Don Wiley

Pilot and Videographer

An experienced drone pilot who's been flying drones for over four years and has accumulated over 400 hours and 4300 miles in the air with his aircraft.  A retired Navy Chief Petty Officer responsible for the safe operation and maintenance of submarine nuclear reactors for over 20 years, he is no stranger to the challenges of new technologies and safety procedures.  Combining the diligence and attention to detail acquired in his Naval service with 20 years in the construction industry as both a design engineer and a Construction Project Manager, Don brings to Gold Wingnut Productions a unique and highly qualified perspective to both drone operations and construction photography.

Don is the founder and current President of the Drone Flyers Club here in The Villages.  If you're interested in drone flying and a resident of The Villages you can join the Drone Flyers Club every Tuesday morning at the Soaring Eagle ball field for practice every Thursday morning at the Hogeye Preserve walking trail near Edna's.  The club meets the 3rd Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM at the Rohan Regional Recreation Center for our monthly meeting were we discuss current drone topics and provide training on drone related topics.

Most recently, Don has taken on the role as an instructor at The Enrichment Academy in The Villages where he teaches courses in Drone Basics, Flying DJI Drones with DJI Fly, and Advanced flying techniques using Litch fligh control software.

  https://districtgov.org/departments/Recreation/enrichment-academy/    

No stranger to the teaching podium; during his 20-year Naval career he served two tours as an instructor teaching Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Power Plant Operations for Supervisors and new propulsion plant operators, Electronic and Control Systems Advanced Troubleshooting Techniques, and Electronic Test Equipment Use and Operation.  During his years in the construction industry, Don spent hundreds of hours teaching customers and technicians the intricacies of the programming and operations of advance electronic security and CCTV systems.

Working as a photojournalist for four years and submarine periscope photographer for three years, Don is familiar with both the technical and the artistic sides of photography and mixes these skills with his expert drone flying skills to provide quality aerial and ground based productions.

Don is a 14CFR107 Certified commercial drone pilot and a proud resident of The Village of Hillsborough in The Villages, FL. 

You can reach Don at don@goldwingnut.com

Having the right tools for the right job is essential for providing a quality product to our customers. 

 Gold Wingnut Productions proudly flies only the finest quality drones manufactured by industry leader DJI.  These aircraft have top-quality high-resolution imagers and optics for fantastic photo and video quality.  DJI's reputation for quality, reliability, and safety is second to none in the drone industry.

While many companies operate with only a single aircraft.  We currently have seven aircraft in our growing fleet and we never arrive at a job site with only one aircraft.  We also have the ability to call upon other local resources for more aircraft/cameras and pilots as needed for the job.  The worst thing that can happen is to have an equipment failure during a critical shoot, we come prepared to every job with two or more aircraft depending on the scope and need.

Our current fleet:

DJI Mavic 3 Pro Cine

DJI Phantom 4 Pro OE

DJI Phantom 4 Pro+

DJI Phantom 4 CNYE

DJI Mavic 2 Zoom

and for those really tight shots

DJI Mavic Mini 4 Pro

DJI Mavic Mini 3 Pro

DJI Mavic Mini

No, these are not the big Hollywood heavy-lift rigs (and they're not toys either!) but they are all more than capable of providing high quality results at much more reasonable rates.  

Yes, the large heavy lift Hollywood drones are amazing aircraft, and they can keep heavy cameras aloft for about the same amount of time as our mid-level aircraft can, but also at many times the acquisition and operating cost.  Because of their design, our aircraft can be aloft within minutes of arriving on-site, so those critical shots are never missed due to extended preparation and setup time.

Just as you wouldn't crack open a walnut with a sledgehammer, having the right tools for the right job makes thing more efficient and easier to accomplish.

With this fleet of aircraft and local power availability we can provide up to 100% two-point 4K video coverage for nearly an indefinite period of time.  Please contact us to discuss you needs.