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Celebrating the life of a loved one by scattering their ashes by drone

I have to admit that this had never crossed my mind but I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. One Australian drone pilot is officially licensed by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to help you celebrate the life of a loved one by scattering their ashes by drone. Yeah, you read that right. Scattering their ashes by drone. Maybe not as crazy an idea when you think about it?

Scattering their ashes by drone

Mark Fogarty from NSW in Australia, is the first and so far only commercial drone pilot who is officially licensed by CASA to help you celebrate the life of a loved one by scattering their ashed by drone. He charges $500 AUD, which is about $345 USD. Not too bad I suppose.

Fogarty said that the idea arose when his father died.

“Dad had always liked fishing,” he said. “I wanted to put him out in the ocean, but there weren’t a lot of options. Often when ashes are scattered on the shoreline the wind can play a big factor, blowing them back on the people there and away from where they’re meant to go. Using drone technology ashes can be scattered as loved ones sit and take in the important moment.”

So, he then started Blue Memorial Horizons late last year. He said it took him about 12 months to get all setup.

“The drone costs between $15,000 and $20,000 with the set-up we have for it, but we have tried to keep the cost of our service reasonable, we want to make it easy for people to farewell their loved one with dignity. We can spread ashes at Paradise Point or at Tallebudgera, but at the moment that is it on the Gold Coast,” he said. “It is unique and some might say strange, but we are getting a lot of positive feedback.”

A Journalist from the Gold Coast Bulletin in Australia even got some nice words from a satisfied customer, Sarah Williams. She said:

“We had never heard of it before, but were keen to give it a go after hearing of bad experiences when trying to scatter ashes yourself.”

The family had used Fogarty’s services to spread her father-in-law’s ashes over his NSW property in late December.

“It was a lovely, special moment, we all sat together and watched. We asked for wildflower seeds to be scattered with the ashes, so in spring there will be another reminder of him on the property.”

What do you think about scattering the ashes of a loved one by drone? Is that the ultimate way to go for a die-hard drone pilot? Let us know in the comments below.

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Avatar for Haye Kesteloo Haye Kesteloo

Haye Kesteloo is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at DroneDJ, where he covers all drone related news and writes product reviews. He also contributes to the other sites in the 9to5Mac group such as; 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys and Electrek. Haye can be reached at haye@dronedj.com or @hayekesteloo