FirstEnergy Corp. is offering safety tips for flying your drone in the form of a video game you play on your computer, smartphone, or tablet.
The game is called the Drone Safety Zone.
In it, you design a drone. You then fly it in a race against two other virtual drones.
You dodge and weave your drone around obstacles, including a gate that will electrocute your drone if you aren’t careful.
Before and after each race, you learn safety tips. The most important is to keep your drone at least 200 feet away from power lines, utility poles and substations.
“If your drone ever gets caught in power lines or crashes into a substation, never attempt to retrieve it yourself,” reads one of the tips.
Lauren Siburkis is a spokesperson for FirstEnergy. She said the game was created knowing drones were going to be a popular holiday gift.
“It’s really important for us to spread awareness, especially as a lot of youth start to use drones, to use drones responsibly,” Siburkis said. “Like driving a car, there’s an inherent responsibility that goes along with this.”
The idea is to give new drone owners a safe place to get an understanding of what flying a drone is like, what climates are good or bad to fly a drone in and other safety tips.
“They’re able to learn safety tips in a safe, controlled environment so that when they do take their drones outdoors, they’re able to keep those tips in mind,” Siburkis said.
Other safety tips include not flying your drone in dark or bad weather and to always keep your drone where you can see it – that’s at or below 400 feet.
To legally fly a drone, you must be at least 16-years-old, register your unit with the Federal Aviation Administration, pass a written test and get a license.
