Pilot Handle: Little A

First Aerial Platform: Tethered balloon with a camera

Angela Jacques, one of our newest instructors, has always flown drones—sometimes as a professional drone racing pilot, but also as a disaster response pilot, aerial mapper, drone educator and global community organizer. Her love for—and belief in—drone applications across multiple industries has led her to co-found FPV Racing México (FPVRMX), which promotes drone sports, as well as Think Air, an organization that specializes in GIS and UAVs for Earth Sciences. She is also a founding member and board member of Drone Sports International. As if that wasn’t enough, she spends a lot of her time as a Geographic Information Systems Specialist with a focus on photogrammetry, remote sensing and digital cartography.

During her drone racing career, Angela has raced in competitions in many countries, including US Drone Nationals 2015, DRL Miami Lights 2015 for ESPN, Drone Worlds, Hawaii 2016, Drone Sports Competition Korea 2016, Campus Party São Paulo 2017, Dover Internationals 2017 in Delaware, as well as several giant-sized, X-Class drone racing competitions and exhibitions.

A firm believer in the power of drones for good, one of Angela’s recent international projects was in Colombia, working with personnel from the United Nations World Food Program and Disaster Immediate Response Team (DIRT), an international non-governmental organization focused on disaster response efforts.

Angela is currently working as an instructor at SPIRE for groups and individuals ages 12 and up, focused on specific drone applications and professional skills. SPIRE is excited to have Angela as part of the professional drone racing team.