Shaw Manor · Control Tower No. 1

The Flight Deck

The curator’s drones, and the pictures they bring home from up where the bats live. Tower is open. Keep your head down.

Tower open · Bats have right of way

Every Shaw Manor exhibit has its own room. This one is up on the roof, next to the belfry, where a little radar scope sweeps all night and the drones park between flights. Below are the frames they’ve brought back, then the aircraft themselves. Captions describe only what is in the picture. The tower keeps no coordinates and posts no maps, so locations stop at the county line.

Arrivals & departuresTower time: whenever
FlightFrameGateStatus
SM-01GOLDEN HOUR · BOURBON CO.HORIZONON DISPLAY
SM-02PASTURE SUNSETHORIZONON DISPLAY
SM-03THE DOMED COURTHOUSEHORIZONON DISPLAY
SM-04CONTRAILS AT DUSKHORIZONON DISPLAY
SM-05THE MIDWAYSTRAIGHT DOWNON DISPLAY
SM-06THE SWING RIDESTRAIGHT DOWNON DISPLAY
SM-07CLOCK TOWER & THE FESTIVALSTRAIGHT DOWNON DISPLAY
HG-1THE HANGAR · 5 ITEMSHANGAR 1PARKED

Horizon

Camera level, the whole county laid out to the edge of the world. Best flown when the sun is low and the light goes gold.

Aerial view of Bourbon County farmland at golden hour: a country road runs off toward the horizon between green fields, tree lines and scattered farms under a pale evening sky
SM-01
Golden Hour over Bourbon County
ON THE GROUND: a road · fields · scattered farms

A country road runs straight through the fields toward the horizon, with farms sprinkled across the green and the light going gold. The kind of view that makes a person buy a drone.

Sunset over dark horse-farm pasture, a lane running toward a low orange sun and a small red lens flare in the foreground
SM-02
Pasture Sunset
ON THE GROUND: pasture · a long lane

The sun sets over horse-farm pasture. The lens caught a little orange flare on the way down; we’re calling it a firefly.

A grand domed limestone courthouse with columns and a clock in its tower, lit by low sun, with treetops stretching to the horizon behind it
SM-03
The Domed Courthouse
ON THE GROUND: limestone · columns · a dome

A grand limestone courthouse with a columned tower and a dome, the low sun coming in sideways over the trees. Very good posture.

A dusk sky fading from blue to pink, crossed by white jet contrails, above a water tower and a dark band of treetops
SM-04
Contrails at Dusk
ON THE GROUND: a water tower · treetops

Jet contrails scribble across a blue-to-pink sky while a water tower keeps watch over the dark treetops. Other traffic, much higher up.

Straight Down

Camera pointed at the ground over the Blackberry Festival, the way a bat or a ghost would see a fair. Everyone below is small enough to be a game piece.

Looking straight down on the Blackberry Festival midway beside a brick building: a Ferris wheel, a round spinning ride with a striped canopy, tents, a crowd and big shade trees
SM-05
The Midway
ON THE GROUND: a Ferris wheel · a Tilt ride · a crowd

A Ferris wheel on one side, a spinning Tilt ride on the other, and the whole Blackberry Festival milling around between them beside an old brick building.

Overhead view of a carnival ride at the Blackberry Festival, set up in a parking lot, long orange, yellow and blue arms spreading from a hub with little plane-shaped seats hanging from them
SM-06
The Swing Ride
ON THE GROUND: long arms · plane-shaped seats

Long candy-colored arms fanned out like a pinwheel over a Blackberry Festival parking lot, each with a little airplane seat dangling from the end. The only other aircraft in this exhibit.

Looking down at the red-brick Nicholas County Courthouse with a white clock face, a green dome and a flag, surrounded by trees, Blackberry Festival tents and a tall yellow slide
SM-07
Clock Tower at the Festival
ON THE GROUND: a clock · a dome · a flag

The Nicholas County Courthouse with its clock tower, dome and flag, the Blackberry Festival camped all around it in tents and slides. The clock didn’t look up.

see also Two queens of this festival are up in the Steamer Trunk →

The Hangar

Where the aircraft rest between sorties. Names come only from what is printed on the gear or plain to see: a DJI Mini series drone, an RC-N1-style controller, a two-way charging hub, and one little caged quad.

see also the DJI Mini kit in the Camera Obscura →

DJI drone kit laid out on white marble: a gray RC-N1-style controller with a tablet clamped above it, its screen dark, the folded drone resting on a tablet case, and a gray two-way charging hub with cables plugged in
HG-1
The Ground Station
THE CONTROLLER READS: dji
THE HUB READS: dji

The whole outfit, laid out on marble: an RC-N1-style controller with a tablet clamped on top for a screen, the folded Mini parked on the tablet’s case, and the two-way charging hub plugged in.

screen blacked out: the tower keeps its reflections to itself
Head-on close-up of a light gray DJI Mini series drone held in a hand, its small gimbal camera marked 4K tucked under the front of the body
HG-2
The Mini, Head-On
THE GIMBAL READS: 4K

Nose to nose with the flying camera. The gimbal hangs under the front of the shell and keeps the picture level while the rest of the drone fusses with the wind.

A folded light gray DJI Mini series drone with a strap around its arms, lying on white marble above a pair of titanium chopsticks for scale
HG-3
Folded for Travel
THE DRONE READS: dji

Arms folded, props tucked, a strap cinched round the middle. Titanium chopsticks along the bottom for scale: the whole aircraft is shorter than a chopstick.

Looking down into a hard case with an orange foam insert holding a folded DJI Mini series drone, its controller, a two-way charging hub and a small black SYMIK case
HG-4
The Travel Case
THE SMALL CASE READS: SYMIK

Orange foam with a cutout for everything: the folded Mini, the controller, the charging hub and a little SYMIK case, with a rope loop on each side. Bright enough to find in the dark.

A small black and red quadcopter inside a black protective cage, with bright green propellers and glowing blue LEDs, on marble
HG-5
The Little Caged Quad
ON THE AIRFRAME: black cage · green props · blue LEDs

A Hubsan-style mini quad in a black bumper cage, red-striped canopy, green props and its lights on. The old-timer of the hangar.

Tower Chatter

The real flight stories haven’t been filed yet. Until they are, here is what the radio picks up after dark.

Overheard on Channel 13

Manor lore · unverified
  1. TOWER: Pale object hitching a ride on the landing gear again. It weighs nothing, which is not the point.
  2. TOWER: The little caged quad has been retired to the attic. Green lights have been seen doing laps up there at night.
  3. BELFRY: The bats would like it on record that the Mini was grounded in the Darkroom once already.
  4. TOWER: Unknown blip on the scope, northwest, moving against the wind. Logging it as “probably a sheet.”
  5. MIDWAY: The Ferris wheel waved first. Probably.
  6. TOWER: All aircraft, props parked. Goodnight.

None of this is in any flight log. The tower doesn’t keep one for the public, and wouldn’t say where if it did.