What Would The World Miss if Drone Legends Didn't Exist?

A large number of educational technology companies focus on selling hardware. One company decided to do things differently. Drone Legends believes the best education technology (EdTech) doesn't just teach technical skills, it unlocks the legend inside every child. Read on to learn how this company changed drone education from dry technical instruction into magical, story-driven learning experiences. This article is part of a series spotlighting drone companies that are quietly shaping the future.

The Moment of Decision

At 52 years old, Scott Buell, the Founder and CEO of Drone Legends, looked back at his career and felt something was missing. He decided to leave his job and reconnect with a passion he  had since 2015: drones. 

By mid-2019, Scott saw real business opportunities in drone services. He earned his Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 certification and started exploring the field. That November, a fifth-grade teacher in Camden, New Jersey, invited him to speak to her class. Scott watched the students light up as they learned about drones. He also noticed something important that most EdTech companies didn't understand what teachers actually needed. They pushed expensive hardware without supporting the people who had to use it.

Scott saw his opportunity and decided that he would build a program that put teachers and students first, not products. That day marked the beginning of Drone Legends.

The Problem They Solved

Before Drone Legends, most educational drone programs had a major flaw. Companies sold hardware and expected teachers to figure everything else out on their own. Many teachers had never flown a drone before. They felt anxious and overwhelmed. The programs themselves didn't help much either. They focused purely on technical skills like block coding, basic instructions, dry material. Students learned how drones worked, but they didn't feel excited about it. Drone Legends changed this. Scott and his team built a complete, supportive program that removed the fear factor. They gave teachers everything they needed to bring drones into their classrooms confidently. Schools around the world could now teach drone education successfully. But they did something even more important: they made it fun.

A New Way to Teach

Drone Legends shifted the entire drone education industry. Instead of purely technical lessons, they created narrative-driven, visually engaging programs. They turned learning into "edutainment." They introduced characters like Gimbal, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) drone guide and placed students in realistic missions, scanning coastlines for sharks, delivering medicine to remote regions. Students still learned the technical skills, but now they cared about what they were learning. Other companies noticed. Many now follow the storytelling approach that Drone Legends pioneered.

Inside Drone Legends Culture

People who know Scott well, co-founders, competitors, even clients, playfully tease him about one thing: his relentless optimism. Scott believes he can tackle anything. He sees every opportunity as worth pursuing. Sometimes this leads to what his team jokingly calls "shiny object syndrome." The team has their own inside joke too. They reference a scene from Monty Python's "The Holy Grail" where two guards completely misunderstand their orders and follow the king instead of staying put. When someone on the team misses something obvious, someone will say, "We're coming with you, sir." It's their lighthearted way of pointing out the miss while keeping things fun.

The Pride of Drone Legends: Their Turnkey Curriculum

Every company has something they're deeply proud of, something that took months of hard work to perfect. For Drone Legends, it's their comprehensive turnkey curriculum system. It's an entire ecosystem that works together seamlessly. The curriculum includes storytelling, engaging graphics, and alignment with major educational standards such as Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS),International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) & Math, and Texas Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards. They also include unlimited professional development and support so teachers can implement the system easily, even with no prior drone experience.

Building this took six months of intensive work and significant resources. The team describes it as "building the airplane while flying it." They entered uncharted territory and created something that now "just works" in classrooms that remains the cornerstone of what Drone Legends offers.

A Risky Bet That Paid Off

The market already had plenty of FAA Part 107 test prep programs. Online platforms and asynchronous courses filled every corner. When someone suggested Drone Legends create another one, Scott hesitated. It seemed risky. But teachers kept asking for something different. They didn't want another online course students completed alone. They needed a classroom curriculum, something they could teach directly, with presentation materials, quizzes, and team challenges. So Drone Legends built exactly that. They created a classroom-friendly FAA Part 107 curriculum that aligned with their core philosophy: work backwards from what educators actually need.

The program now sets them apart in the market. It's become one of their most successful offerings.

A Hidden Gem: The Egyptian Expedition

Scott considers the Egyptian Expedition Coding Sandbox their silent gem. What started as a small experiment grew into an eight-module, story-based coding curriculum. It's a fantastical learning environment unlike anything else in educational technology. Teachers love it. One gifted and talented teacher even wrote to her superintendent praising the program. But it often gets overshadowed by Drone Legends' other offerings. It hasn't received the recognition Scott believes it deserves. They now include it with their Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fundamentals program. Scott hopes more people will discover this hidden treasure.

Saving Schools Money: Unlimited Training

Most companies charge extra for professional development. Schools have to budget for training, limit which teachers can attend, and track how many sessions they've used. Drone Legends does the opposite. They include unlimited professional development with every program.

For the STEM fundamentals program, they offer four live Zoom sessions every month, two on technology, two on curriculum. Any teacher can join any session, as many times as they want. They can bring their entire team. The same applies to their First Person View (FPV) initiator and Little Legends programs. This approach has saved schools significant money. They don't have to source, schedule, or pay for external training. Onboarding becomes simpler and the support continues long-term. Drone Legends has built a strong educator community they call the "Legend Makers." This became one of their defining moments, delivering measurable cost savings while keeping customer satisfaction high.

A Major Challenge: When Funding Disappeared

September 2024 brought Drone Legends' biggest challenge. Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding ended and a new administration took office. The entire educational funding landscape shifted. For years, Drone Legends had served the after-school enrichment market. Federal grants had supported these programs and now those grants dried up. As Scott describes it, the Department of Education was effectively disbanded. The market pivoted toward career and technical education, drone training and certification programs.

This wasn't a single setback. It was a fundamental shift in how educational funding worked. Drone Legends had to adapt quickly. They're now pivoting toward career and technical education programs. It remains challenging, but Scott sees it as an opportunity to realign their offerings with what schools actually need now.

Advice for Newcomers

When Scott entered educational technology, he assumed funding would stay stable. He learned the hard way that it doesn't. His advice to newcomers: "Be mindful of how unpredictable educational funding can be. Don't rely on a single funding source. Diversify your revenue streams. Explore multiple avenues like Career and Technical Education (CTE), private funding, different markets. Think about why you're entering this space and build a strategy that can adapt when conditions change."

In short: expect change and prepare for it.

The Myth They're Fighting

Many people believe educational technology must be dry, technical, and boring. Drone Legends fights this myth every day. They believe EdTech can be magical. It can be engaging, full of stories, and genuinely fun even for older students. They blend rich narratives, memorable characters, and wonder into everything they create. Learning should feel exciting and immersive, not mundane. This philosophy drives everything they do, from characters like Gimbal to their entire Little Legends universe.

What We'd Lose

If Drone Legends disappeared tomorrow, we'd lose something special. We'd lose a company that truly believes in the legend inside every child. As Scott puts it, “The distinctive value of any EdTech company lies in the brand’s commitment to blending imagination and narrative with hands-on learning, providing turnkey systems that enable educators to inspire and empower students. Drone Legends is not just about teaching technical skills but about unlocking each child’s unique potential and building character through a magical, story-rich learning experience.“