Fighting inertia

Disruptive technologies

I am the guy who can get people to understand and figure out how to use new and disruptive technologies. I just received an email this morning that said ““Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.”― Voltaire. It all depends upon your perspective. I thought Dave Woolley was clever in his presentation starting off showing how this new technology is going to cause a loss of jobs in the survey industry, then transitioning into the flaws in the industry void of the new technologies and I learned something I never knew about the industry. When I was in school, I didn’t have the confidence to go to college. I failed algebra II but I got A’s during the trigonometry portion of the class. I only now am finding out that you don’t need a degree to be a surveyor. In the Navy it was called “Striking”. I was a Tradevsman or “TD”. Technicians on training devices like submarine and flight simulators. I learned about the Navy SEALs and I struck for the Internal Communications Electricians rate. I passed and made Third Class and Second Class Petty Officer. Then I struck for Engineman but I never worked or went to school for the rate, I only completed the courses. As a civilian, I only took the California Real-Estate Principles Course. I passed the tested and I averaged $200,000 per year for five years consecutive. When the industry slowed down, I took the Life and Health Insurance license test and past, then the series 6 and 63 for securities and then the Investment Advisor’s Series 65 exam and passed. There are less than 1% of the population who has all of the licenses I have had. So what I am hearing from Dave is that it’s the Wild West for data collection and surveyors can’t compete. What I have found is that with UAS Pilots, very few who are flying are willing to go through the process of getting certified for anything. Everyone is complaining about the threshold to fly commercially for UAS/Drones but the FAA just lowered the bar, only requiring a “Recreational Pilot’s license”. Stampede Global’s enterprises with XFly, X-Fold and The Unmanned Vehicle University in conjunction with Lisa Ellman have it so that when you purchase a system and outline your specific use 333 exemptions are part of your package.

Adopting existing licensing models

As a Real-Estate agent, I could not just got out and sign up listings or represent buyers, I had to be affiliated with a broker. The same with my insurance and securities licenses, it is the same for construction. If you are doing anything to your property or business that structurally changes your property, you need plans approved and you have to either hire a licensed contractor or be registered as the general contractor and the building department doesn’t have to sign off on you being the general contractor unless you can demonstrate that you are competent.

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At the NAB Drone pavilion Lisa Ellman addressed the attendees several times explaining the labyrinth of rules the FAA has drafted, amended and granted exemptions for. She offers her attorney services to help streamline the process, then the representative for AUVSI basically mimicked her, offering their consulting services to do the same thing. There is a UAS professional in Dallas who has the templates for the exemptions for the film industry. He paid over $30,000 for them. I would not be surprised to see similar templates on Legal Zoom fairly soon. What these attorney’s need to do is go to the insurance, real-estate, construction, energy and survey industries and help them draft license guidelines and training for unmanned pilots to work in their specific fields. You don’t get an exemption unless you have it. I think the different chapters of the California Land Surveyors need to become dealer for Stampede Global Systems and offer guidance on how to implement certification in their industry, they would have access to the most recent technologies and applications to expand the opportunities for employment and revenues. I have now sympathy for anyone who lets a test of continuing education get between them and a better job, higher income and opportunity.

Roy Jones Sr. used to call it being “Lazy minded” Pretending you are ignorant or that you can’t remember how to do something you have been shown or told to do, multiple times just to get out of doing it. In this situation just doing what you need to do to produce is what Dave Wooley was saying.