UAS/Drone pilots needed

GUTC is looking for experienced UAS/Drone pilots in Kansas and Missouri to fly architectural and construction projects earning $500 to $700 per day depending on experience, 20 to 30 shoots per month. Please contact Reuben Lowing (619) 313-1073.  

Stepping it up

In the short two weeks as New Business Director for XFly Film. I have run across a disproportionate number of UAS professionals doing cinematography, filming weddings, real-estate, local television newscasts and commercials. I have found these UAS pilots have a desire to do more and provide more services to increase their profits. GUTC has experience in seeking out applications where UAS/Drone technology is beneficial either in cost savings, safety or filling the void that cannot be filled with a surveyor or researcher on the ground and to low or small an area to make sense using a manned aircraft or helicopter.

GUTC has the resources to advise these UAS professionals to be more than paid hobbyists. We are working with the leaders in airframe and sensor technology as well as with experts in integration and data management and processing. GUTC also has relationships with the end users who are looking for professionals with capabilities with a wide range of expertise. GUTC is actively looking for projects and professionals to put together and make business happen. We have access to the most current technologies in the industries for the UAS professionals and end-users.

I am looking for you

Commercial UAS/Drone usage is illegal, really?

I have added up the UAS/Drone professionals I have direct contact with is 25 and I am connected with over a thousand on Twitter. How is this? The FAA has granted COA for the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona to fly the Tremble/Gate-wing XU5 to fly over the county dump. The University of North Carolina has 13 current COAs. I have not heard of any UAS pilot being harassed by the FAA when they have had authorization from the city or county, parks department, port or the property owner who tasked them to perform operations. Do they do these flights for free? Does the Mesa county Sheriff do his flying over the dump for free, after working hours and weekends? Does it mean that you have to be granted a COA in order to be paid to fly a UAS? Does the FAA have to write up a certificate of authorization for pilots to fly manned aircraft? Do these pilots need authorization to fly over private property or from the government official who has authority over public property? It seems that the only people who are restricted are those who are trying to follow the rules to the letter.

Where are you? 

I was at the grand opening of the CALUAS test center in Inyokern California and I saw a gentleman intently focused on a presentation on precision agriculture. I asked him “What is it that interests you about this technology?” He went on to tell me about a women he knew that as a researcher of bats, specifically the White Nose Bat Disease. Her husband was a pilot, she would catch a bat and tag it with a beacon and turn it loose and her husband would track it to the cave and she would go there and do her research. Now her husband had passed away and this gentleman believed that these UAS/Drones could do the job her husband used to do. I am looking for someone in Michigan or near the Austin Texas areas, because these are where the leading research colleges and universities are that study the white nose bat disease. Because it would be unlikely to get permission from property owners the UAS/Drone to get a COA.

Then I have read several articles about safety inspectors using quad-rotors to inspect oil platforms in the artic off of the cost of Canada and the Nordic countries. I have heard that they are using them in the Gulf of Mexico but nobody has come forward. The big excuse for not allowing the commercial use of UAS/Drones is safety but using a quad-rotor for safety inspections rather than having someone who is not a trained climber be a safety issue not to allow it’s use?

I am aggressively looking for the use of UAS/Drones for these applications.

Surveys "R" us

Life beyond Pix4D

There is a company in Rochester New York that I only thought of for multi-spectral cameras, high quality multi-spectral cameras specifically designed for small unmanned systems. On a conference call and I found out some things I didn’t know. They are able to micronize these camera systems from 4.5 or 3.5lbs to 1/5lbs with better accuracy than all of the other multi-spectral systems out there. Then they started talking about photogrammetry systems out there. Then they mentioned their ability to process the data within their hardware instead of the cloud. This company is Fluxdata.

 

LiDAR

I posted an article about Peru is using UAS/Drones on ruins and then I see one of my contacts commented “Someone needs to send me there”. I looked up his profile and saw some of his work and I called him off of his web-site and it was already in my phone. He has another web-site promoting his LiDAR. I was just talking with my business partner who commented that we didn’t have any connection in the North Eastern United States and it just so happens this UAS professional and his company is in Providence Road Island, Andy Trench and his companies are XactMaps and Zoomvideo.

California Land Surveyors get smart on Drones

NexGen presentation to California Land Surveyors Association

Last night David Copenhaver of NexGenNow briefed the California Land Surveyors Association in San Diego last night and according to Steve Heise the organization Vice President it was a big hit! The representative from CalTrans stated “I am overwhelmed with all of the possibilities”. There were those in the crowd that who had concerns that this disruptive technology would jeopardize their livelihood by replacing them and their jobs. David pointed out the increased demand for the new data that would be available because of the UAS technology. It was a big hit. I arranged for this presentation by connecting David Copenhaver and Steve Heise a long time personal friend of mine.  

Industry Ambassador

Valued consultants

After realizing the process where a government entity has to sponsor a COA for any legitimate UAS/Drone operations I was looking for sources to help Dr. Jiri Hulcr from the University of Florida to fund his research on the Laurel wilt disease spread by the ambrosia beetle in the everglades and avocado orchards. I discovered that the Florida avocado Growers Association has lots of money and they turned me onto the National Parks Service and they are doing all kinds of research and collecting all kinds of data. Then I found out that they know nothing about Dr. Jiri Hulcr so I made an e-mail introduction to Dr. Jiri Hulcr. In order for Dr. Jiri Hulcr to obtain a COA and obtain funding we are going to have to convince the National Parks Service and possibly the Florida Avocado Growers Association the benefits collecting data with UAS/Drone technology. The data pertaining to cost for technology, pilot and sensors is a huge appeal for the use of UAS for these type of operations.

Finding panthers

I connected George Sigler from Sky Warrior Inc. and Ryan English of Skymotion Media to talk about George’s desires to incorporate UAS training with his courses for basic FAA ground school where he has been training navy pilots and NFOs since the end of Vietnam. He has a huge database of NFOs who hold their civilian pilots license but they won’t qualify for their commercial pilot’s license due less than perfect eyesight but they won’t have any problem flying a UAS/Drone. Then George started talking about how he gets requests to fly in the Everglades by the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife and different colleges and universities. Then he started talking about one of his jobs is to track panthers in the everglades. They have radio collars, if a cat doesn’t show movement for a period of 18 hours it is an indicator of either the cat is dead or injured and they track young cats to put collars on them and using tracking dogs. After growing up hunting raccoons in Michigan I know that using a UAS/Drone with IR capabilities would be of benefit for these types of operations and save a lot of stress on the panthers.

Good content

These applications make for interesting content for the proposed UAS/Drone reality TV show. I am looking for similar application pertaining to the Amphibious Predatory Migrator with alligators and pythons crawling out of the Everglades into residential neighborhoods. I am also looking to connect with those operators who are inspecting oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.   

They have Nationalized the UAS/Drone industry

They have nationalized the UAS/Drone industry

Right away after being asked to find content for a UAS/Drone reality show I have noticed that some people are having no problem getting authorization and others are not. I heard James Williams the Manager of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Office  say “You can fly, it’s not illegal, you just have to follow the guidelines”  Then everyone is asking “What are these guidelines?” What I discovered it that those who submit for Certificates of Authorization and get approved are doing it on behalf of a government agency. If you want to get it funded either there has to be money from which ever government agency is sponsoring the COA or the private/commercial entity that desires the research has to fund it through which ever government agency that is sponsoring the COA. That in essence is Nationalization.