00:01Many young boys dream of becoming a pilot and Christopher Hills from here on the Sunshine Coast was no exception.
00:09As a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, it was always going to be a challenge,
00:12but this determined and innovative 29-year-old has found a way and is now a licensed drone operator.
00:19He uses switches on the back of his wheelchair headrest to operate computers and to help him communicate.
00:24It has been really encouraging to see technology develop since I was a child.
00:31At the age of six, I had access to two buttons, a back button and a forward button, in order
00:39to turn the pages of an e-book.
00:42Now, the sky isn't even my limit.
00:46For the past six years, he's been working on an app that uses existing technology,
00:51including a tablet and an adaptive game controller to fly a drone and take stunning images, with photography a real
00:58passion.
00:59As someone with cerebral palsy, traditional drone controllers are completely unusable for me.
01:05The best I can do with a conventional controller is knock it off a table.
01:12But with the system I'm developing, I can leverage facial recognition, game controller inputs and accelerometer data on my iPad,
01:22mapping it all together to control a drone as if I had two working hands.
01:27As someone that teaches students how to fly drones and teaches drone technology in our design program,
01:34I've never encountered something quite as innovative as the app that Christopher has developed.
01:40I think that this could be game changing for many people across the world.
01:45He's a better drone pilot than I am.
01:47He's now at the field testing stage quite literally.
01:51Among those trying out the app is a quadriplegic farmer from New South Wales.
01:55A TAFE student with cerebral palsy is also using the app to fly a drone to complete her filmmaking course.
02:01Christopher is now working to get his system approved by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
02:06And he says everyone has a right to fly.
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