Give them an inch...............

Why won't FAA let students fly Drones?

Bugs don't attack healthy plants

It's not just flying cameras

I never heard of precision agriculture until I started delving into the UAS industry. I was working on defense related projects for the Middle East and my guy came back asking for an agriculture project and I couldn't just deliver Drones with cameras to find the bugs, I had to find way to kill the bugs. I heard that they were injecting palm trees with pesticides in Israel so that is what I was going to do. Then I was asked "Would you eat a date from a tree that was injected with pesticides?" The answer was obvious. Then I was told about a product that was primarily used to clean up oil and grease by separating the molecules in hydrocarbons. It makes them non-toxic, then I found out it kills bugs when mixed with water, reducing the tension on the water and softening the exoskeleton of insects so the water can penetrate and rupture their internal organs. It had been used effectively on the cotton bowl weevil but the client wanted to know if it was effective on Palm Weevils. I couldn't find Red Palm Weevils in the USA but there were South American Palm Weevils in San Ysidro California and Englewood Florida. The county entomologist in San Diego wouldn't let me kill their bugs and I couldn't get an intern from The University of Florida to test ECO-Agri Formula (Go to the lower right of the globalutc.com site) this colloid so I did it. Two landscapers help us find two Palm Weevils a large male and a small female and after spraying the male with a mixture of 60/1 he died in 45 minutes. Then the smaller female took 30 minutes to die. The next day they took us to an infested palm tree in some ones' yard I put on rubber gloves and dug into the crown of this tree and it as like soup, warm and goopy like I was field dressing a freshly shot dear. I retrieved 20 larvae and 15 weevils. We took them back to the landscaper's house and applied the colloid to the bugs.

One tough bug

The colloid had the same results on the adults as the day before, big bugs die in 45 minutes and small ones die in 30 minutes. Then we tested four larvae and right away they went into convulsions, they off gassed from behind their scull cap and their ass, they spit up dark tobacco looking substance, they started to darken in color but four hours later they were not dead. Then the landscaper lady said "What if they eat it?" and she took one of the larvae that hadn't we hadn't sprayed with the colloid and she sprayed a piece of palm tree with the colloid and let it nibble on it. The same thing happened, it convulse, it off-gassed out of the back of it's skullcap and it's ass, it spit up tobacco but in an hour and a half it was dead. That very minute Robin Giblin-Davis from the University of Florida returned my call from the previous day and I told him what had happened and his response was "I am impressed, those are tough bugs, they are borrowers, my best non-toxic solution is a beneficial nematode and it take five days to kill the bugs".

Spreading the word

I wrote up a newsletter and distributed including Dan Gerling the Red Palm Weevil expert in Israel. Shortly after I received a e-mail from Dan Gerling telling me he was going to be in Maryland. I scheduled a conference call with him and my witnesses and the next day I received a call from UC Davis telling me that he had called them and told them to look into this solution. I was then contacted by Christina Davis and she told me about her research on the Huanglongbing disease. Then she told m about Ted Batkin. She told me that I should get to know him. He is a fascinating guy, not only is he expert on everything to do with agriculture, he was a Vietnam vet, boat Captain on a mine sweeper. We hit it off! We meet at the opening of the CAL UAS test center grand opening located in Inyokern California just outside of China Lake Naval Weapons Test Center. I directed him to my source of the colloid, they gave him ten gallons to run tests on and he pushed it through the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and got it to the top of the stack and they certified it as "Exempt" due to no toxic ingredients. Then I had a former Navy SEAL buddy who has a lot of high level contacts in the Middle East and he pushed it through the Pesticide Regulation process in the UAE to be certified specifically use on the Red Palm Weevil. Now that Ramadan is over we expect certification very soon. From my reports they are very enthusiastic about the colloid in the UAE.

There are a lot of bugs to kill

Ted Batkin gave ECO-Agri Formula an endorsement as a non-toxic, indiscriminate insecticide, it kills all bugs, even the beneficial ones. I have used in on Stink bugs and it's been used on mites, nematodes and potato bugs but none have been certified with any of them. There are a lot of bad bugs Lauel wilt fungas spread by the Redbay Ambrosia Beetle, this disease has a deadly effect on Avocados, The South American Palm Weevil is the sister bug to the Red Palm Weevil and I was informed that the state of California has decided that since Mexico wasn't doing anything to stop the migration of the bug, it was fighting the inevitable so they stopped putting pheromone traps. I wonder if the California Department of Pesticide Regulation will recognize the results of the UAE's certification. Then there is the Deadly Kising Bug in Texas and Virginia that spreads the Chagas disease which can be deadly if not treated.

Other uses

I mentioned that this colloid is used to clean up oil and grease but it is also used in agriculture to soften water making is easier to penetrate hardpan and it also remediates the effects of over using nitrogen based fertilizers that cause hard pan. Because it is all natural, it is perfect for organic farming.

 

Bugs and Lights

Focus on what is hot

The UAS/Drone industry has gotten a lot of attention for a long time and with privacy and safety issues it will continue to garner attention. At first it got attention because of its effectiveness in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then about the same time the profits from General Atomics, Northrup Grumman, Insitu and Areovironment. Then there as outrage over killing American Jihadist without due process. Then there was a lot of anticipation over the six FAA test sites around the country. Here was a lot of excitement about the Texas Equuearch law suit and the appeal. There is a lot of excitement but we are not hearing excitement about commercial UAS enterprises. It’s a tough business when you’re business is not legal.

Well the markets where commercial UAS is targeting still need product, agriculture, surveying, security and oil and gas. GUTC has product that is marketable for these industries. For agriculture ECO-Agri Formula has widespread uses, from softening water and breaking down the effects of nitrogen based fertilizer to a non-toxic solution for killing bugs, all bugs. They cannot develop an immunity to it either.

Then there are LED Lights, how they relate to UAS applications? It help GUTC pay the bills until our foreign clients officially order products and the FAA finalizes the guidelines for commercial UAS operations. Through DX2 Broadcast we have direct access to 20 LED manufactures, pizza lights for DOT road crews, video walls, bay lighting and bar lights. Municipalities, churches, commercial buildings for retrofit or new construction. They save energy and last significantly longer that incandescent and no issues with hazmat if they break or need to be disposed of. I haven’t seem a market this hot since the mortgage and real-estate market from 1998 to 2006. It might just keep our lights on until these foreign markets order products and the FAA figures out what they want.

Hidden in plain sight

Hidden in plane site

I just read where on a web-site that posts UAS news and that a Drone school can’t fly. I know there are UAS operations going on all over the place, every day. So all I did was look up on the FAA site to see if I could find a list of authorized COAs and sure enough it is posted. Now the FAA is adamant about “No commercial unmanned operations” until they say so and I am not going to divulge the processes operators are able to get paid to fly their UAS but it seems pretty easy when you follow protocols that other have to get authorization. I am not going to spell out how you can get away with UAS operation via a non-for profit. I am going to explain how and who can operate, government entities, police, fire departments, US Forestry, USDA, DOT and branches of the armed services. Colleges and universities used to be able to get COAs but they were being sponsored by companies and that was in direct conflict with the FAAs ban on commercial unmanned operations. Now if the college or university can get the Department of Forestry, the local police or fire department, the USDA or a branch of the armed services to sponsor their COA, they can fly. It would seem that this would be easy for member of the ROTC to get one. That way the military would have experienced UAV pilots coming into the officer ranks. Then they could fly for all kinds of other research applications.

What I have noticed is that UAS operators who have permission either from the property owner requesting UAS services or municipalities who have control over the areas where UAS services are requested, don’t have any problems getting authorization to fly. It is possible for a municipality to need research that a college or university could conduct for them. This is not circumventing the FAA, it is just using the resources available to move the ball forward.    

The Culling has begun

The Culling has begun

Paul Dietrich a leading economist spelled it out to me a few years ago “Those companies that are marketing to the immerging market, have a smart corporate board making smart decisions and low debt with cash reserves are going to make it through this economy, everyone else is going to fall off a cliff”. That is exactly what is happening in the Drone/UAS business. The big fish are gobbling up the little fish and those companies who do not have the where with all to last are closing up shop. I’ve been through this before in 1994-1996 with the military downsizing in San Diego, again in 2008 with the mortgage and housing bubble and I am seeing the same thing now but is a condensed version. This business is barely getting off of the ground in the US and it is happening. However the one category that isn’t really addressed in the statement is viable product. Now I am finding that having capital can mean the difference of whether you have a viable product or not but it seems that the established companies with product inventory do not have the most viable products as I stated in my last blog post “Which is worse?”.

Part of it “The emperor’s new clothes syndrome” and the other is lack of exposure. You not only want to have the right tool for the job but you need everyone to know you have the right tool for the job. Let me try and break it down?

Firefighting

Gene Robinson of RPFlight systems uses the Spectra flying wing for search and rescue and firefighting. What makes this design optimal for observing wildfires is its lift, giving it the ability to just float on the thermal at the leading edge of the fire. Systems designed for forward flight don’t have the surface area to just sit there, floating on the thermal. Other systems with this capability are the UX5 by Tremble/Gatewing and the Zephyr II which are used mostly for agriculture. VTOLs can fly over a fire but you can’t shut them down and conserve on battery life.

Precision agriculture

This is where the VTOL capability has merit, flying low and slow with a multi-spectral camera measuring the overall health of crops, production estimates and detection of certain infestations. The ability to cover large areas is a concern but most farmers only want imagery over their whole field at the beginning of the harvest so they can determine the areas that are coming up slow so they can remedy the slow growth with better irrigation or fertilizer and be on the alert for infestations. Bugs don’t attack healthy plants so these week areas will be most likely area to get infestations first. You don’t need long flight capability if your just spot checking these trouble areas so VTOLs that fly low and slow are optimal. Multi-rotor VTOL is recommended for agriculture but a multi-rotor with stabilization so you minimize the vibration which distorts the spectral data from these cameras.

Surveying

This application is a balance between coverage and accuracy. Current technology leans toward manned aircraft for LiDAR due to the power requirements and battery weight. The greater the altitude the more area which can be covered but you sacrifice accuracy. Synthetic Aperture Radar is optimal for military application but there won’t be survey quality accuracy. UAS can get accuracy but flying low and slow limits the areas that need to be covered. The President of Tremble/Gatewing told me “UAS is perfect for that space that is too low for airplanes and too high for surveyors on the ground”. This is where you need a UAS to get accuracy under two centimeters, you don’t need to out of range of people shooting at you, if you are covering a large area and you have the time to get the job done. Then I would use an octocopter or a hexacopter which range in price from $250.00 to $4,000.00. In this industry you get what you pay for but you will be sold what you’ll pay for too. Do a thorough job of checking out the system. Gene Payson or Patrick Egan would be great resources to help you figure out what you need.

Oil and Gas

For GSR set up you need to have the contractor use a Panasonic Tough-Pad, not a Toughbook. The Toughbook is too large, a Tough-Pad will fit right in the nose of a Cyclops which only costs $5,400. You don’t need a camera unless you are flying FPV. For gathering GAMMA and geospatial data you need the capability to carry at least 20lbs and hover low to the ground once the geologist recognizes the geographic contour that indicates reserves under the surface and then the system needs to hover over that area and measure the GAMMA.

Communications relay

There is a real need for regional connectivity for remote areas. Google bought Titan UAS, the whole company, just for this purpose. There are companies out there which will accomplish this function. Long duration, days and weeks at a time. You have to really check out the system you are considering.

Know your niches

It’s just like anything else, not one size fits all. The right system for the job can make all of the difference and so can the wrong one.

Which is worse?

Is it circumventing the law?

I was having a discussion with someone who is a law school graduate and he took the bar but didn’t like it and chose administration. I was discussing the ruling by the first judge in the Texas Equusearch vs The FAA with the judge finding in favor of Texas Equusearch that their SAR operations are not a commercial operation because they are a non-for profit and the Spectra is not a drone but a remote controlled hobby plane. So when I asked him for his opinion on FFA, 4-H and Boy Scouts flying these small remote control aircraft for surveying and agriculture projects he told me “You are circumventing the law”. So the law puts commercial use of these unmanned aircraft in the same legal category as prostitution and using the weight of the law to give an unfair advantage to the established military technology providers and forcing research and development outside of the United States of America. What is going to take for someone to sue over that?

I was sent a text of an article out of the “Up and Soaring-UAS” Magazine and the first article is the University of Alaska getting a waiver to operate within five miles of the Fairbanks International Airport. The second article is the National Technical Systems Inc. getting a $1.4 million contract to build to payload pods designed to support 25lbs payload per wing. I would like to see them do that and keep the take-off weight below the 55lbs limit for small UAS.

The next article announces the introduction of the Lockheed Martin Vector Hawk. I would like to compare it head to head against the Spectra. It has VTOL capability but I wonder how long it can float of a thermal with the power shut off. It didn’t mention the price, I wonder if it’s less than $10,000?

Then there was a nice article about how much more safely the ScanEagle UAV can observe wildfires than a manned aircraft for fighting wildfires. It didn’t mention how well it can float on a thermal either.

Then there was an article about Northrup Grumman and Yamaha Motor collaboration on an unmanned Helicopter. Yamaha started making remote control mini Helicopters about 12 years ago. They even carry pesticides to spray for agriculture. There is no mention of the cost. I wonder why they didn’t collaborate with SCION UAS an American company that has been manufacturing autonomous Helicopters for 13 years.

The next article talks about how Sikorsky is going to develop an autonomous Black Hawk. Did I just mention SCION UAS? Enough on that. The next article mentions how The Center de Geomatique du Quebec is using a robotic aircraft to collect aerial imagery. Did I mention that commercial UAS operations are legal in Canada?

Then the last article on the page is about Freewave developing a wireless roadmap for UAS to operate in Class A airspace. That means flying in the same airspace as commercial airliners. I don’t remember reading anything in the FAA proposed guidelines allowing for that. Oh, they haven’t been published yet. There was no mention of the situational awareness capability developed by IPS/NexGen right now!

If is amazing how concerned some people are about circumventing the law by trying to stay within a judge’s ruling allowing for non-for profits to operate using a remote control plane when rules are circumvented for convenience and overpriced technologies that weren’t thought through for the applications they are intended are shoved down the industry’s collective throats.

This is circumventing common sense.   

It's better than sex

What other activity is only legal is you do it for free?

I came to this conclusion a while back but I was talking with a lighting contractor who is fascinated by unmanned technologies and she asked me “Is there anything that is illegal if you do it commercially and legal if you do it for fun?” I laughed and told her “Sex”. Isn’t that ridiculous? I figured out that the Future Farmers of America, the FFA would fall under the first judge’s reasoning that it doesn’t violate the FAA mandate of no commercial UAS operations. I call MAPPS to see if there were any organizations similar to FFA for students pertaining to geospatial and they told me 4H. Sure enough there are geospatial 4H groups all over the country. Then I talked to my brother whose birthday is today and I remembered that he was an Eagle Scout and there is an aviation badge and agriculture badge.

One of my SEAL buddies who is a professional UAV pilot has been telling me for almost three years “It is going to get like the cell phones where they give you the phone and charge you for the service”. I can see Trimble/Gate-wing, Hexagon Metrology, Optech and John Deer amongst other companies sponsoring Boy Scouts, FFA and 4H to fly for free and they provide the technology, airframes, sensors and cloud services to these kids and get this party started.

 

The FFA might have just backed into the drone business

Who is doing commercial UAS business?

Last week the ruling came down from the appellate court throwing out the law suit ruled by the previous judge that the FAA did not have the authority to order a cease and desist because Texas Equusearch being a non-for profit wasn’t operating commercially and the Spectra flying wing is a hobby plane. The appellate judge justified throwing out the law suit, claiming that because the FAA’s cease and desist wasn’t delivered properly because it was e-mailed, making it invalid and unenforceable, giving no ground for a law suit and the judge ruled that e-mail communications are not subject to judicial review.

So not being an attorney, there doesn’t seem to be any opening for commercial applications. If Texas Equusearch continues to use the Spectra and maintains there non-for profit status Gene Robinson can continue SAR operations. Until he gets a written cease and desist from the FAA.

So when the Benjamin Miller from the Colorado Mesa County Sheriff’s Department surveys the county landfill, he doesn’t get paid by them but he gets paid as part of his job and the entails flying a UX5 flying wing UAS. So what makes it any different than a farmer flying his own hobby plane with a GoPro camera over his field to see where his crops need more water or fertilizer? The FAA is claiming that unless he is going to consume that entire crop himself, it is a commercial operation. What they are saying is “Government and non-for profits are the only non-commercial use.” Does that mean if the local Future Farmers of America (FFA) collect the data it is okay? What if the farmer donates to that FFA group, is that okay?

There is going to be this kind of tit for tat and legal wrangling happening everywhere, until the commercial UAS guidelines are established but it looks like the FFA is in business.

Is Darrell Issa being set up?

E-mails don’t count?

I the first hearing of Texas Equusearch vs FAA the judge ruled that the FAA doesn’t have the authority to regulate a model airplane used by non-for profit. Then the appellate court threw out the law suit saying “E-mails are not subject to judicial review”. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lois Lerner’s attorney tried to use this as a legal precident.

So you want to get into the comercial unmanned business?

So you want to get into the unmanned industry

Well you can get a degree in robotics, photogrammetry or aerospace engineering, you can designing and build a UAS platform and try and market it, you could learn integration, you can learn to fly a drone and hold yourself out there and try and pick up some work or you could find the people who need the work done and contract UAS pilots regionally to do the work. The first thing I recommend is join RCAPA. That is where I go to find the UAS pilots to do the work I line up for domestic projects.

Litigation

I know an unmanned professional who has been doing a lot of work and he gets the government entities who contract him to go after the approvals and indemnify him. I would have whomever I am contracting to indemnify me in the event that the FAA tries to come after me. If they don’t then move on.

The right tools for the job

Gene Robinson has made me a believer of the flying wing system for search and rescue and firefighting. The ability to float on a thermal and shut the motor down and save battery is amazing. His data and image transmission and data storage from IPS/NexGen is remarkable and that is what makes his product stand out. When it comes to hover technology, I think there are a few but HoverFly seems to have a great product at a great price and then when it comes to long duration for persistent surveillance or regional connectivity, nobody beats CTJA/AirShip V2, V5 and V9 products. Then are capital needs and that is where Eagle Capital comes in.

Where the market is

Precision Agriculture

There are a lot of people focused on precision agriculture but if you aren’t already working in this industry, you need to focus on setting up for next year. Farmers want to see what their crop is doing at the beginning of the growing season and they want to focus on the challenged areas where the shoots are slow to come up, making sure they are getting the right amount of fertilizer and water.

Oil and Gas

Almost everyone is focused on pipeline security and there is going to be a big demand for that but are areas of exploration that UAS technology is applicable.

Firefighting and SAR

Gene Robinson has mastered the art of using his Spectra flying wing UAS for firefighting. I would contact the department of forestry of sugar cane growers and ask them if you can practice flying over the controlled burns they are conducting get the feel for floating on the thermals and when you get the hang of it, take the video to all of the fire departments in your area and let them know you are available to fly whenever they have a fire and learn the process for an emergency COA. Also let them know you are available for search and rescue (SAR).

Surveying

There is no season on surveying. When it comes to DOT applications you are probably going to have to either work with a university photogrammetry department or get very friendly with your state DOT. They are going to be anxious about the FAA regulations and safety but their real concern is going to be safety, cost and accuracy. You may have to do some free flying and I don’t mean “Untethered”. You may have to fly an area that has been contracted by a manned aircraft and fly it with your UAS and show the difference in accuracy and cost savings. You might want to reach out to some of the contractors who are collecting the data for DOTs and offer your services. The areas you can help them pick up more business is in architecture and 3D reconstruction. Contact GUTC and we will direct you to resources that can give you the advantages with these types of projects.

Surveillance

If you are willing to go into high risk areas and you have experience with military UAV piloting, I know several contractors who are looking for you. You may be able to get contracted by your local police or sheriff’s departments. They have the most leeway as far as authorization for UAS operations but they are doing this mostly in house. This is one of the only applications that getting paid is authorized because you would either be employed or contracted with a government entity (Until someone challenges the FAA in court again).

Every other application, you need to be contract or employed by a government agency, USDA, Fire Department, DHS, DOT, USGS, Forestry Department, college, university, a one of the armed services, a state, county or city branch of Government. Unless you are contracted by a property owner and then not as a UAS pilot but for the data and imagery you are collecting. GUTC has resources for data analysis for photogrammetry, spectral data, behavior analytics or change overlay.

Until the FAA figures out the their operational guidelines, you either pay an attorney to fight the FAA in court for each specific commercial application or follow these methods others have been using to stay under the radar of the FAA.  

 

GUTC comment of Texas Equusearch ruling

The appellate court ruling on Texas Equusearch

Before I get started I want everyone to understand that I am not an attorney and GUTC is not offering legal advice. I am outlining the situation as I see it. Friday the ruling came down that the cease and desist was not valid because the FAA did not issue the order properly. They sent an e-mail. The court stated that Texas Equusearch and Gene Robinson could use UAS for search and rescue as long as they followed the current guidelines issued by the FAA.

What are the current FAA guidelines?

In order for Texas Equusearch to be compliant with the current FAA guidelines Texas Equusearch and Gene Robinson would have to fly a FAA certified UAS airframe. Now that might lead you to believe that he must fly a Puma, Raven or Scan Eagle but the Colorado Mesa County Sheriff’s Department has received multiple COAs for their Tremble UX5 flying wing designed UAS. So does Gene Robinson have to abandon his Spectra flying wing UAS and adopt the UX5? When the FAA approved the LiveSky tethered quad-rotor they opened the door for every other tethered quad-rotor with the same capability to operate as a tethered device up to 149 feet. They might have to go to court but the judge is going allow it. This will be the same for Gene Robinson’s Spectra, if they authorize the UX5 they are going to have to authorize Gene’s Spectra or get sued. What is amazing is that Gene has been using the Spectra before any of the FAA restrictions and he probably has more flight time logged that any other UAS that has been FAA certified.

All of the law suits

I was feeling sorry for Brendan Schulman, I was thinking this one little law suit would open up the whole commercial unmanned industry, multiple billions of dollars of business and he would just get his little retainer from Texas Equusearch and Gene Robinson but now I am seeing that there is a winnable law suit for requiring a UAS pilot to be contracted by a government entity, another for requiring an FAA certified UAS, another for restricting commercial use on private property, another for restricting commercial authorized commercial use when authorized over public property, another for limiting commercial UAS operations for government entities to only high priced UAS systems used by the military, another to get authorization for jobs typically performed by manned aircraft where a pilot is making the decision on which technology to be used….etc.

So I no longer think Brendan needs my sympathy.  

Press Release – FAA Statement on Texas Equusearch UAS Court Decision

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=16674

Real-Estate marketing with Drones

Real-Estate marketing with Drones

I wish I still had my Real-Estate Broker’s license. Using some of the old proven strategies taught to me by the first Broker I hung my license with. I would call up Coldwell Banker Brokers agent’s listing and ask for permission to market their properties. I would gin up a flier of their listed property and the day of their open house I would talk door to door for three blocks in every direction and promote the open house and hand out the fliers with my contact number and e-mail. With those that I meet face to face I would hand them my business cards. Because I also brokered mortgages I would let them know if they were interested in putting and offer on the property I was promoting and that I could pre-qualify them.

No if I had a quad-rotor UAS/Drone I would create a blog with the MLS data for that specific property but I would also be ready to show some of my own listings with the aerial video from my quad-rotor. Then I would ask if the neighbor wanted a free aerial video of their home that I would send them a link of so they could post on their social media sites and if they decided they wanted to sell their house and they wanted to list with Coldwell Banker, they would be able to use the video I made for them but if any of their friends who see the panoramic video I create for them express interest in buying a property or selling their own, would they give me the referral? I would let them also know that I would promote their property with the video I create for them on my social media sites.

In the event I list and sell a property in that neighborhood prior to the Coldwell Banker listing I helped promote. I would make an offer for that agent to hang his license with me.

Technology's Effect on Real-Estate

Technology’s effect on Real-Estate

You are about to see a dramatic effect of technology on the Real-Estate market. I held my Real-Estate Broker’s license in California from six years and I was a licensed agent for six years before that. It is more than just finding buyers and sellers, the sellers what to get their houses sold fast and the buyers want to close quickly too, the agents want inventory and qualified buyers and they want broker support and the brokers to retain their agents.

Government intrusion

Recently the FAA has been cracking down on Realtors using off of the shelf UAS or Drones to capture aerial and 360 degree imagery of the properties they are selling. I don’t believe the FAA has jurisdiction over commerce but when a Realtor captures the aerial overhead and 360 imagery of the property using an off of the shelf product, legally sold to stream on her marketing web-site, that Real-Estate agent or broker is paid nothing to collect that imagery. She doesn’t get paid a dime unless the house gets sold and there isn’t even a line item on the HUD1 for the cost of advertising or for UAS services to collect this data. As long as the Realtor isn’t paying a hobbyist to do the flying for her she is not breaking any law even if there were a law restricting the commercial use of the technology but this doesn’t even constitute an infringement of the proposed FAA guidelines.

Free market backlash

So with Coldwell Banker restricting their Broker Associates and agents from using these effective resource to showcase their seller’s properties, why would a seller list with Coldwell Banker when they can use a competing Real-Estate Brokerage and for the same 6% they can have this added service to showcase their property? The agents can use it as a marketing tool and go door to door asking the neighbors if they would like a panoramic view of their property to post on their blog or social media web-sites. I’m sure this generates more sales when the home owner gets inquiries asking if their home is for sales. I think of the possible referrals for prospective sales that those home owners might know or how many Coldwell Banker agents who were using UAS/Drones to market in these ways will move on to other Brokers. I wonder will other brokerages promote their agent’s ability to exercise their free market rights to serve their clients to the best of their abilities. Will there be a surge in patriotic marketing, promoting the American dream of home ownership and property rights? I think somebody is going to feel like they walked across someone’s yard and felt that all familiar feeling of something dogs leave behind that stinks for allowing themselves to have the government dictate their business practices.

Coldwell Banker

Business models and artificial bearers

Business models to follow

There is a concern that the big UAS manufactures, Aerovironment, Insitu, BAE systems, Northrup Grumman and Lockheed Martin have undue influence on the FAA and giving them an unfair advantage. From the beginning I have wondered why the industry hasn’t adopted the strategy of the Japanese auto manufactures by saturating the market with low cost, low maintenance, high mileage vehicles and then once they have established a beachhead in the market come out with the higher cost, higher quality products i.e. from Toyota to Lexus, Datsun to Nissan. It appears that these established UAS manufactures have conspired with the FAA to force their high priced systems on to the market claiming because they have logged the most flight hours in combat. Look at how that worked with HUMVEE/Hummers? The market doesn’t care about combat flight hours. The investment advisors are promoting these established UAV Manufactures but they should be looking at the smart companies who have already modeled the process of the Japanese automakers and they are 3D Robotics and DJI.

These products are the perfect platforms to implement a business model Brett Gardener the director of ACADEMI’s unmanned program has been filling my ear with for a couple years now. He says “It’s going to be like the cell phone industry where they give you the cell phones and charge you for the service.” There are a number of cloud providers out there where the data can be streamed to these cloud services and analysts can download the data and do their analysis and find determine the actions needed based upon the information they glean from the imagery.

The benefit of UAS

Sure there are cost and safety benefits compared to manned aircraft but the technical benefit is the ability to slow down the imagery by the analyst sitting behind a laptop and find whatever is desired. The human eye, even with binoculars can’t deal with the movement. Gene Robinson’s Texas Equusearch is successful for this exact reason. There are hundreds of examples where he has been able to find bodies after search teams have walked past and flown over the exact areas where he went back and flown over the same area with his Spectra flying wing UAS. I really like this platform for firefighting too because of the ability to float on a thermal produced by the fire and save battery. That is a capability that is not practical with quad-rotor or from one of the UAS used by the military. It is a pusher design where the prop is in the back but he is hand launched which is an issue with most pusher design but Gene’s system knows when it is being launched and doesn’t start up until after the pilot throws it into the air.

Property rights

The news it all about the FAA restriction on unmanned aerial systems. These fly in the face of individual property rights but while studying for my real-estate broker’s license we were taught that individual property right go from the center of the earth to end of the atmosphere. The hobby restrictions are up to 400’ except in 5 miles from the path of established runways. Congress has mandated that commercial airways be open for unmanned operations. This is the law! Well the law for personal property rights is just as established. Almost three years ago I talked with Jim Williams the manager of the FAA’s unmanned program and he told me that the business owner had to be the operator of the unmanned system. I challenged him on that and then shortly after the restricted all commercial unmanned operations. The laws are already established, no matter what the FAA says that protect property owners to operate commercial equipment on their property and to contract professionals to operate equipment on their property. There are attorneys who are just waiting to take the FAA to task defending private property rights. The lines are being blurred for commercial unmanned operations for operating with authorization over private property and flying over public and private property without authorization. The model is already in place with the use of manned aircraft where the operator isn’t required to get permission from private owners or authorities governing public property. They don’t need any special permission to capture imagery or data over that private of public property.

Artificial barriers

There are plenty of examples from training flees and elephants by establishing bearers that they just get used to so those bearers are removed or now longer viable but the limits are still adhered to. This is what is happening with the restriction on the commercial use of unmanned aerial systems. Personal property right trump the FAA restrictions. They are going to challenge that but they haven’t take that to court because they know that they will lose. The mandate to open the airways by 2015 is law and they must do it. This means the same ability to fly over public and private property just like manned aircraft do now but if unmanned operations are conducted with expressed written permission by the property owner or government authority of the property of the operations are being conducted, it is authorized. Don’t take my word for it, I hear from precision agriculture UAS professionals where the FAA has turned their heads and countless news and TV stations who are using this technology right now.       

GUTC responce to FAA’s Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft

With reference to the use of "First person view" devices. These devices are of most beneficial for persons who are most used to flying manned aircraft. They are accustom to flying from the point of view of the aircraft. It is well known within the RC hobby community that person with actual flying experience have the most challenges especially while landing RC aircraft.

Private property rights: In the event an RC/Hobbyist is flying over their own property or over another's private property with expressed written permission they should be allowed to fly using "First person view" devices and use these devices for commercial applications.

Safety: Safety is the primary excuse for restricting the use of unmanned aerial system for commercial applications. If the FAA has deemed hobby RC flight is safe than it should be deemed safe enough for commercial use, especially on private property.

The FAAs jurisdiction over commercial operations is for commercial transport where human beings are passengers or crew. In the event of autonomous flight of aircraft with human passengers or crew such as the Osprey used by the military where take off and landing is totally autonomous because it was found to be safer than the pilot and copilot coordinating with each other during landing and take off. In the event of the use of human passengers and crew, I believe that the FAA should have safety oversight of the autonomous mechanisms to be implemented. 

Hobby Lobby Case

Hobby Lobby Case

I mentioned that this Hobby Lobby Case might have something to do with the FAA suspending the approval of Commercial UAS operations. Well if it didn’t it will. If Hobby Lobby were a publicly held company it would not have been able to exercise its first amendment rights but because they are not a public company, that makes the company property of the owners and theirs alone and as property owners they have the say in what goes on, on their property. Just like a farmer or a rancher. The same right apply when it comes to using equipment, like a Drone/UAS.

FAA takes on city realtors using drones

FAA takes on city realtors using drones

The right players playing this game the right way

Get in the game!

This whole domestic UAS industry is very fragmented and all over the board. The FAA is like the poker player who comes to the game late and trying to learn on the fly, trying to implement their own rules and holding up the game. The big players let them do this because it is making everyone else frustrated enough to fold. If you have enough chips it isn’t hard to figure out what’s in every ones hand but everyone is waiting on the new guy to deal and that is the FAA. The chips are out there but they are not on the table. Everyone is waiting for the FAA to deal. There are not only investors sitting on the sidelines but end users that don’t even know they are in the game. The backend game for the high rollers is setting the FAA up so everyone can play. I am not a conspiracy theorist but it is plain to see that this game is “Favorites” right now.

While the high rollers are coaching the FAA to deal them the high cards, the real players who don’t even know they are in the game yet need coaching because they are really holding the high cards. The high rollers have week hands and they know it. I have been saying “It’s like the story of the emperor’s new clothes” but it is really just like a poker game. The established players are bluffing and if they can keep everyone else from getting in the game until they get the high cards from the FAA, they will win. The established UAS professionals are playing penny ante when they have the skills to beat the high rollers. The one guy who can break the game loose is attorney Brendan Schulman but he knows that what he has the ability to do is going to make a lot of people a lot of money and I assume that he wants to make sure that he is adequately compensated for it.

We need to turn this game into a team sport

If this case were to be turned into a class action law suit that is where Mr. Schulman would get the compensation he is looking for. I am going to recommend that the members of RCAPA file a class action law suit and have Brendan Schulman do the filing. I recommend that every UAS and drone pilot and professional become a member of RCAPA and for RCAPA to join forces with the MAPPS organization. MAPPS is the hub of disciplines that commercial UAS operations is perfect for. They have photogrammetry and geospatial professionals and experts who may not know it yet but they want commercial UAS operations to in the National Airspace and they want it at a competitive rate. This is where the high rollers hand is week. They know they are overpriced for the market. Just one example is the Scan Eagle vs the Cyclops. They both have about the same 5lbs technology payload capability and four hours duration of flight but the Scan Eagle system is over a million dollars with the base price for the airframe at $175,000. The Cyclops’ base price is $5,400. This is where the “Emperors’ new clothes” analogy fits. The domestic market isn’t going to pay those inflated rates. These high rollers are jumping over dollars to get to quarters anyway. The money is in “The law of large numbers” the cellular companies have it figured out, give away the cell phones and charge for the service. Oh, these service providers aren’t going to pay for overpriced technologies either and they are more likely to buy a UAS/Drone company like Google did with Titan or lease the services. The FAA will make a lot of money through UAS pilot and airframe certifications, a subscribership to a web-site porthole for commercial UAS pilots to upload their mission tasking. They just need to make sure that they don’t use the same web-master that worked on the Affordable Care web-site. IPS/NexGen has the right management system to do exactly this as well as the situational awareness solution that solves the sense and avoid dilemma.

Everything is easy when you know the answers

The Unmanned industry is going to be a boon once the FAA lets the game get started. Everyone is so head down in their own technology’s they are missing the big picture. I hope this post clear some of the fog.

 

DJI Phantom and GoPro film fireworks

DJI Phantom and GoPro film fireworks

4th of July fireworks from West Palm Beach

Dorne capturing fireworks video from the air in West Palm Beach

Which is a greater infringement, commercial use of drones or the FAA's overreach?

Which is a greater infringement, commercial use of Drones or the FAA’s overreach?

Right here from the start, I am not an attorney so consult with an attorney if you plan on taking any action on what I am writing about in this blog. Three years ago I had a couple of conversations with Jim Williams from the FAA Unmanned Division. At the time it was put out that commercial operations of unmanned aerial systems would be authorized as long as the business owner himself were operating the device. As a California licensed Real-Estate/mortgage Broker, insurance and securities licensed agent I knew a little bit about property and business ownership and I called Mr. Williams and let him know that under the law a business owner doesn’t have to drive or even own trucks to run a trucking company or a charter airline company either so I asked “Where is the law that requires a business owner to operate the equipment used for his business? Can’t he contract operators to do that?” He got stymied and asked me to call him back and I did and he then agreed that lease ownership would in fact be considered ownership and he informed me that the UAV pilot would have to be an employee of the company and I asked “Can they be a contract employee?” He again became flustered and I could never get him on the phone again after that. Then is came out the FAA would suspend all commercial use of Unmanned operations.

At the time I was trying to sell a system, I worked for that company for a year and a half and then I became an independent contractor, lining up contracts for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). I talked with all kinds of people in Ag consultants and crop scientist, surveyors and stumbled unto applications for oil and gas exploration and food safety that I never knew about. Then after a year I lost the consulting contract for the major reason, the FAA still wasn’t allowing for commercial UAS operations.

I’m not alone but there are still commercial UAS operations going on. How are they doing it? I had a conversation with an industry professional who was also a Police helicopter pilot. He told me “They FAA came to my house to shut me down, they were wearing suits, they looked like the ‘Men in Black’. They told me that they were shutting me down. I asked them if I could talk with them with my attorney present and they agreed. Then we sat down with them and discussed how there is no law banning the commercial use of UAS and if the government were going to shut me down then they needed to pay me at years lost wages which I figure amounts to $250,000. They sat there silent. I’ve got the best law firm in the country. If you need any help, let me know.”

There have been two rulings early this year one judge hearing a case in Georgia dealing with a tethered quad-rotor where the local FAA gave authorization and the Federal FAA tried to get them to resend it but they wouldn’t do it in writing so they went to court and the judge ruled that the FAA doesn’t have the authority to recant their own authorization. Now there is the 1981 guidelines for hobby craft but that wasn’t a law either, just a guideline and it does say “Commercial use is unauthorized”. The second ruling was for the foreign UAS pilot filming in North Carolina where the judge ruled that “The FAA cannot enforce laws that haven’t been written yet”.

Since then a UAS pilot who has been doing search and rescue missions for ten years has taken the FAA to court with same attorney who received the favorable ruling in the North Carolina case, which is in appeal. The attorney Brendan Schulman is no dummy, the FAA is trying claim precedent “Chevron deference” where the EPA claimed authority to fine Chevron in the name of public safety where congress hadn’t passed legislation one way or the other because they don’t have the scientific understanding enough to determine if there is a danger to the public so they defer to the government agency that oversees that industry. Well neither the EPA nor the FAA has the right to regulate commerce. By FAA publishing their guidelines for RC use of unmanned hobby flight they have basically established the commercial rule for UAS. Chevron deference or not, if it is safe enough to do as a hobby or recreation it is safe enough to do commercially.

I do like the pilot in charge where a licensed pilot is accountable for commercial operations, so if someone is flying over private property without authorization, someone has their license on the line. The pilot in charge doesn’t have to be the pilot but they are accountable for their UAS pilots’ actions and training. I think it would be an awesome business for some of these airline pilots to make extra money. They could hire out a bunch of military UAV pilots, train them and establish operational procedures, emergency protocols and operational responsibilities to be briefed before every mission, just like they do in the military, for everything.

All of this ado about sense and avoid technology, isn’t necessary as long as the mission is planned and the plan and procedures are adhered to. No as someone pointed out in a blog “If commercial airliners are flying below 400 feet, it’s not the UAS pilots fault if they collide.” If in the event that they start automating commercial airlines like they do the military’s Osprey, then I think sense and avoid should be required.

This is just common sense.

 

The 4th of July and what America means to me

The 4^th of July and what America means to me

As a Navy SEAL I had the opportunity to fight for another countries’ freedom in Panama. For a long time holiday like Memorial Day and the 4^th of July were hard for me because of the loss of my comrades in arms. I actually look forward to the BBQs, parades and the fireworks so I can get my mind off of my friends who lost their lives which still had so much more in them to give. As free as we are there are still barriers to opportunity and success but because we as Americans, as a people are fighters and we gravitate to those whom we see struggling, we don’t just lay down and except out lot. Trying to make a living in this Unmanned Technology industry I am seeing a group of fighters, they keep pushing and adjusting to the situations and some are just doing it, despite the barriers and they do it because they are Americans and that’s what we as Americans do. We find a way and because of people like those I see in this industry, opportunity is there for everyone. If you service in the military, worked on Wall Street, owned your own business, worked in a factory or in the fields, your attitude and spirit to fight is what made America what it is today. Because you didn’t just lay down or give in and I am surrounded by the men and women in the unmanned industry who are showing me that America is still a nation of fighters, which makes me proud to be in their company.

AIN Blog: Torqued: Is FAA Breaking the Law To Enforce It? | Aviation International News

AIN Blog: Torqued: Is FAA Breaking the Law To Enforce It? | Aviation International News

Full service solutions for the UAS market

Maximizing your cash-flow with GUTC

There are four basic applications for UAS technologies:

Surveillance
Precision Agriculture
Aerial Surveying
Oil and Gas Exploration

Anything more than $180 per hour can be undercut by a manned aircraft. That can still make a good living for the UAS pilot or even the business owner if he has about 15 systems working an average of four hours a day and leveraging the cost of the systems, airframe, sensor and ground station equipment with Eagle Capital financing. This scenario can produce $35,000 per month.

Maximizing your cash-flow with GUTC

GUTC is in partnership with DELEC and Intracom
The combined technologies are capable of voice over IP with the capability to communicate/interconnect PSTN. Two-way radios, 3G/4G smart phones, computers and other audio sources over a variety of IP spectrum choices,-supporting unlimited devices. We will later be able to add RTSP video feed from any camera patched into the TOC and direct the live images to a patrolman near the situation, real-time. GUTC shares the manufactures rebate.

ECO-Agri Formula

I don’t know any UAS operators or companies doing precision agriculture business who are offering solutions, they gather data and turn it over to the farmer, crop scientist or Ag consultant. Plants need sun light, food and water to grow and bugs don’t attack healthy plants. ECO-Agri Formula kills bugs and it is not toxic. It was just designated Exempt by the Department of Pesticide Regulation. It kills bugs when mixed with water, softening the molecules so they penetrate the exoskeleton and rupturing their internal organs and disrupting their breathing apparatus.  The same function of softening the water molecules allows water to penetrate the soil and the separating the molecules of hydrocarbons breaks down NPK which hardens the soil causing hard pan and resists moisture, causing erosion, washing away top soil. GUTC will share the manufactures rebate with UAS professionals who promote ECO-Agri Formula with their clients.

No FAA authorization required

The FAA has no authority to prevent the sale of DELEC/Intracom or ECO/Agri Formula. You can expand your markets and feed your family while you’re waiting for the FAA to produce their guidelines and when they do, you can increase your bottom-line with these products.