Ego vs. Altitude: Learning to Fly Low When Necessary

Hello fellow drone pilots! I really hope that you’re well today, have had a good night’s sleep, and even better flights. In today’s TED Talk, Rafael Suarez will teach us how to navigate day-to-day life with a Burj Khalifa-sized ego while keeping our feet (and drones) grounded.

I always like to say to my students: anyone can fly fast and high. The higher the altitude, the fewer the obstacles you’ll find. It’s like life at cruising altitude—smooth, predictable, and utterly boring. But learning to fly low and slow? Oh, if you haven’t tried, you have no clue about the amount of effort and dedication it takes to fly a drone (any size, from Agras to Neos) close to the ground while making delicate maneuvers.

It’s true: If you put a person who just opened their brand new DJI Air 3S and ask them to fly through an open door, the chances that you’ll hear that horrible sound of plastic spinning at 8,400 RPM breaking against a wall are going to be higher than your cholesterol after a trip to TGI Fridays on Valentine’s Day. That sound, my friends, is the mechanical equivalent of your wallet crying.

It’s not going to be easy

Flying at low altitudes is hard. We need to practice it more if we want to be competent pilots, if we want to sharpen our skills like a samurai sharpens his blade—with patience, respect, and the occasional colorful word when things go sideways.

But here, again, comes life, speaking—or better yet, YELLING at us—asking us please to make another comparison between flying a very expensive camera and navigating our existence through a really tough road called the universe.

What do I mean when I say that you have to “learn how to fly low and slow”? With this, I mean that you (and I) have to take it easy, pal. More often than not, I keep closing my mouth more and more. A very wise man once said, “There are two moments when we need to keep our mouth shut: when we are underwater and when we are angry.”

Wise man indeed. I bet he had his wife at his side when inspiration hit him like a drone hitting a tree branch—sudden, inevitable, and mildly embarrassing.

But jokes aside, I have had bad encounters before flying drones, while flying drones, and after flying drones: with customers, law enforcement officers, kids, dogs, guinea pigs, and the occasional moose. (Yes, moose. Don’t ask.) And I cannot recall one time when keeping my mouth open was the best option and helped me get the best outcome from the situation.

Shut up when needed.

Sometimes the best flight plan is simply knowing when to stay silent and let your flying do the talking.

Have you ever heard the expression “low profile”? That’s the way to stay unnoticed, to blend into the landscape like morning mist over a lake. Yeah, it’s good to be recognized when you’re doing something that can help other people, but what about when you have to fly in a dangerous neighborhood?

Wouldn’t you keep a low profile and check everyone within a radius of one mile around you? Flying low isn’t just about altitude—it’s about humility, awareness, and understanding that sometimes the best shot is the one nobody sees you take.

Return home with your whole drone

The art of flying low extends beyond our aircraft into our daily interactions. When tensions rise, when egos clash like two drones in a too-small airspace, remember: the pilot who flies lowest often sees the most detail, captures the most authentic moments, and goes home with all their props intact.

There’s wisdom in restraint, poetry in precision, and profound truth in the simple act of knowing when to descend. The sky will always be there tomorrow, but the moment in front of you—that requires your full attention, your grounded perspective, and yes, sometimes your closed mouth.

Fly low, my friend. Keep your mouth closed. As we say in the business, “The one who eats quietly, eats twice.” And TRUST me, in this drone game, you’ll need all the energy you can get.

When was the last time you got in trouble for opening your mouth when you shouldn’t have? Let me know in the comments. And meanwhile, watch me keep my mouth open while I talk on my YouTube channel—because apparently, I never learn. While you’re there, subscribe. That’ll make both of us happy, and happiness, like good footage, is best when shared.

Remember: the most compelling perspectives often come from the lowest altitudes, where ego meets earth and wisdom takes flight.