1. There’s a massive disparity in learning between
students from rural areas compared with students from
cities. Students from rural areas face additional barriers
to STEM education, thereby hampering their ability to
pursue advanced STEM studies and occupations.
Philippines Flying Labs (PFL) started the “Fly a Drone”
educational program for high school students in remote
areas to address this educational disparity—starting
with Malapascua, a small island in the northernmost part
of Cebu. The PFL team composed of Dr. Heidi
Sampang (a newly certified She Maps online community
UAV instructor course) and Xervy Veloso (a certified
UAV pilot) taught the course to 20 students from 7th to
12th grade on 21 August. The class consists of a 30-
minute lecture explaining the objectives of the course,
the different components of the drone, the mechanics of
flying, and most importantly, the safety precautions. This
was followed by the flying course held in the school’s
open courtyard.
Due to the students’ (and their parents’) enthusiasm, we
are inspired to continue offering this program for
students in rural communities. And we hope that they
will eventually pursue careers in STEM.
Newsletter Q3 2019
Fly A Drone-Education program
Upcoming events
Zambales earthquake aerial survey expected to
start in October and completed by November.
Successful organization of two trainings and
knowledge sharing
Main achivement
A free drone workshop for women was
organized by Geoladies PH, Philippines
Flying Labs (PFL), UP Resilience Institute
(UPRI) and UP Youth Mappers last
September 14 at the University of the
Philippines National Institute of Geological
Sciences (UP NIGS). There is a lack of
women in the drone field in the Philippines
and currently there is only 8% of the Civil
Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)
registered drone pilots/controllers are women.
There were 80 women who signed up for this
event but participants were restricted to 25 to
maximize the learning experience for the
participants. The 25 participants chosen
came from diverse fields such as agriculture,
geology, disaster risk management,
academe, social welfare, forestry and NGOs.
Indoor and outdoor drone practices were held
during the workshop.
The workshop created a safe space for
women to explore and learn more about this
innovative drone technology and we hope
that this training will encourage more women
to be registered CAAP certified drone pilots.
Drone workshop for women
2. Newsletter April, 2019
philippines@flyinglabs.org
https://www.instagram.com/philippinesflyinglabs/
https://www.facebook.com/Philippines-Flying-Labs
https://twitter.com/phflyinglabs
Other activities
Annual Flying Labs Day 25th
September: Philippines Flying Labs
went to Tumana Bridge in Marikina to
test M600 drones. The drones were
decorated as local farmers. Local
farmers are the most affected by the
climate change and they are the most
hard-working population in the
country. So Philippines Flying Labs
wanted to highlight them. We plan to
use M600 drones for future cargo
drone deliveries projects. The flight
testing lasted for 30 minutes. It was
an opportunity for other Flying Labs
members to use the drone and they
had a crash course on how to fly
drones. General public was invited to
observe the test and we had 3
students attended.
Philippines Flying Labs and SRDP
participated in InterGeo between 17th
and 19th September in Stuttgart,
Germany. Philippines Flying Labs
activities were presented to the
participants of the event.
Photo Gallery
Students during the flying course of the Fly A Drone-
Education program
Follow us and Contact us
40 Langka St. Quirino 2C
Quezon City 1102, PHILIPPINES
Tel: (632) 745.4088 / (632)
433.3086
Participants taking turns using the DJI Phantom 4 during the Drone
Workshop for Women
