Are you in the DC area and interested in building your own drone? Due to popular demand, the DC Area Drone User Group is bringing back the guided build event at Nova Labs. Robot expert Christopher will provide a presentation on how to assemble a drone from a kit as well as mentorship while you work on your first drone build with other members of our community. This is a great way for people who are new to the world of drones to get started with their own equipment. More experienced builders are welcome to come as well to assemble new kits or upgrade existing equipment. We hope to see you there.

The DC Area Drone User Group held a flight training for new users at the George Mason University Field House on Sunday, February 3. Instructor Christopher Vo reviewed safety, basic controls, and best practices with a group of 10 flyers. Miraculously, we had the whole facility to ourselves as other people were distracted by some other sporting event that evening. This training was a great opportunity for those who had built new drones during the January build party to learn how to operate them.  

Our group is always looking for new members so if you are interested in learning more about us check out our website at dcdrone.org . We have an exciting series of events in the next two months including:

• A talk with the General Counsel of the main drone trade association, the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
• An evening with visionary robotocist Dr. Vijay Kumar.
• A guided kit build for those who want to build their first drone.

We hope to see some of you at our future events if you live in the Washington, DC area or are ever passing through.

The DC Area Drone User Group held a guided kit build and build party at Nova Labs on January 12 in what we think is the largest flying robot build event ever held in the area, although we're not sure what the second largest such event would be. Approximately 20 people attended in person and an additional 10 people signed up to attend via Google Hangouts. The kit build was led by brilliant roboticist and educator Christopher Vo, who taught and guided the group an epic 13 hours straight.

DC DUG is also excited for a packed agenda of events in February including:

• Flight training for beginners with games for more advanced flyers. A case of beer will be awarded to the person who can pop the most balloons with their drone flying autonomously.
• A talk with the General Counsel of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems who will discuss what you can and can't legally do with a small UAV and what we expect to see with FAA regulations between now and 2015.
• An event with Director of GRASP Labs Vijay Kumar. You may know him from his TED Talk with quadcopters playing the James Bond Theme. This event is being co-hosted with partner Meetup DC Robotics Group.

The DC Area Drone User Group is an association devoted to promoting the use of flying robots for artistic, humanitarian, and recreational purposes. We are always looking for new members to become part of our community so if you are in the area please consider joining through our Meetup page and attending some of our events.

 The DC Area Drone User Group had a successful indoor flying event at the University of Maryland College Park. Nineteen people and eleven robots were in attendance. The group's organizer offered a case of beer to anyone who could get their drone to fly autonomously in a pattern indoors but unfortunately no one claimed the prize at this time. The offer still stands for anyone who comes to a DC DUG event and accomplishes this task. We are always looking for new members so if you are interested in learning more about the group check us out at http://www.meetup.com/DC-Area-Drone-User-Group/ .

The DC Area Drone User Group had a successful fly-in at Willowmere Park on Sunday, November 18. Both fixed wing and rotary wing drones were flown with mounted Go Pros. We always welcome new community members so check out http://www.meetup.com/DC-Area-Drone-User-Group/ if you are interested in joining up or seeing more pictures.

Our next event in December will be an indoor fly. In addition to the usual fun, there will be a special beer challenge. I will buy a case of beer of your choice (within reason) to anyone who can get your drone to autonomously fly inside the gymnasium where we will be operating.

The DC DUG community is now 70 members strong. We hope to cross the 100 member threshold in the coming months.

The DC Area Drone User Group had a very successful first fly-in yesterday with 8 members attending and a variety of fixed and rotary wing drones. For many of us who have been learning to build and fly mostly from this blog and message boards it was great to have an opportunity to trade tips and experiences in person with other practitioners of the drone arts. We are now at 52 members and are always looking to expand our community. Please check out the group at http://www.meetup.com/DC-Area-Drone-User-Group/ and consider joining if you are in the area.

I want to invite everyone who is part of this community in the DC area to join the newly formed DC Area Drone User Group on Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/DC-Area-Drone-User-Group/).  This is a group for amateur and professional drone users sharing tips, experiences, and doing some flying together. Let's learn from each other and have some fun. All experience levels are welcome.  We have our first in person meeting Thursday, September 13.  I hope to meet you there.