I mean your brain has a lot more capacity no matter how old you are, whether you're fifty-five or sixty-five or seventy-five or eighty-five. It doesn't matter, you know. I mean you definitely have have a lot to go. Our oldest old fart in the group is named Bill Grace. He flies almost every day and he's ninety-six. And yeah, he's
Fascinating person to talk to. I've interviewed him multiple times on my show. And but you know, so it does it ri just doesn't matter, you know, and you have to keep learning something. And you know, I think that that that keeps everything turning up here, you know, is to keep keep learning. And whether you learn drones or whether you learn RC cars or whether you learn
you know, life saving techniques or CPR or whatever it is that you need to keep learning, you you that's the key to staying young, is to keep that keep those brain cells working, you know. Keep trapping new information.
Mark Masterton (38:06)
You're an inspiration, mate. You really are. I aspire to be an incredibly cool old fat like you. I aspire to have a an epic beard like you and to continue
Bob Dempsey (38:16)
For
my December job.
Mark Masterton (38:20)
Nice coming up soon. yeah. it's been wonderful talking to you. I'm really inspired. I hope that you get many more thousands of members joining your community and
Bob Dempsey (38:29)
Thanks. I'm so happy to be on your show. Yeah. This
Mark Masterton (38:33)
Been a joy.
Bob Dempsey (38:33)
is the future, and it is certainly drones are the future. That you know, I I don't know where you are, but you're you're gonna see drones in the sky every day. I mean, I really believe that's gonna be the case, and you know, we're gonna have to fight to keep our hobbyist piece of the pie there, you know, and
Mark Masterton (38:53)
You'll be at the forefront.
Bob Dempsey (38:55)
I'm I'm ready to go, I'm ready to testify.
Anytime, as soon as they invite me, I'll go.
Mark Masterton (39:02)
All right, Bob. Well, it's been a joy. Thank you ever so much for being on the podcast and hopefully we'll get you on in a few more years. Thank
Bob Dempsey (39:10)
Great. Great.
Mark Masterton (39:11)
you.
Bob Dempsey (39:12)
All right.
Mark Masterton (39:15)
Drone as the Future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service. Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with droneaservice.com.
This has been the Drone as the Future podcast. Today's episode has been produced by Ryan Witten, junior produced by Juan Gutierrez, filmed by John Rawlinson, and features original music by Josh Santos. Thank you very much for tuning in. And if you'd like to follow along our journey, fly over to that subscribe button wherever you're listening so you can be updated to hear what flies ahead.
Can share a couple crashes, but I think if you're not crashing you're not flying a drone.
Mark Masterton (00:06)
Today on the Drone as the Future podcast, we have a lovely discussion with Bob Dempsey. He tells his story of going from creative personality to drone group leader. His Facebook group, Old Farts with Drones, provides drone info in an inclusive and entirely non-judgmental format. From the magic of Vegas to flying over the Parthenon. Tune in to our conversation that takes off now. Drone as the Future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service.
Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with droneaservice.com. Welcome to the Drone as the Future Podcast, fellow podcast.
Bob Dempsey (00:49)
Cool is this. I I really love being on other podcasts. I don't have to push all the buttons.
Mark Masterton (00:55)
I aspire to one day achieve your level of being an old fart. I think that is that is legendary and I love that you've named an entire podcast and a community offer that. It's it's amazing.
Bob Dempsey (01:07)
It pretty fascinating, you know, and it came up completely generic kind of thing. I would I had gotten my first drone in 2019 and it was the Mavic Mini. And it sat in a box probably for almost a month before I I had the
really the guts and after I've watched so many YouTube videos and everything that I decided I'm gonna go turn it on and and put it in the air. And so my friend Brian who lives with us here he he he came out and filmed me doing it and so that that was a lot of fun. So but I got addicted to it, you know, and I kept watching videos on
on YouTube and different YouTube talk shows and stuff like that. And of course I this is my little my man cave here. I live in Las Vegas for everyone
Mark Masterton (02:13)
I aspire to have a man cave.
Bob Dempsey (02:15)
Yes. Yeah. So
Mark Masterton (02:17)
See how creative you are with all the instruments and everything in the background.
Bob Dempsey (02:21)
Yes, I I've been a guitar player for a long time and just recently started performing again for a couple couple of shows.
Mark Masterton (02:31)
You've got share those tracks with me eventually after this call. I'd love to give them a listen. away from your other artistry, you're also a very experienced graphic designer. You had a graphic design company. but how did that all navigate into you picking up your first drone? What was it, nineteen years ago you said?
Bob Dempsey (02:53)
Well, it may have been that long ago. I'm not sure. It was a f one of the first Phantoms, which was probably about ten what is this? Twenty six, so probably fourteen or fifteen or something like that. you know, twenty fourteen. My c one of my clients in the graphic business, so I I had done this you know, whole thing for this drone
solar business. Th this young man that I knew, he came to me first as an electrician and he just wanted to s you know starting a small business on his own. And then him and his brother created a solar company. They grew to about sixty employees and we were doing all wrapping all their trucks and we were doing designs for all their materials and I mean it just became a super successful business. And but he bought a drone
To go take pictures of the solar install so that he would have evidence that if the something came up a year later, I mean he could go back to the original photograph and see what, you know, what was what, if anything had changed. So anyway, I went out with him a few times with that drone and that was definitely a hook.
Mark Masterton (04:12)
what was the feeling that you got when you first took it out? Was it seeing the world in a different way? What got you hooked initially?
Bob Dempsey (04:20)
I if if you haven't flown a drone, you don't know the adrenaline rush that you get the first time you really understand that I'm flying in the air a hundred and fifty feet. I'm in full control of this and I can direct the camera in any direction I want. I mean it is it's euphoric. I mean it truly is. And I mean I I I got hooked you know relatively soon. I
I took that Mavic Mini out almost every other day here in Las Vegas. I found where the there's there's so many beautiful mountain areas or surrounding Las Vegas that you can go out to and there's so many, you know, i incredibly good looking places in in this valley. we have Red Rock Canyon that's a scenic loop that's thirteen miles through
some of the most scenic red rocks the that exist and you can fly drones there legally and you know there's two places where the rangers will tell you not to fly but it's you know no problem.
Mark Masterton (05:31)
And you you do tours, don't you? You run tours out out into the Vegas, out back, taking other people on drum tours.
Bob Dempsey (05:41)
That a good friend of ours has this business called Unique Unique Drone Experience or something like that is and they take people out to some of the most incredible spots. there's a there's a section here called Valley of Fire, which is
just remarkable. If you Google Valley of Fire, you'll see just some of the most beautiful spots. Well, you can't fly in Valley of Fire. But if you have a really serious off-road vehicle, there is a a side line into that same area that where you can fly, but you seriously need a
an off road vehicle and you need to be able to handle it and I have the know what to do. you know, we stop, you know, about you know, maybe a a mile in and stop and deflate all the tires of the vehicle and then I mean it's it's serious.
Mark Masterton (06:55)
We
got a bunch of we got a bunch of survival hacks from your good friend drone diva Desi. yeah on a previous podcast. We were chatting to her all about the the many ways you can survive in in the outback filming drones. Anyway, you've you've been part of the drone community, as you say, for quite a few years now. but it's one thing to fly a drone and and enjoy it, but you have taken it to the next level and created a whole community of drone flyers.
senior drum fires. What what led you to becoming a a podcaster, a YouTuber, an an influencer?
Bob Dempsey (07:31)
Yeah. Totally by accident. as I was saying earlier, I was watching a lot of YouTube videos. My wife would walk by the door here. She goes, What are you watching? And eventually it became honey, I'm just watching the old farts with drones, you know. And there was like three guys that were I was pretty consistently watching, you know, pod drone podcasters that were out there. Ron Brown, Marcus Crawford.
And Bill Hortz, a Bill the Drone reviewer. Anyway, I was watching these three guys a lot, and then I was chatting in a group on Facebook, and some young guy got into the chat and said, Listen, old man, read the book before you ask stupid questions.
Mark Masterton (08:22)
Away.
Bob Dempsey (08:24)
That was my stimulus to say, maybe I should start a group.
for for old farts, you know, and you know, and so I I created the group and I expected nothing of it. I really I invited about ten people and they all joined and and it stayed at thirty, forty people up until about two months in and all of a sudden a couple drone influencers who I didn't know saw my
saw the name of it and and subscribed and then started recommending it. And you know, I started getting thirty, forty signups a day. And I was just fascinated. Obviously I hit a niche that worked, you know, and so we're at we're over twenty eight thousand members right now in over a hundred countries.
Mark Masterton (09:21)
Wow. Yeah, you've gone global.
Bob Dempsey (09:24)
Yeah.
Mark Masterton (09:25)
28,000
members and counting. And I mean I signed up, but I'm not sure if he'll let me in. But I I promise I wouldn't be as mean as that that initial young guy who inspired it, but I'm glad he was spicy, 'cause that led you to create this awesome community. What's your favorite part about leading a community like that? Twenty eight thousand people.
Bob Dempsey (09:50)
Hearing some stories that I get from people. you know, I've heard from I've heard from multiple guys that have been say they found a drone or somehow, you know, their brother-in-law or their son or stepson or somebody got a drone and they they found this drone. And they said, you know, I was retired, I had nothing to do, I you know, wound up sitting on the couch.
Drinking beer all day and watching watching the news and getting extremely depressed every day, you know, and so it you know and they said, you know, finding old farts with drones gave me a purpose. I've met so many friends, I've now I've got a place to go, you know, and I've you know, I I I'm I'm planning on a trip, you know, we're putting a couple guys together and we're making
making some plans. I'm meeting some drone people in my neighborhood and and a couple of them said I lost about forty, fifty pounds after I started flying drones. So I mean it was it was a great great stories, you know? Great
Mark Masterton (11:03)
It doesn't get plugged enough, the fat loss benefit of of flying drones.
Bob Dempsey (11:08)
But the psychological, you know, community and the the becoming a member and becoming you know you know, a community feeling there. That's and that's what we've strived to continue. We've you know, outlawed any politics on there and and we've also outlawed any negative crap. I mean we'll just really and and also if you
You post more than three or four times a day, we're gonna you know, we're gonna top stop you for a little while, you know, kind of thing. But I mean we just we want f people to communicate there and you know, no advertising.
Mark Masterton (11:50)
It's really inspiring what you're doing. I I I mean, my own personal experience, getting making friends as you get older becomes more difficult. Yeah. you hang out with less people, you you're not going to as many parties and such. but it seems like
Bob Dempsey (12:06)
Stay
in this blinder here.
Mark Masterton (12:08)
But now you're a you're an old fart and you've found your your drone niche and you've got more friends than ever now. Twenty eight thousand and counting. what how how important is it to you being part of a community like this?
Bob Dempsey (12:24)
it makes a big difference to me. It's good's given me, you know, I mean I I'm I tried to retire about ten years ago and it it just really wasn't working, you know. And I w really I still have clients sending me graphic design work, you know, that you know I'm I'm happy and thrilled that that's happening, but but I'm surprised, you know, kind of thing. And I'm now
deeply entrenched in in learning every AI thing I can play with, you know. It's it's definitely the next step in our future, especially in graphic design and web design and everything else, you know, that I've been doing. So
Mark Masterton (13:10)
speaking of your graphic design, Bob, how how do you think your career as a graphic designer sort of benefited you in the drone space? You said that there was that little crossover you had the the solar panel gig and then that led to you flying a drone for the first time. But you being creative, do you think that benefits you when you're flying?
Bob Dempsey (13:29)
I hope so. I think so. I think it you know, I have a better eye. I know I'm always in competition with my wife. She's a stellular I I don't know how to describe it. She's she's a very highly respected photographer in the photography industry. wow. She's been had multiple articles written about her in some of the major trade indust photography trades and stuff and
and when Barack Obama came to Las Vegas, he insisted Audrey was on the photography team, you know. So you know I've gotten to meet him and talk to him you know a couple times actually. So
Mark Masterton (14:18)
My god.
Bob Dempsey (14:19)
so she's a very well respected photographer. And so but I'm I really think that being a graphic designer and understanding the balance and the
and the and the the contrast and the different things that make something appealing and make something enjoyable to watch is something that you know may have helped. And I also, you know, probably about more than twenty years ago, I started in Final Cut. Okay. And I think that gave me a big advantage is, you know, I w I went from Final Cut III was the first version I had.
And then when Final Cut seven went to Final Cut ten, you know, I regrudgingly made the leap there. And then I've been I've I've taken courses in Premiere and I I can work in Premiere pretty much as easy as I can, but I fall back into Final Cut. That's my kind of home base, you know, kind of thing. So I'm
Mark Masterton (15:19)
It doesn't.
Bob Dempsey (15:20)
still I'm still shooting video for I did this past
election we we had a what do you call a primary election here in Las Vegas and I did a number of T V commercials for for a couple candidates here. And so I mean it's it's still part of my love, you know, and
Mark Masterton (15:41)
Are you the go to guy when it comes to drone flying in in Vegas then? I mean you you've got a massive community there already, but why what brought you to Las Vegas in particular? Why do you like that area of the world so much? You're you're a big advocate of it as well. You like going to see the Vegas Knights and you like always a big part of the Vegas meetup? Yeah.
Bob Dempsey (16:02)
Yes. Yeah, how much time we got? I don't know. I'll give you the story as brief as I can, okay? Yeah. I dropped out of college in seventy-two at Southern Illinois University and went on the road with with a a couple bands as a roadie doing sound. And one of the bands I worked with was Ario Speedwagon and
Ario Speedwagon then left Champaign, Illinois, is where we were all based out of. And they went to LA, and that's a whole other story. Anyway, I got I couldn't get a student loan in March. They would only give them out in August, right before the semester. So I had to kill six months. I had six months, I didn't have anything to do, so I could either stay with my parents or my previous college roommate.
Wound up in Las Vegas and I got in touch with him and he said, You can get a job tomorrow here, I guarantee ya. And so I sold a guitar, I bought a plane ticket, I took three cardboard boxes on the plane, and I came to Las Vegas, and I was planned to spend six months here and then go back and finish college. That didn't happen. my
oldest granddaughter is gonna be twenty three years old tomorrow. I've established a family here, you know. I've been you know in I've now been in Las Vegas for fifty two years. And I I don't think I could live any place else. It's it's got everything I want and I'm not really bothered by a hundred and ten degrees, you know. Nice. Forty forty two Celsius or whatever.
Mark Masterton (17:53)
I
have been one summer and it was crazy, crazy hot. I was diving from air conditioner to air conditioner. can we just cycle back to when you first picked up that very first drone? was it nerve wracking? Were you scared? You said you were in control, but we we love a drone incident story here on on the drone as a future podcast. Have there been any funny stories from from those early flights that that you remember that you wanna
Bob Dempsey (18:23)
i I can share a couple crashes, but I I think if you if you're not frashing, you're not flying a drone. I Very true. I think you know everybody has crashed at some point in time. I've done a f I've had a few minor crashes. I've had a few thrilling moments, but you know one of the stories let's see
I was flying in my driveway here, and I was I somehow I I I don't know. I seemed like all of a sudden I was in the middle of a tree, and then the drone came down, and so I walked to the tree where I thought it may be, you know, and it wasn't there. And I mean I I stood there for probably an hour looking for the drone. Uh-huh. And and then
I turned around and across the street on the sidewalk the drone was sitting there just by itself, you know, off I have no idea how that happened. I am what? No idea. I mean it was
Mark Masterton (19:42)
They're smarter than you think, these drones.
Bob Dempsey (19:45)
Well, I had a we had a really unique experience on one of our you know, my wife is now a travel agent. She's kind of put the cameras down. she says it's too heavy for her to carry all this crap around. So she'd become a travel agent and on our first drone cruise. So we were at this little bay in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, there, and there's this little bar that had a little porch, kind of porch kind of thing.
And there's half a dozen of us there. He put up that hover air XL and he put that up and took off. And all of a sudden he says, I've lost the drone. Everything went black. There's nothing here. We thought, okay, well, well, you know, we're all I mean, six people are out there searching the sky, looking for where this thing might be. And after about 10 minutes, we gave up.
And we're all moving going back to the back to the tables and coming from behind us is this little hover thing. About ten minutes later, it came back and landed. I we were fascinated.
Mark Masterton (20:56)
I
mean, better that it came back and didn't fly off somewhere in the middle of a road or something like that.
Bob Dempsey (21:02)
A
lot of fun. A lot of fun. You know, that's all.
Mark Masterton (21:05)
Drone as the future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service. Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with droneasaservice.com.
Bob Dempsey (21:23)
No,
not really. I have I you know, I mean I've like I say, I've gotten to do some amazing drone flights.
Mark Masterton (21:31)
Where's where's it taking you in the world, Bob? I mean, you've it seems like you've traveled to many, many amazing places through the the drone flying. I mean you just got back from Nova Scotia. I will say that that's a beautiful part of the world and our podcast producer, Ryan, is a massive fan of Nova Scotia. Is there any lighthouses you saw that were vacant?
Bob Dempsey (21:50)
Well, of course we went to Peggy's Cove. Yeah. In Nova Scotia. I mean, that's probably the the number one tourist attraction there. And unfortunately, there was about there was three cruise ships docked on Friday. I was that that's this past Friday I was there. And there was way too many people to put a drone up. I mean it was
It was probably, you know, two, three thousand people s roaming around that lighthouse, you know, kind of thing. But we w drove right down the street to this bar that had crab rolls and beer and and we said that that's how they named themselves, crab rolls and beer. That's the or simple lobster rolls and beer. That was the name of the restaurant.
Mark Masterton (22:39)
More people should do that.
Bob Dempsey (22:41)
And
we went there and flew from there and it was beautiful, you know, it was on a little inlet and and we we just had a great time there too, you know, kind of thing.
Mark Masterton (22:53)
Where's where's the favourite place of all time that you've flown a drone?
Bob Dempsey (22:57)
Well you know, Athens probably is the top, I think.
Mark Masterton (23:03)
Tell us about that.
Bob Dempsey (23:05)
I we we're on a cruise. We got off. my wife, you know, what we normally do on a cruise is instead of taking any of the cruise tours, we usually get off and start talking to cab drivers. They're all land lined up, you know, there's drivers all the time.
And we find somebody that really can speak English and and this guy said that he really understood drones and so you know we cut a deal for the day that you know bring us back at five o'clock, you know, you know, take us around the city and all the places to fly drones and stuff. And, you know, it was you know, so he takes us, his name was Dimitri, he takes us to this restaurant immediately across the street.
From the Acropolis. And he says, if you sit outside here, you can fly a drone from there. I'm going, No, you can't. No, you can't. And and so I carried the drone in. Waiter came up and got waters and stuff like that. I said, Can I fly a drone from here? And he goes, sure, no problem. You know. You know, in his Greek accent, of course, you know.
And so I thought it's not even gonna lift off, you know. I I'm not even gonna get it, I'm sure, you know, this not gonna lift off. So I lifted it off and I progressed towards the Parthenon and went across the the auditorium, the you know, from 167 AD or something, and and I I get close to
The Parthenon, and I see there's a crane in the middle of the Parthenon. They're doing repairs. And so, and my wife and a couple other people now have joined me, joined watching it on my screen here. And they're going, do it, fly over, do it, go ahead, do it, do it, you know. And there was nothing stopping me. And so I put it up another 50, 60 feet, and I turned the camera down and I flew right over the Parthenon. And
Then I did a U turn and showed all of Athens. Athens is a huge, sprawling city. I I didn't know that half the population of Greece lives in Athens. Almost half the population. you know, in the it w
Mark Masterton (25:44)
It's wild for such a popular tourist hotspot to just have no rules. 'Cause anywhere commonly in the States or Canada or Europe, you know, you you you're not expecting to be able to fly. But your guy Dimitri hooked you up, didn't he?
Bob Dempsey (25:59)
Yeah. So and when any ever anybody asked me, you know, who gave you permission to do that? I said Dimitri.
Mark Masterton (26:08)
You love Vegas. It's your home, has been for over fifty years, and you're a massive part of the Vegas drone meetup. Yes. why is it such a great place to have a meetup? And I will say I've been through your your itinerary for the drone Vegas meetup, and I want to give you a huge props on the focus that you give to food that's being served, which is very look at you. Shout out.
Bob Dempsey (26:34)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
Mark Masterton (26:38)
Yeah, I like it. It's like conference at eleven, then we're having beer and hot dogs, then there's a pizza break and then we go to the thing. Yeah, you make sure everybody gets fed. But why is why is Vegas such a great place for people to have me ups? And we we discussed Red Rock and stuff earlier, but
Bob Dempsey (26:52)
There there is truly I mean it within a an hour, hour and a half drive from the center of Las Vegas, you are in some of the most gorgeous wilderness areas. I mean, forty-five minutes from now, I can drive up and probably be in snow, right? In heavy pine trees, you know, that's like I said, a very easy forty-five minute drive from here.
And there are places there that you can put the drone up and fly from there. And there's you know, you we like we have this giant lake here, Lake Mead, which is part of the national recreation something or another, and you can't fly there. And but but it the immediately outside of that or a little further south of that, there's some gorgeous, beautiful places to fly that.
That just are mind boggling and looks gives you like you're back in Dune or something like that, you know.
Mark Masterton (27:54)
And you've been doing this meetup every year and it's just been getting bigger and bigger, right?
Bob Dempsey (27:58)
Third year. This is our third year coming up this week. there no this month month next month, November sixth, seven and eight. And it's there's we still have room. it's is filling up fast. We we do have a limit on how many people we can we can sign up, but but it is filling up fast and right now I think
probably half the people signing up are from outside of Las Vegas. You know, so from some from the East Coast and
Mark Masterton (28:33)
Maybe you need to start a a a meetup in in Seattle or Vancouver, somewhere closer where we don't have to travel so far. We'd we definitely can join. You the the drone space in general, it's crazy how fast it develops. There's a new model every week. They can do brand new things with LiDAR scanning, Gaussian splatting, you name it, drones are doing it. Power washing even. What excites you the most about drone tech and where it's going?
is there anything in particular you'd like them to do for you?
Bob Dempsey (29:06)
As far as the technology, the technology is I i I think it's gonna grow where you don't even have to have a controller anymore. You know, I mean I think you're gonna be able to, you know, just open your open your phone and map out a course and it will do all the obstacle avoidance and take all the images and everything and come back to your hand without a problem. I mean I think we're
We're probably a version or two away from that, you know? Kind of thing. That the learning how to fly a drone is, you know, it already became almost nothing when the when DJI came out with these automatic flying drones, you know. Yeah. That you know, it you know, I feel
Mark Masterton (29:55)
I was gonna say, what is the most impressive bit of tech you've seen so far from when you s you got into it?
Bob Dempsey (30:01)
Well the stabilization I think is is massively amazing here. You know, I mean I've I put up this Mini Five Pro in thirty five mile an hour winds and it didn't seem to be vo bothered much at all, you know. I mean it was you know, which you know for that little drone that's fascinating, you know, and you know, so I you know that I think that the it's only gonna improve. I d I do think
The battery technology is probably holding everything back a little bit right now. And I do think that that's going to change. And we may see drones that that can fly for two hours, you know, at some point in time, you know. But and I think that, you know, because of the United States, we're gonna be left behind. You you guys in Canada are gonna be far ahead of us technology wise for quite some time.
You know, I think that's gonna be the case, period.
Mark Masterton (31:04)
Hopefully hopefully domestic drone manufacturers here in the States will will will catch up quick and and be able to push the envelope forward. But we'll see. Who knows going forward what what the future holds. It changes every single week, doesn't it?
Bob Dempsey (31:19)
Yes it does.
Mark Masterton (31:20)
But if where do you see drones doing the best good?
Bob Dempsey (31:26)
I think fire departments are probably I think the number one thing. I mean, obviously you know, that they can assess what's going on f you know f thirty feet above this structure and figure out what where the hottest spots are and and what what you know what what to do long before they even get there. You know, I mean I think that's gonna be the that's probably the
number one thing I think in public service, I think that, you know, we have had multiple, multiple, multiple occurrences of drones finding hikers here in Las Vegas. I mean, we have some beautiful areas where you can you wanna hike up a mountain, you know, and no matter what your qualification is, you know, you if you want to try and there's been a lot of stuck people out there and
Drones have been able to locate them and get them help, you know, rapidly. And I think that we've seen that over and over and over again. And, you know, I I I've you know, I've actually testified in in the legislature here in Nevada that you know, if I get lost, I want a really quality drone to find help find me, you know. You know, if I'm lost and wandering someplace.
You know, which you know might happen, you know.
Mark Masterton (32:53)
Look at you. You're influencing legislature. yeah. Legislation in Nevada. That's incredible. You you are an influencer, Bob. Like it or lump it. You you influence people, thousands and thousands of people across the world. why do you think you know, typically old farts, we the the stereotype we're given is they don't like trying new things, but you you're encouraging a whole plethora of people to join drones and try
out a a new skill and learn a new skill. Why why is that important?
Bob Dempsey (33:24)
Well, I think it's you know, like I said, I mean it it helps it helps not only for the thrill of it, okay, and there's definitely a thrill. Okay, I mean, there's no doubt about it. There is a thrill flying a drone. But the the idea that that that you know you can put you know put on a headset and have a bird's eye view and fly with your hand, one hand
you know, and and get some incredible 3D v video. I'm truly fascinated by that that new aspect of of drones, you know, that that it's not just gonna be a a two-dimensional platform anymore. We're gonna it's gonna merge into this other platform and I think that's just gonna be more and more you know the the future
Mark Masterton (34:20)
Yeah, you're definitely proving that old farts can learn new tricks. yeah. Which is very, very, very cool. What's in the in the near future for the old farts bedrones? More tours, more adventures? We do
Bob Dempsey (34:33)
Yeah, we have another drone cruise in July of next year, in July of twenty-seven. We're starting from Amsterdam and coming down the Rhine River down into Switzerland and and then the the cruise is doing that a river cruise and then from Switzerland we're all moving to to Milan.
for two nights and then going from Milan to Lake Como for a couple nights and we have permission to bring drones on this cruise. So it's you know it's been you know we've we've established a you know this group that we've now done on two or three different cruise lines and we've made a you know an inroad to the in the industry and we have
you know, a reputable name in the industry to that they understand that they're gonna be responsible, you know, serious, professional drone flyers that are gonna be there. And so we've you know, we just did this one in up, you know, from New York to Halifax, which was, you know, really fantastic, except for the return. You know, we had to come back in the nor'easter.
Mark Masterton (35:56)
You might have to change your name from old farts with drones to Mr. Worldwide at this rate. You're you're you're going global with the tourism business. It's amazing. if you just to wrap up here, if if you had a message for an old fart out there, possibly me in the future, who knows? who wants to dabble in drones or try a new thing, what would be your message to them for someone who's like, no, I couldn't.
Do that. No, that seems a little too much work. What what would you say to them?
Bob Dempsey (36:28)
You gotta keep moving, okay? you know, I I I wound up teaching college here in in Las Vegas for eighteen years. I taught graphic design at the College of Southern Nevada here. And I I have to tell you, you've got to keep learning. You can't stop learning because i i life will zoom right by you and you'll be you know, a bump on a log here. But you you you have to keep learning something new.
I mean your brain has a lot more capacity no matter how old you are, whether you're fifty-five or sixty-five or seventy-five or eighty-five. It doesn't matter, you know. I mean you definitely have have a lot to go. Our oldest old fart in the group is named Bill Grace. He flies almost every day and he's ninety-six. And yeah, he's
Fascinating person to talk to. I've interviewed him multiple times on my show. And but you know, so it does it ri just doesn't matter, you know, and you have to keep learning something. And you know, I think that that that keeps everything turning up here, you know, is to keep keep learning. And whether you learn drones or whether you learn RC cars or whether you learn
you know, life saving techniques or CPR or whatever it is that you need to keep learning, you you that's the key to staying young, is to keep that keep those brain cells working, you know. Keep trapping new information.
Mark Masterton (38:06)
You're an inspiration, mate. You really are. I aspire to be an incredibly cool old fat like you. I aspire to have a an epic beard like you and to continue
Bob Dempsey (38:16)
For
my December job.
Mark Masterton (38:20)
Nice coming up soon. yeah. it's been wonderful talking to you. I'm really inspired. I hope that you get many more thousands of members joining your community and
Bob Dempsey (38:29)
Thanks. I'm so happy to be on your show. Yeah. This
Mark Masterton (38:33)
Been a joy.
Bob Dempsey (38:33)
is the future, and it is certainly drones are the future. That you know, I I don't know where you are, but you're you're gonna see drones in the sky every day. I mean, I really believe that's gonna be the case, and you know, we're gonna have to fight to keep our hobbyist piece of the pie there, you know, and
Mark Masterton (38:53)
You'll be at the forefront.
Bob Dempsey (38:55)
I'm I'm ready to go, I'm ready to testify.
Anytime, as soon as they invite me, I'll go.
Mark Masterton (39:02)
All right, Bob. Well, it's been a joy. Thank you ever so much for being on the podcast and hopefully we'll get you on in a few more years. Thank
Bob Dempsey (39:10)
Great. Great.
Mark Masterton (39:11)
you.
Bob Dempsey (39:12)
All right.
Mark Masterton (39:15)
Drone as the Future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service. Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with droneaservice.com.
This has been the Drone as the Future podcast. Today's episode has been produced by Ryan Witten, junior produced by Juan Gutierrez, filmed by John Rawlinson, and features original music by Josh Santos. Thank you very much for tuning in. And if you'd like to follow along our journey, fly over to that subscribe button wherever you're listening so you can be updated to hear what flies ahead.
