I’ve been kicking around the idea for a few years now. I think I’m going to bite the bullet.
Just curious if there are any here already.
I’ve been kicking around the idea for a few years now. I think I’m going to bite the bullet.
Just curious if there are any here already.
In reply to DrBoost :
Yes, passed my test on July 19th.
Work is buying me some $$$ toys/tools. I'm in the agricultural field, research and what not.
We've got 2 guys that can't keep up with our current demand, so I'll be jumping into the fire as soon as my equipment arrives.
Matrice 210 and Z30 camera and gimbal! 
joey48442 said:Nope, but I did set up a pan on my fpv airplane...
For the record, it’s Joel’s fault. I got my first drone from him
bigdaddylee82 said:In reply to DrBoost :
Yes, passed my test on July 19th.
Work is buying me some $$$ toys/tools. I'm in the agricultural field, research and what not.
We've got 2 guys that can't keep up with our current demand, so I'll be jumping into the fire as soon as my equipment arrives.
I'm soon to be unemployed and very interested in learning more about this.
joey48442 said:Nope, but I did set up a pan on my fpv airplane...
I thought that plane was a gonner for sure when I saw it take a dive toward the treetops as the video signal cut out!
I've had my 107 cert for a little over a year, and am the lead for our sUAS program at work. I first proposed the program almost 8 years ago, but I work in the public sector, and it took until 2018 for it to actually happen. We've already flown a number of missions that have saved significant man hours, and reduced potential risks to employees and the public. The technology/capability available at relatively low cost is amazing.
Our current fleet includes two Mavics and a Matrice 210, and I'm training/supervising about 6 other pilots right now. The program is growing, and in the next year, I hope we'll add 2-4 new aircraft (probably Mavic Enterprise models, but I would love to get another Matrice).
The certification process is not overly difficult, but you will have to learn a lot of stuff for the test which in reality has very little to do with flying sUAS safely/legally under the FAA restrictions. I'm in a pretty rural area, which makes life a lot easier for us, but we still have a controlled airport in town to deal with.
Post away with any questions.
bigdaddylee82 said:Matrice 210 and Z30 camera and gimbal!
I absolutely love our Matrice! It's a fantastic platform, and the Z30 is a great camera. We also have an XT2 on ours, and I do get a little nervous sometimes with ~$25k in the air...
The only issue is bulk... it's a big boy to transport around. The Mavics are much easier to fit in our loadout.
nderwater said:I'm soon to be unemployed and very interested in learning more about this.
It's definitely a growing industry, but not quite at the pace many were expecting. There are a number of startups that aren't making it.
If you are looking at hiring on with someone, first make sure they are doing everything by the book. The FAA is making it easier to comply with the regulations, but it's still a bureaucracy, and a PITA, so a lot of people are taking shortcuts. If they're making money with sUAS, this will eventually catch up with them.
Next, look at their client base. If you can get in with a company that contracts to the public sector (infrastructure inspection, etc.), they're probably going to stay in business, because a lot of public sector entities don't want the hassle of running their own program. I know a couple outfits locally that have bought sUAS and crashed them because they treat them like toys instead of tools... those programs are probably dead.
Self starting ideas, if the market is not already saturated in your area, are roof inspections and real estate overhead imaging.
In reply to nderwater :
Kind of like Rodan said, right now we're a solution looking for a problem. Except, there's a big Soil Health push right now, it's a hashtag, hot topic of the moment. We are fortunate enough to have a BIG grant, for 3+ years of research, to do 25 soil health demonstrations across the state. We are using the drones to document our cover crops vs. no cover crops experiments, as well as our irrigation water management experiments. Two guys covering 25 counties, plus their "real jobs," has been tough, so now we have 3.
Drones are being used more and more in the ag industry for several things, but mainly crop scouting for pests and weeds.
We've got some infrared and near-infrared sensors in use for various herbicide efficacy trials, every plant has a different shade of green, and a computer program can distinguish those varying shades from each other better than a persons eyes. We can fly a drone over the field, and determine crop vs. weed in our rate trials in ~30 minutes, where it would take 3-4 grad students a whole day to scout the same plots.
We hope to use the same sensor for our cover demos, comparing canopy size, and plant health of the cover crop side to the non-cover crop side.
Our irrigation specialists (one fo the other guys with a Matrice 210) is already using it to help perfect furrow irrigation timing. Making sure water reaches the end of each row at the same time, to limit the waste of water.
We had a lot of flooding this spring, and were able to survey damage quicly thanks to drones, actually had better data, available to the public quicker than the agencies that are supposed to be doing that kind of stuff, thanks to our drones.
I've got some other ideas, and our director has some ideas. When our director found out I had my license, he decided our program needed our own drone, and made it happen. I suspect I'll be his "drone boy," soon...
In reply to Rodan :
The sensor we're strapping to the thing costs more than the drone carrying it. 
Apprehensive is an understatement.
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