Keep ahead of the curve

UAS/Drones are not just for fun anymore

I was utterly amazed not only by how many UAV/Drone pilots there are out there but how many of them have more business then they can keep up with. I ask them all “How are you able to work with the FAA restriction of commercial operations?” I know a couple operators that actually where requested by the mayor or city council to use the UAS/Drone to take aerial video or photography of their municipality. They have regular work with their residing cities. One does just as they are asked and the other fills out the appropriate paperwork, submits it to the city officials and they get the approval or authorization and indemnify him and he flies the mission. Almost all of them notify the air traffic controllers at the local airport notify of their operation and they tell them if it is okay of if there is too much traffic and they need to reschedule.

I didn’t know how they were getting away with this ease of operation until I had a conversation with a former attorney and law enforcement officer and a pilot and lifelong RC pilot and out of the blue he explained that the FAA doesn’t have jurisdiction within municipal boundaries and the attorney/police officer explained that police and sheriffs won’t enforce FAA policies. So I looked it up and in the FAA policies and procedures actually says “Outside of airport approach ways FAA policies do not supersede municipal code.” Now they are talking about airfield operations and activities but it is not stated exactly that way. So if there is an ordinance that says you cannot fly your RC plane or UAS/Drone over public property, outside of your real property you can be arrested or cited but if your city or town doesn’t have an ordinance than you will be okay unless you violate someone’s privacy or crash it and cause destruction of public property.  Oh and when the city request your services, you are golden. If the FAA gets wind of your operations they can issue a cease and desist and fine you so I would make sure you are indemnified and get a good attorney to represent you and take your chances with a judge who might set policy or uphold the fine and the municipality picks up the tab.

Old vs new

The problem is the technology is developing so fast that once the so called authorities find a system or technology that they believe they can work with someone else comes along with something better and more cost effective. There are so many examples of bureaucratic obsolesce. The Super Bat Gene Robinson was required to use to in the most recent search and rescue operation instead of the Spectra, his usual system. The Super Bat has a 10 hour duration of flight while the Spectra only has a four hour duration of flight but the Super Bat costs 15 times as much.

Other examples are the Puma and the Scan Eagle. These systems were grandfathered by the FAA due to their combat hours logged. There should be a cost/capabilities ratio instead of just how much can slip past the public but there is in the free market. The price point that is acceptable for the private market, i.e. Farmers, surveyors and any private small business owner for an airframe is $5,000. They will pay more for a sensor. The price per airframe is correlated by the payload capacity, the higher the sensor payload the higher the price. Right now the weight of the most top end multi-spectral camera is seven pounds but there is research being done to create a multi-spectral and photogrammetry camera under a pound and a half. That would fit is a Cyclops priced at $5,400.

San Diego Gas and Electric was granted an exemption for power-line inspections and they adopted the PSI Tactical 's"Instant Eye Quad-Rotor" for research an development. Compare that to compare that to  the Swiss company IBOTIX quad-rotor solution?

So now where is the value? It is in the operators. GUTC through my association with XFly Films and my relationship with pioneers in the industry who have data on UAS professionals throughout the US and around the world with a range of knowledge and expertise. The old model of business would be to find a pilot with a system of systems to fly multi-spectral or photogrammetry and line up business and charge $3,000 to $4,000 per day and charge for data analysis.

GUTC has relationships with technology providers ranging from airframe systems to sensors with data analytic and processing capabilities within the hardware of the camera and cloud services to upload data to be analyzed and algorithms created to allow for in-hardware processing. Those hobby or cinematography only pilots can learn to fly these more sophisticated operations from SAR, agriculture and geospatial.