DRONE TRAINING AHEAD OF FIRE SEASON!

The Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation, in collaboration with BOS Germany (Deutschland) and BOS Switzerland (Schweiz), conducted team capacity-building activities on WingtraOne drone operation training from March to April. The activities covered basic technical training for operating a drone. The WingtraOne drone was donated to the BOS Foundation by BOS Germany, while BOS Switzerland coordinated the training session. The main aim of this joint effort is to allow for the BOS Foundation team to be able to use the drone to monitor natural disasters (floods and forest fires) and survey land cover in Central Kalimantan.

The month-long training was divided into two parts: online sessions and offline sessions. Several BOS Foundation team members from our headquarters, together with the Mawas Conservation Program mapping team, participated in the online sessions by watching WingtraOne training videos. These sessions were followed by online discussions between the teams. The offline sessions took the form of field practice, involving representatives from the BOS Foundation’s head office and members of the Mawas Conservation Program mapping team who had completed the online sessions.

"We are thrilled to be joining this activity. Despite some initial, minor hiccups with the device, we were able to problem-solve using the existing tools and tutorial videos," said Alfredoliano, a representative from the Mawas Conservation Program, who attended the WingtraOne offline session in the field. 

This basic training is to be followed by advanced talks, in order to maximise the function and use of the WingtraOne drone.