Long time no see

Hello all

So its been months since my last post, i’m finding it hard to find the time to sit down and actually write a post.

So the winter has been horrendous as a drone operator. Partly due to the weather, which will always be an issue living in the UK, but mainly because of my approach to the industry last year.

Ive made some mistakes and i’m learning from them

First mistake i made; focusing on the wrong businesses.

I was luckily enough to work with all the golf courses in my area. This was great for my showreel and to earn some money, but once the business has aerial images of their course, they wont need them doing again, possibly for years.

I worked with about 8 of my local hotels, conference centres and health clubs, again, these companies dont require much repeat business.

Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Huddersfield, Sheffield Wednesday and United, Rotherham and even the FA at St Georges park requested our aerial services last year. It was a great marketing tool for them and did give them views that they hadn’t seen before, but even the richest clubs, cant justify paying £1000 a day, once a week, every week of the season. Its great to have these clients on your showreel, but they dont keep you busy everyday of the week.

Inspections on the other hand do.

‘Above Gutter Line Inspections’ is a term i have come to know and love recently. Offering aerial inspections, 3D modelling and topographical surveys is were the consistent drone business is at!

Even in light rain, a roof inspection can be completed. Overcast skies dont matter. As long as the rain is light, the wind is mild, drone inspection jobs of roofs, buildings, chimneys, wind turbines can all be inspected.

I recently supported Mark Boyt of Sussex By Air, on a job in Salford. A church had burnt down, and Mark, who has an excellent reputation on my industry was asked to completed an aerial inspection. He needed a spotter to ensure safety during operations, so i joined him for a day. This was an exceptionally well paid job, and Mark has another satisfied customer; both the Insurance company and structural engineering firm, will both only use mark going forward. There dont need blue skies and fluffy clouds!

I guess my final point is this, drones are great for so many industries, however, not every industry has a need to a drone all the time, others do. So plan your marketing accordingly, don’t just chase the atheistic ‘showreel’ jobs!

Till next time.

Thumbs Up

Nathan

 

P45 for Sheep Dogs

Sheep Dogs beware, your services are soon to be surplus to requirement!

Great idea, great video, great piloting skills, apt choice of song!

Another fantastic application for Unmanned Aerial Systems, safe, fast and effective. Good Work Farmer Dude and SkyFly Photography.

As usual, here is a link to my original source, and lots more detail on the story, including the UAS Pilot interview with the BBC.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/farmer-herds-sheep-with-a-drone-in-latest-sign-of-robots-taking-over-1.3015287

Thumbs Up Shep The Drone!

Buying an Inspire 1 – My Mistakes

So, on Friday last week, i finally got my hands on the new DJI Inspire 1.

I had placed my order through SimplyElectronics.net on 2nd February. I was told it would be in my hands within 14 working days. 6 weeks later they were still fobbing me off. I decided to cancel my order and request a refund.

That was 2 weeks ago and i’m still waiting on my refund – lesson for the day, don’t buy from companies who offer such a huge discount; if it appears too good to be true. Thats because it probably is!

But at £2150 for a Dual Remote Inspire option, you can see why i initially gave those cowboys my money. (They have also now put the price up to £2474, so your only saving £300 now)

After waiting over 7 weeks, i couldn’t wait any longer. I’m very impatient. I needed to get my hands on an Inspire 1 that they day! I contacted Heliguy, in Newcastle first, as they were closer to my house than anyone else. They were expecting 8 units that day, but had not taken delivery by the time i called.

As i said, i’m not the most patient person ever……

Next on the list was Quadcopters.co.uk. I spoke to Jeff, (whom later turned out to be the owner) who said they had 30 units in stock. I took the 2 hour drive over the Pennines, surrounded by hills, valley and lakes, just wishing i already had my Inspire.

I arrived in Euxton, found the Farm they are based at, and headed to the office. They have a great set up there, an pleasant glass fronted office overlooking farm lands. Boxes of DJI products ready to be shipped stacked to one side, and a great selection of different UAVs and RC Craft on display.

We chatted about the UAS Industry in general, DJI customer service and Inspire, 1. Jeff showed me a demo model, and some footage he had recently shot, using two Inspire 1, which really showcased the Inspire 1 camera footage.

The Inspire 1 cost me £2747, which is the standard UK price set by DJI. I also bought an extra battery at £166. Granted it cost me more than £500 more than buying from the cowboys at SimplyElectronics, but i have piece of mind, that if i have an issue, i have experts in this country, who are more than happy to help.

Thank You to Jeff @ Quadcopters.co.uk for taking 30 minutes out of your day to chat with me. It was really appreciated.

http://www.quadcopters.co.uk/dji-inspire-1–extra-controller-1618-p.asp

Nathan

TU!

UK UAS Pilots Register

The House of Lords EU Committee is suggesting recommendations for a UAS owners register.

This has been on the horizon for the past year now, and i am fully behind most the recommendations. I appreciate the comments, that those wishing to use a UAV for illegal or terrorist activities, are not likely to register their name and home address! But it is a step in the right direction.

The database will initially include business and professional organisations. However i was under the impression that this information was already stored in the CAA database, which is available to the public. I blogged about on the 15th Feb, there were 483, this figure is grown to 536!

Click to access 26Feb15%20RptUAVcurrentDates.pdf

I wonder who the House of Lords wants to add to this list? Individual UAS Pilots name, business, CAA number and approval date? Or will this be the start of more Big Brother excuses from the Powers that Be, and every individual who buys a UAS has to register…..then how long is it before everyone who registers needs to pay an annual fee or ensure everyone has UAS insurance or even make every user pass a competency exam?

I think this is a fantastic opportunity for Britain and the CAA to lead the world in Commercial UAS regulations AND use. There is no point having all these rules but restricting their future application (AmazonPrime Air in looking at you guys). We are just scratching the surface for UAS application. For an industry set to worth Billions, employing Thousands across Europe, we need to get it right, right from the start.

This is all my wild speculation, and may not happen, but here are some recommendations that will….

• Greater use of geo-fencing – programming drones not to be able to take off from or fly into certain locations based on their GPS co-ordinates. This could include airports, prisons and other high risk sites
• Clearer guidance for police about how they should enforce existing safety rules
• The use of a kite mark or other logo to denote drones that have been classed as safe to use
• More guidance to be given to commercial drone operators about what insurance cover they need to buy.

All wise suggestions and i think these will be appreciated by the law abiding recreational and commercial UAS community in the UK….

What won’t help though, are frankly, stupid, comments made by those is power or authority. Professor David Dunn, who has written about this for the Royal Institute for International Affairs, was quoted saying…

“The technologies have the capacity to crash into people and kill them, as they have done in the States….”

WHAT!?!?!?!? Not one single person has EVER, been killed by a commercial UAS, in America or anywhere in the World. Yes, Military Drones kill people everyday, but no one has ever lost their life because of a rogue DJI Phantom! Comments like this, taken out of context do our Industry, no favours what so ever.

You can find more information of the story, from my source BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31735662

I will be keeping an eye on UAS forums over the next few days to gauge the response from those of us it will affect the most.

Safe flying

TU

Glasgow – Drone Friendly Smart City

Finally a good UAS news report to end the week!

A UAV was used to fly across the City of Glasgow, delivering a report on how, technology will impact on the city over the next few years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-31440329

Glasgow is already a ‘Smart City’. £24 million has recently been invested. BT and the Council have also agreed to install, 80 free wifi points across the city, giving everyone 30 minutes free, daily internet access from 2017. The fact that they are happy for Sky View Video, (an aerial production company based in Scotland) to fly a loaded UAS safely across the city, is testament to the Cities foresight and love of all things tech.

The Drone flew from the Hydro to Glasgow Science Centre on Thursday morning.

Also big well done to Sky View for illustrating how a UAS, flown correctly and safely, is a thing of beauty!

Enjoy a safe weekend flying all

Thumbs Up

Drone Catcher!

It wasn’t going to be long before someone tried to make money off “Drone Terrorism”

There has been recent Drone incidents around various French Military and Nuclear Sites. French scientists have asked Drone designers to develop safe ways to monitor, detect, analyse flight plans and neutralise drones, that might be considered a risk.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2948062/The-drone-catcher-France-reveals-flying-net-stop-terrorists-flying-bomb-laden-gadgets-nuclear-power-stations-following-spate-sightings.html

One of these to gain interest is the Malou Tech drone Interceptor MP200. Designed to fly above a ‘rouge’ drone and drop a net onto the UAS, brining it to the ground.

Although in principle this could work, I doubt it would work in reality. Drones are small, agile and quick. Trying to get above a drone would be hard enough, then hoping it remains on course while you drop the net, is wishful thinking at best. It might work if the Drone was set on a pre-determined flight plan, with no alterations. If the Drone was being flown by an operator, changing direction to avoid the net, would be incredibly easy.

Surely a UAS fitted with a EMP deceive or WIFI blocker, would be more effective. Yes, you will lose control of the ‘protection’ drone, but an targeted EMP pulse would bring down the ‘terror’ drone. The drone would not need to fly directly above hoping to line up to drop the net, it would just need to get within a set distance and engage some sort of electrical interference.

As most UAS Pilots know, flying near a source of electrical interference such as a Pylon, can cause a crash or loss of control.

There is such a culture of fear in this country, that whenever something new hits the market, there are always those whom assume the worst…and try to make money from it. Maybe in just very cynical but I just see this as a gimmick at best.

TU

Drone used to film Auschwitz concentration camp

Footage has just been released by the Released by the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, 27 January.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/holocaust-memorial-day-2015-auschwitz-concentration-camp-filmed-sky-drone-video-1485236

The Drone, not sure what Platform, captures amazing video footage from the sky over the World War II Nazi concentration camp, located in southern Poland.

The footage begins over the red roof tops of Auschwitz’s prison blocks, the film then focuses for a second on the former home of the camp’s notorious commandant, Rudolf Höss.

1.3million people, 90 per cent Jews, are thought to have died at Auschwitz, between 1942 and 1944. The site has now been turned into a museum and memorial.

I have never been but watching this footage, makes me even more determined to visit and pay my respects.

TU