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SPORTSMonday 14 March 2016
15-year-old pilot from England
wins Dubai’s World Drone Prix
Luke Bannister of Somerset, a 15 year old British pilot of Bannis- JON GAMBRELL ing a cheap disposable ists from putting cameras or
Associated Press lighter to solder a wire. The lasers on their drones.
ter’s team, Tornado X-Blades Banni UK, takes part at the World DUBAI, United Arab Emir- races themselves looked at “It is not merely a flying
ates (AP) — A team led by a home in the science-fiction game, but a sport that re-
Drone Prix in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, March 12, 15-year-old pilot from Eng- film “Tron” — glowing fluo- quires mental focus and
land took first place Satur- rescent lights guiding the accuracy to enable users
2016. Associated Press day in the World Drone Prix, way around the 591-meter to harmonize mental com-
a new contest hoping to (650-yard) track. mands and hand move-
take flight both in this Mid- Racers had to take at least ments to fly their drone,”
east country fascinated by one pit stop in the race, Saif Mohammed al-Su-
the technology and with with crews leaning down to waidi, the aviation author-
sports fans worldwide. change out batteries. Pilots ity’s director-general, said
Luke Bannister of Somerset also had to decide wheth- in a statement at the time.
led Tornado X-Blades Banni er to take short cuts, some- That focus — as well as
UK to win a $250,000 purse, times seeing their drones having competitors fly an
part of $1 million in prizes crash into the ground or aircraft they’re not actu-
handed out in the inaugu- into each other to the ally in — makes many com-
ral edition of this race as a shouts of spectators. pare the sport to that of
Cabinet-level minister an- Dubai, once a sleepy des- competitive video game
nounced the start of the ert port city now home to playing. Already, so-called
World Future Sports Games the world’s tallest building eSports revenue was nearly
in December 2017. and the long-haul airline $750 million worldwide in
Those contests next year Emirates, has embraced 2015, with sponsorships and
will include robotic swim- drones. Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh advertising accounting for
ming, running, wrestling Mohammed bin Rashid Al $578 million, according to
and car racing, as well as Maktoum, has given the the New York-based gam-
drone flying, as this city of $1 million Drones for Good ing-research firm SuperDa-
futuristic skylines yearns to Award over the last two ta.
be ahead of the curve. years. “Obviously, there’s a cross-
“We are trying to bring the Government agencies over with gaming, as you
future closer to us,” said across the larger United can see with the HD gog-
Mohammed al-Gergawi, Arab Emirates, ever-eager gles,” said Nigel Tomlin-
the United Arab Emirates’ to be seen using new tech- son of Manchester, United
minister for Cabinet affairs. nology, use drones in ac- Kingdom, who was the
At the World Drone Prix, tivities as varied as inspect- manager of Luke’s team.
four pilots at a time sat ing buildings to calming a Those millions, as well as
in racing-style seats, their frantic Abu Dhabi window- Dubai’s single-minded de-
eyes covered by goggles washer in 2014 caught 10 termination to always be
allowing them to watch stories up after his scaffold- ahead, likely inspired au-
a feed from a camera on ing got stuck. Small hobby thorities to announce the
their drone. The drones drones for sale sit on dis- World Future Sports Games,
raced on a course be- play in electronics stores in tentatively scheduled for
hind them, zipping along a the country’s many luxury Dec. 28-30, 2017. Officials
white track that occasion- malls, while Al-Dhafra Air hope to hold the games
ally reached up to pinch at Base hosts some of the once every two years after
the speeding aircraft for 12 U.S. military’s unmanned that.
laps with the skyscrapers of aircraft flying missions over On Saturday night at the
the Dubai Marina behind Iraq and Syria targeting the World Drone Prix, the nov-
them. Islamic State group. elty of the competition
The pilots wore the white But the proliferation of seemed to hold the audi-
racing jumpsuits familiar hobbyist drone pilots has ence’s attention as the
to Formula One, but rac- caused problems here as drones buzzed around the
ers have to worry about elsewhere in the world. track. After winning, Tomlin-
what’s above and be- Dubai International Airport, son said the 43 team mem-
low them as they fly their the world’s busiest for inter- bers of Luke’s team would
drones, said Zachry Thayer, national travel, has seen share the prize money.
a 25-year-old pilot for Team drones fly into its airspace Luke himself also seemed
Big Whoop of Fort Collins, and halt its flights. happy, rocking back and
Colorado. But the onboard Since February, drone own- forth on his heels atop the
camera puts a racer into ers have been required to winner’s podium.
the action like nothing else, register with the UAE’s Gen- “The lights were awesome,”
he said. eral Civil Aviation Authority. he shyly said afterward, as
“That’s what’s making it ex- Authorities also ban hobby- his team cheered.q
plode,” Thayer said. “Any-
body can go out and all
of a sudden, they’re Super-
man,”
The crafts flown more re-
sembled Erector Set cre-
ations, with one team us-
