Sign In / Register
Since Mahi Drones was launched in 2022, business has, well, taken off for owner-operator Stuart Mcleod, who will be demonstrating what his drone can do at the Warkworth A&P Show on March 15.
This will be the first time Mcleod has put on a display at an A&P show.
“I’ve done plenty of demos in quarries and on buildings, and I’ve done other more industry-specific demos, but I haven’t done a showground-type demo. It makes me nervous thinking about it, but it’ll be good.”
He says the way people had been spraying was a bit archaic, hard work, slow and tedious.
“Letting the public know these machines exist and showing we can do this type of stuff is a great opportunity.”
The large-capacity drone, which usually provides commercial roof and building treatments as well as agricultural spraying services, will have its 50-litre tank filled with water for the demonstration.
“I’ll be highlighting the machine in the air and you’ll also be able to see it in action spraying and spreading,” Mcleod says.
“In our work we use a fine droplet for spraying gorse and plants and an ultra-coarse droplet on rooves to really soak the area, so we’ll show both variations during the demo.
“On the controller I can also increase and decrease the flow rate on the run. So I’ll just turn the nozzles on and off while it’s hovering reasonably close to the crowd and push the drone back and forth a bit.”
Mcleod says he’s going to set up a target for the drone on a hill at the back of the showgrounds, possibly a gazebo low to the ground and angled to allow people to see the coverage and pattern of the spraying.
Spray drone services have been in New Zealand for a few years now, however they were relatively uncommon when Mcleod first started out.
“There was only the one here in Whangarei and now there’s four operators in the area, a guy two minutes down the road from me, another one over in Dargaville, and a guy in Kerikeri.
“It is absolutely phenomenal the amount of pressure coming on from other guys within the industry, but I actually think it’s a good thing. There’s plenty of work out there, which is great to do with a drone.”
