People: Luke Bannister

“If I can’t fly, there’s no reason to hire me, no matter what I look like,” he says.

Bannister won the World Drone Prix in Dubai in 2016 when he was 15. He’s set world records in drone racing across the world. He films the aerial sequences for commercials for companies such as BMW and the European Football League. He delivers medical supplies via drone for the National Health Service in England and Scotland.

It all started when he asked his parents for a joystick for his laptop computer on his fourteenth birthday. “I liked radio-controlled planes, building them. The drone industry seemed like a perfect thing for me. Winning Dubai was when the boom started,” Bannister said.

Bannister—who goes by the moniker BanniUK on Instagram and other social media sites—has established himself in three areas of the drone industry. “The filming side, I get to be quite creative. I love the competition in the racing side. And I think drone delivery is at the forefront of this industry,” he said.

In the current COVID-19 atmosphere, racing is now limited to simulators. Bannister misses it: “Racing drones is like being a bird. I feel like I am inside the drone. There are incredible maneuvers, in quick two- to five-minute races. It’s freestyling and a lot of fun.” The delivery aspect of drones is important to Bannister, who acknowledges the concern of sharing the airspace with manned aircraft. He likes planning flight routes and finds the possibilities of delivery by drone fascinating.

“I’m not sure—at 20—what my future looks like, but I’m pretty embedded in the drone industry. I have toyed with the idea of getting my pilot license and considered joining the RAF, but I have a passion for this, and I think if you have the passion and determination, you can be good at anything.”

Bannister recently joined Breitling’s Aviation Pioneers Squad, which celebrates “a new age of adventure in the air.”

“Luke excels at a completely new aviation discipline with his challenging drone flying competitions. He was a natural choice to be part of the Aviation Pioneer Squad,” said Breitling CEO Georges Kern.

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