Microdrones Will Soon Force Changes To Drone Laws

As one of the first Commercial Drone Service Companies in the United States, Perfect Perspectives has had a front row seat to witness the blistering pace with which drone technology has evolved in just a few short years. When we began offering professional aerial drone services back in 2005, there were no drone-specific regulations, laws or ordinances in place anywhere in America. At that time, the term "drone" wasn't even being used to describe what we were flying!

Fast forward to today, we now have well over one million registered drones in the United States alone. Include unregistered craft and that number balloons to a significantly larger figure.

U.S. Drones Top One Million

Pretty much anyone who doesn't now own a drone certainly knows someone who does. And as with everything else, if you have a million people doing something, some of them will be doing it very badly. These bad actors have forced bans on drones in areas such as parks, landmarks, prisons, critical infrastucture and of course near airports. In an interesting twist of legal hierarchy, owners of property can only restrict drones from taking off and landing on property they control due to something called "Federal Preemption". What this means, in the simplest of terms is, only the FAA can enact laws controlling what/when/where something is allowed to fly in our National Airspace. This turns out to be a very good thing if consistency is something that is needed, and in this case it certainly is.

Bad Actors Drive Call For More Drone Restrictions

There has been no shortage of bad actors with drones feverishly exercising poor judgment and a general lack of consideration for anyone but themselves. These individuals have driven the desire by many to limit when/where/why drones are allowed to operate. The reasons for the desired limitations are many but fall into a few basic categories - general disturbance, safety & security and privacy.

General Disturbances Caused By Drones

General disturbances caused by drones often go hand-in-hand with privacy issues. Most often, as with National Parks for example, most people don't want the annoyance of drones buzzing overhead spoiling their enjoyment of our nations most beautiful natural splendor, and who can blame them. Add on disturbing all the wildlife nearby for good measure and it makes perfect sense.

Safety & Security Issues Caused By Drones

Safety & security is a very different issue. It encompasses everything from endangering passenger aircraft operations to delivering contraband to prisons to crashing into unsuspecting individuals and property/vehicles on the ground. In these cases the problems created can be either due to carelessness and/or bad intentions.

Privacy Issues Caused By Drones

Lastly privacy issues stem from a reasonable expectation that normal people have that, like in Las Vegas, what they do behind their privacy fence stays within the privacy fence. Of course just about any photo taken by a drone can also be captured from a full size aircraft using a telephoto lens. The major difference from the privacy viewpoint however has to due with proximity and persistence. An airplane or helicopter flying by 1000 feet overhead doesn't usually stay over your house for more than a moment or two.

Altercations With Commercial Drone Operators On The Increase

The privacy issue has steadily become a larger issue for licensed commercial drone operators. As an example, an increasing number of drone photographers filming real estate are reporting confrontations with adjacent property owners. It is very common to fly briefly over a neighbors house in order to get a good wide view of the property being listed. Nearby property owners are often surprised after assaulting the pilot or shooting the drone down that they have, in fact, broken several laws and are responsible for the damage to the drone.

                                         Photo credit - Richard Watt
                                 
Civilian Microdrones Will Disrupt The Current Logic Regarding Drone Laws And Restrictions

This brings me to the final point of why laws will not be able to keep up with drone technology advancements. It is inevitable that drones will only continue to get smaller while, at the same time, producing higher quality imaging. Case in point, micro drones the size of the Black Hornet, currently being used by ground troops across the globe, will soon be made available to the public. Being the size of a small bird or large insect will make them virtually undetectable in many cases. While this may be bad news for those who value their privacy it also brings up another very interesting point. At such a small size, many of the issues listed earlier as the basis to ban drone use start to become harder to justify with microdrones. Does a drone the size of an insect really cause a disturbance in a National Park or do any real damage if it has an mishap? The answer is a resounding NO and the current race to enact a host of even stricter laws and ordinances will be about as effective as telling people not to take photos with their smartphones. Failing to scale back bans for microdrones in National Parks and elsewhere won't really matter as enforcement will be all but impossible. Food for thought.

Make sure to follow the Perfect Perspectives blog for all the latest insights into the rapidly changes world of Drones.

Professional Drone Aerial Cinematography Services

<h3><span style="color: #b59757;">What Options Are Available For Drone Aerial Cinematography In Cincinnati?</span></h3>

Perfect Perspectives is Cincinnati’s oldest, most respected Professional Drone Aerial Cinematography Services Company. A quick Google search for drone aerial cinema companies in the Queen City will show many results but after visiting these other websites it becomes quickly apparent they have no film or TV experience. We officially opened for business supplying high quality aerial filming in 2005. Our Lead Pilot, Wendell Adkins flew in his first motion picture in the Cincinnati area way back in 1997 (The Mighty). Lead camera operator Leisa Adkins has 14 years of filming experience. Because of this Hollywood grade background, we are frequently recommended by other filmmakers and camera rental departments all across the Midwest.

[caption id="attachment_1628" align="alignnone" width="300"]<img src="https://perfectperspectivesaerial.com/wp-content/uploads/Reprisal-Movie-2018-300x214.jpg" alt="Reprisal (2018) Drone Aerial Filming by Perfect Perspectives" width="300" height="214" class="size-medium wp-image-1628" /> Reprisal (2018) Drone Aerial Filming[/caption]

<h3><span style="color: #b59757;">What Gear Do You Offer For Drone Aerial Cinematography In Cincinnati?</span></h3>

Perfect Perspectives offers a fleet of 12 cutting edge drone designs for professional drone aerial cinematography services. There are a few reasons for maintaining so many different drones. First, it is our policy to NEVER show up for a filming session without a fully redundant back-up system. In the demanding drone aerial cinematography business, technical issues that delay production are not acceptable. The second reason is not all productions have the same requirements for image resolution and shot design. At the upper end of image quality we fly our own RED Dragon cinema camera or the ARRI Mini on one of our several heavy lift rigs. These can be fitted with cinema glass, mattbox, and FIZ units. Many other productions are better suited for our Inspire 2 rigs with either X7 or X5S cameras with RAW or ProRes recording. The Inspire 2 is often the choice when maneuverability, flight time and range are needed.

[caption id="attachment_1331" align="alignnone" width="300"]<img src="https://perfectperspectivesaerial.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_20150816_213220-300x300.jpg" alt="Columbus Aerial Video Jason Day Documentary" width="300" height="300" class="size-medium wp-image-1331" /> Columbus Aerial Video Jason Day Documentary[/caption]

<h3><span style="color: #b59757;">What is the difference in cost between a drone flying RED or ARRI Mini for aerial cinematography versus the Inspire 2 X7 for example?</span></h3>

We offer half and full-day rates for aerial filming. In general the rates for the RED/ARRI heavy lift rigs are roughly twice that of the Inspire 2 X7.

[caption id="attachment_945" align="alignnone" width="300"]<img src="https://perfectperspectivesaerial.com/wp-content/uploads/Arri-Mini-300x300.jpg" alt="Arri Alexa Mini Movi M15 Freefly Systems Alta" width="300" height="300" class="size-medium wp-image-945" /> Arri Alexa Mini Movi M15 Freefly Systems Alta[/caption]

<h3><span style="color: #b59757;">What specific experience do you have in drone aerial cinematography?</span></h3>

We have become the go-to source for aerial filming in the Midwest. We are a preferred vendor of drone services for TV Networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, FOX, BBC, Japan Television, History Channel, Military Channel, Travel Channel and Discovery. We have also flown in over a dozen Hollywood Feature Films but don't just take our word for it. Look here - <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1986317/">Wendell Adkins - IMDB</a>

<h3><span style="color: #b59757;">What skills separate your company from the large number of others recently offering drone filming services?</span></h3>

Because our Lead Pilot is a former World Champion RC helicopter Pilot with nearly 40 years flying unmanned aircraft, our team is able to routinely pull off technically challenging shots safely. We have a perfect on-set safety record for the past 14 years that proves this point.

Cincinnati Drone Aerial Photography

 FIRST IN CINCINNATI DRONE FLIGHT

Did you know that Perfect Perspectives was the first commercial drone service company to operate in Cincinnati Ohio? Beginning in 2005, Perfect Perspectives began capturing aerial photos and video from custom built radio controlled helicopters. As a matter of fact, Perfect Perspectives is accredited by the BBB as "Ohio's Most Experienced Drone Service Company". Today there are over 100,000 FAA Part 107 certificated pilots but when we began offering drone aerial imaging 14 years ago in Cincinnati there were none.

To learn more, please contact Perfect Perspectives at -

https://perfectperspectivesaerial.com/

2018 Aerial Drone Photography User Guide

Every day more and more businesses are beginning to incorporate drone based aerial imaging services into their work plans and deliverables. Being a relatively new technology, it is quite common to hear new clients say something along the lines of “I’ve never used a drone before so I’m not sure what you need from me”. This is such a common comment that I felt the topic deserved it’s very own blog post.

HOPE IS NOT A PLAN

It is understandable for a new drone user of drone aerial imaging to think that all that is required is to contact a drone service and book a flight with little advance notice. In some cases last minute calls like these can be accommodated if the schedule permits but quite often there are a series of administrative hurdles that must be addressed before the drone is cleared for take off. I will list these hurldles in the order we typically dispatch them via our work order system.

1. Clearing Airspace

Non-aviators usually have no need to know the details behind how our skies overhead are broken up into different airspace classifications in order to safely and efficiently manage air navigation and transportation. Drones are no exception to this time-tested system and must operate in a manner that does not conflict with ANY operations of full size aircraft. Much of our skies fall into what is called “uncontrolled airspace” or Class “G”. If the location you need a drone flight is in a Class “G” zone then quite often “Bob’s your uncle”. If however you have picked a location within 5 miles of an airport with a active control tower for example, this is now “controlled airspace” and a commercial drone can only operate within these zones with ATC authorization in the form of a special authorization or waiver. The closer your intended site is to the center of these airports, the more planning/authorization is required, meaning more “TIME” will be needed to coordinate. It can often take months to obtain these special authorizations if not already in-hand.

Understanding the importance of this issue, Perfect Perspectives was the first Ohio Drone Service to obtain wide area airspace authorizations for most of Ohio’s controlled airspace. So too the FAA quickly realized the long lead times required to obtain authorizations was unacceptable and a new on-demand/real-time system called LAANC (Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability) is set to be rolled out later this summer making this less of a cause for delays.

Another often unforeseen airspace clearance required deals with Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR’s). These are typically associated with VIP movements and large Pro and NCAA stadium sporting events. When these are in affect they can stretch from 3 to 30 miles from the center point depending on activity being protected. It is possible to obtain an FAA waiver for the stadium TFR’s with written permission from the event owner. Such waivers can take days to weeks to obtain.

2. Clearing Permits

Currently in the U.S. only the FAA has jurisdiction over what can fly in the various flavors of airspace above. HOWEVER, City, State, Local, Tribal governments and private land owners can restrict drone operations being launched and recovered on properties they own and control. In some cases permissions will not be granted. In many others, a permit application will need to be filed and, at times, an associated fee will be charged. Approval lead times can range from days to weeks.

3. Clearing Policies/Liabilities

In an effort to protect public safety, privacy and restrict unauthorized use of drones, many organizations now have drone policies in effect. In order to be cleared for a commercial drone operation in these cases, the operator must supply one or more of the following items –

– Certificates of Insurance (aviation, general, vehicle and Worker’s Comp)
– FAA License and Registrations
– FAA Waivers and Authorizations (airspace, night operations, etc)
– Flight Operations Safety Manual
– Detailed Flight Plan

Each of these items will then be reviewed by the company’s Legal and Risk Management Departments before issuing a release to conduct operations. This too can take days or weeks to obtain approval.

4. Clearing Regulatory Requirements

Last on our list is making sure the aerial imaging the client needs/wants can be obtained within the current FAA Part 107 regulations for commercial drones. The most common considerations here deal with the restrictions prohibiting flights directly over people and moving vehicles. Often when this is pointed out, and the only direct solution is obtaining a permit for closed-set operations, the drone work is cancelled because the project can not justify the time and expense to comply. As Ohio’s Most Experienced Drone Service, Perfect Perspectives has 13 years experience using a wide array of available options to legally work around these issues. Some of these include selecting the optimum time/day with minimal activity to use of advanced flight techniques and the addition of Visual Safety Observers.

With this information in hand you can now take the necessary steps to assure that lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on ours with the end result being a smooth flight with little or no turbulence.

To learn more, Please contact – http://perfectperspectivesaerial.com/

5 Valuable Business Lessons From The World Of Drones

Drones are disruptive technology

Small commercial drones fall into the category of a "disruptive technology". To a lesser degree a bit like transportation, where the automobile disrupted the horseless carriage industry or how the airplane disrupted the bus and ocean liner industries. To a larger degree however, drones are more akin to being disruptive on the scale of how the personal computer and internet have disrupted countless facets of human life.

Drones are already making early changes in how farmers monitor crops, how bridges, roads, power plants, refineries and large structures are inspected/constructed and much, much more. Drones are even saving lives by helping prevent shark attacks and preventing drownings through the rapid delivery of flotation devices. In the coming years, drones will impact daily lives in ways that are impossible to imagine right now.

What can other businesses learn from the drone revolution?

As one of the early pioneers offering drone services, Perfect Perspectives and Drones That Work have had the unique opportunity to have a front row seat to the birth and early first steps of the commercial drone industry. This got me thinking that there are so many incredibly valuable lessons learned working through the process of starting and growing our business. Lessons that apply to almost any other business that are worth sharing.

Lesson 1 - Be Early

Being early is one of the hardest things to do in business. It requires you to boldly go where no one has ever gone before. Even worse, the human brain is historically very poor at predicting the future. The best we can do is learn from the past or from others with similar interests to help recognize future opportunities. Twelve years ago we knew that there were opportunities to use unmanned aircraft (drones) in business applications but our imaginations seriously lacked the foresight to see the true potential as we know it today. We were certainly not alone. Insurance companies were not comfortable covering a new risk with so little claims history. But that's perfectly okay. What mattered was we stuck with my gut feeling that drones were something with true commercial potential. As the technology evolved, we were ready to extract maximum value quickly, almost always before our competition could.

Being early is often very expensive in fields of cutting edge technology. Careful thought must be put into business equipment purchases that can quickly become obsolete. There is always an optimum jumping in and jumping out point. A good rule of thumb is - try not to be the first to adopt new technology nor be the last to abandon old technology.

Lesson 2 - Be Ready

A good friend would always say "the only thing harder than getting ahead of your competition is staying ahead". We are seeing thousands of drone entrepreneurs making most of the same mistakes we made. The big difference is we made those mistakes many years ago and have moved on to making fresh new ones. Being a leader is not easy or painless. We are constantly trying new things and often fail spectacularly. The best way to improve/grow is to push beyond your comfort zone. The key is to learn quickly from your mistakes and don't repeat them. This mindset continues to allow us to do things few others can do.

Lesson 3 - Be Nimble

The pace that the drone industry is evolving is both exciting and scary as hell for those wanting to make a living from it. It's much like launching satellites - there only two outcomes - a good geosynchronous orbit or a fiery crash. To compete in today's drone industry requires waking each morning and hitting the ground at a full sprint - keeping close tabs on changing regulations, public opinion, customer wants/needs, rapidly depreciating equipment purchases and a landscape of overnight competition.

Lesson 4 - Be Versatile

Starting early in the drone business has allowed us to explore many different markets and applications. Many that we thought would end up being viable proved to be far less than expected. Conversely, others that we would have never thought of came about when a client called asking if we could do something new. Our response was usually "I don't really know but we're certainly willing to give it a try!".

Listening to customers is always a powerful business opportunity because if they need something, odds are there are others just like them that do too. Most important is listening to customers when you fail. It is human nature to want to quietly exit the stage upon disappointing a client but that's the worst possible thing to do. Take the failure as an opportunity to learn and move forward.

One of the reasons we have been able to make drones a full time business ahead of most others is our versatility, hard won by always trying something new. This versatility allows us to stay busy year around in a wide variety of markets and business sectors. When one sector slumps, the others pick up the slack.

Lesson 5 - Be Different

Being different is a very powerful asset in a competitive industry. When there are thousands of other businesses out there doing similar things, simply saying you are better means very little. If however, you have capabilities and experience few others have, well that's a whole different story! As mentioned before, in this age of global information sharing, being different for very long is very difficult. The best you can do is have a new idea in the oven, so that when your competition copies your previous concept, you have already moved on, forever expanding your comfort zone.

Drone Policy - When, Where and Why

 On Dec. 21st, 2016 the FAA announced that more than 600,000 drone users have been added to a public registry. The FAA expects the combined total sales of both recreational and commercial drones (small unmanned aircraft systems) to steadily increase from 2.5 million in 2016 to 7 million in 2020.

This is great news for market leaders like DJI and others who manufacture, sell or support small drones but their low cost, small size and ease of use can also bring along a host of related potential problems for some entities if not properly wrangled in. This is even more important when you consider that many people flying drones today have very little experience operating them safely.

This recent drone ubiquity has forced many of our clients to implement specific policies directed towards keeping drones under control when operating from property they own or manage. The reasons for this stem mainly from the need to assure that drones and their operators follow all applicable laws in order to protect both safety and privacy. Such policies typically come from risk managers and safety officers employed at larger, culturally significant public and private properties. A few examples include public parks, colleges and universities, museums and historical landmarks, among others.

In general, these policies require drone operators to comply with all existing State, Federal and City laws for drone use. They also require advance permission (permit) that details specifics about the intended use of drones. And lastly, they include provisions that prohibit using a drone in a manner that would invade a reasonable expectation of privacy. It is important when drafting such policies that they do not conflict with existing FAA regulations, as these have preemption. These policies must also be regularly revised as FAA rules change frequently at this stage of the game.

Unfortunately drones open up an entirely new arena that often isn't addressed properly through existing policies. Failure to have instituted a drone policy can implicate a property owner in the event of an accident or privacy violation in subsequent legal proceedings if it can be shown in court that the entity was aware of the issue and took no action.

A well crafted drone policy is almost always preferred to an outright ban on drone use as it allows for countless beneficial drone uses by qualified personnel for marketing, inspection, mapping and countless other useful purposes.

The Naked Truth Behind The FAA "Part 107" License

With the recent arrival of the FAA's new Part 107 Small Unmanned Aircraft regulations late last month, it has become quite common to see drone operators proudly announcing that they are one of the first to pass the knowledge exam and will soon be open for business. (The applicant must pass a TSA background check before actually being granted the license). But what does this really mean to the average individual or business person?

To be honest it's very similar to someone saying they passed the knowledge test for a chauffeur's license, but not an actual driving test. Yes that's correct. There is NO practical exam associated with Part 107. When I obtained my Private Pilots License, I had to pass a knowledge test, an oral exam and a check ride with an FAA examiner. On top of all that, my instructor had to sign off my log book to indicate I was actually qualified and ready to even go on that check ride.

So what passing the 107 knowledge test really means is some test questions were memorized and a passing score on the 107 exam was obtained - and nothing more. This is in no way intended to downplay the importance of compliance with the new FAA commercial drone regulations. This step is vitally important to educate potential commercial drone operators on the safety aspects of flying drones in the national airspace. Many of these new drone pilots have been violating FAA safety policies they never knew existed until studying for this exam.

Even more important for the FAA is by passing the exam, commercial drone operators will no longer be able to plead ignorance when they are caught being careless or reckless. This also greatly simplifies FAA enforcement efforts when it comes to levying fines and revoking operators licenses, as they can now actually cite specific regulations violated.

So going back to our example of the aspiring limo driver who just passed the chauffeur's exam, what you would NOT know about this person is -

- How much actual driving experience they had?
- How many accidents they have had?
- Do they possess good decision making skills?
- Do they have drug or alcohol dependence?
- What kind of maintenance history does their limo have?
- Is their limo the best one for the job?
- Do they have any references or insurance?
- Have they ever driven for anyone important?

Obviously all of these same questions and many more should be asked before hiring anyone to perform drone services for you or your company. Check out the operators previous work and website. How many flight hours do they have? What kind of insurance do they carry? Only the most experienced operators are able to obtain policy limits of $5M to $10M or more. Do they have a Worker's Comp policy?

The most experienced professionals in the drone service industry started down the path to excellence many, many years ago - long before the potential of using drones commercially was even on the FAA's radar screens. These professionals obtained full size pilot's licenses and developed very comprehensive operating manuals for things like closed-set motion picture/television filming and inspections of industrial facilities.

As I have mentioned previously, a large portion of the work that our company gets is the direct result of another less experienced company not performing as expected and/or having an accident. Because drones have become easier and easier to operate, many people think that little actual flying skill is required to use them for work. It then comes as a rude awakening when they discover that flying indoors, around electrical equipment, power lines, inside boilers and near buildings can require the pilot to quickly and unexpectedly assume full manual control to avoid an accident. But this is the kind of information you need, before you actually need it - otherwise commonly known as "experience".

Key Considerations When Selecting A Drone Filming Company

Currently in the U.S. there are over three thousand FAA Section 333 approved drone service providers and many, many more rogue (unauthorized) operators. As word spreads throughout various industries that a legal (although cumbersome) option exists for limited commercial drone use, more and more companies are insisting on only using Section 333 authorized companies for their drone aerial filming needs. Here are a few reasons why:

In general, well established businesses don't want to risk getting into scrapes with the Federal Government or having to deal with the negative publicity that often results when things go south. The media continues to sensationalize anything negative associated with drone use, no matter how trivial it might actually be. Larger companies also don't want to risk having an entire production shut down unexpectedly by the FAA. Using only an FAA authorized provider is also preferred for liability reasons.

A down side of using a Section 333 provider is more planning is required, which can result in significant delays in a production schedule in some cases. A perfect example of this is the requirement to obtain a written letter of agreement from airport management when flying within controlled airspace. As a matter of fact, at this point in time it is just about impossible to get such approval flying near any of the 12 largest Class B airports in the country. This might sound like an infrequent issue until you look at an aviation sectional chart or Airmap.io (a great resource). Every moderately populated part of the country is densely littered with airports and heliports.

In our part of the country, over 50% of our business inquiries want to shoot within 5 miles of an airport. The main reason for this is many desirable filming locations (and subjects) are situated within population centers, and consequently, near airports. At times we have had airports provide written approval in less than 24 hours. In other instances, like in Frankfort Kentucky for example, a drone shoot had to be canceled because the approval was going to take over a month to obtain, once the airport's board and legal departments got involved.

There is also another compelling reason to only use an FAA authorized drone company. There is considerable time and expense associated in becoming authorized. Companies willing to put forth this effort are almost always committed professionals. Consider that less than 1% of the U.S. population are certificated pilots. To become a pilot requires intelligence, dedication, good decision making skills and hard work. These same exact qualities are what most people want in a company they are going to do business with.

With these thoughts in mind, here is a list of the top 10 things clients want from a professional drone aerial cinematography company, based on our 11 years in this business:

10. Drone pilots who can get technically difficult shots without putting the cast/crew at undue risk.

9. A company that brings at least 2 of everything and is also good at improvisation.

8. A company that's flexible and doesn't slip in extra charges for minor gear changes.

7. Drone Pilots who have the flying skills/gear to get epic, attention grabbing shots, above and beyond the same basic moves the everyone else is doing, even in less than perfect conditions.

6. A crew that are not only drone experts but camera/video production experts as well.

5. The ability to move from location to location and deploy in only a few minutes.

4. A company that is adept at dealing with the public and law enforcement concerns.

3. A company that is equipped with latest cutting edge drone/camera technology that is currently evolving very rapidly.

2. A company that can meet the current Section 333 exemption rules and still get viable results.

1. A company that doesn't oversell it's capabilities.

                  Freefly Systems Alta flying Red Dragon 6K UHD camera
                             

UHD 4K and 6K Aerials for VFX Backplates

One of many excellent applications for close range aerial video using advanced drone technology is the acquistion of UHD backplates. Perfectly smooth, dynamic and flowing images can now be captured using cameras such as the Red Epic Dragon which make the perfect canvas for the addition of CGI/VFX elements in post production. Have so much pixel real estate to work around in with the 6K image is pefect for compositing in post.

Perfect Perspectives has entensive experience in providing UHD backplates and has a fleet of 8 different single rotor drones that can easily fly a fully kitted camera with anamorphic glass if required. For action filming it should be noted that single rotor rigs are capable of flying at speeds that are more than double that of mulitrotor systems, all with superb aerodynamic stability and control. Our systems utilize the amazing Freefly Systems Movi M10/MR camera stabilization system and includes Paralinx wireless HD real time monitoring during flight.

Perfect Perspectives is the only drone filming company we know of that guarantees zero post stabilization will be needed for any cameras we fly. Below are a few examples of recent projects:

Cincinnati Bell TV Spot

Single or Multirotor Rigs for Professional Aerial Cinematography

With the exponential increase in sightings of multirotor aerial rigs, one might think that they are the cat's pajamas for low altitude aerial cinematography; and in some cases, they are the perfect tool for the job. But one might also be led to think that they are far superior in every aspect of close range aerial cinematography. But to assume this would be a serious error.

The primary reason for their sudden increase in popularity centers around the fact that, to a great extent, the on-board flight control system does most of the actual flying, with the pilot left to provide occasional control inputs to guide the rig along the desired flight path. Without this flight control, these aircraft are quite unstable. This assistance with control allows many lesser skilled pilots to quickly get into the aerial filming game.

Another difference is, compared to the traditional single rotor platforms we are all so familiar with, the need for advanced mechanical skills is displaced by the need for knowledge in advanced electronics.

On the supply side of the equation, vendors selling "ready-to-fly" or RTF rigs, are making a killing on would-be aerial cinematographers at the moment, and so, are perfectly happy to lead the uninitiated into thinking this is a buy/charge/fly/film proposition. It is impossible to appreciate the various skills needed to build, maintain and operate an aerial rig proficiently until, in many cases, it's too late. Many of our recent clients have reluctantly admitted to us that they had purchased these rigs and promptly proceeded to confirm Newton's first law of motion with them. All one needs to do is ask around camera rental houses to hear horror stories of Red Epics plowing into the ground attached to a variety of "heavy lift" octocopters. There is a very good, and hopefully obvious reason, why senior commercial airline pilots are excellent, highly skilled pilots, even without using advanced auto flight systems.

When we first started out, 10 years ago on our adventure to provide cinema quality aerial filming from RC platforms, we thought that the most important thing we needed to learn was how to not let the vibration and unwanted movements of the helicopter disturb the cameras images. Granted this was a major challenge but we also learned there was so much more we needed to know. Things like dealing with changing wind intensity and direction, crew safety, not running into things (situational awareness), staying focused on the task under time pressure and multiple distractions. All of these skills did not come quickly or easily. Please keep in mind that these observations are coming from one of the world's most experienced, world-class professional RC pilots. Even with over two decades of top level flying experience, there was still an enormous amount to learn to be fully qualified to fly on a movie set.

It is often said that true learning follows the 70-20-10 rule, whereas 70% is learned by doing, 20% by observing others with experience and the last 10% by more formal training. This certainly applies to becoming a proficient aerial filming pilot.

Because of the rapid proliferation of multicopters, there continues to be a corresponding amount of misinformation surrounding them related to single rotor platforms.

1. "Multirotors are more stable than single rotor helicopters." False. A single rotor helicopter is far more aerodynamically stable. Using a very sophisticated flight controller, the multirotor is slightly more stable than a properly tuned single rotor platform - sans autopilot. This same flight control technology is also available for single rotor helicopters, which, if used, yields a platform that is far more stable in high winds, taking advantage of its inherent stability combined with flight control.

2. "Multirotors are more efficient than single rotor platforms." False. Using the same flying weight and camera payload, and using the same battery voltage and capacity, the single rotor helicopter provides more total thrust and endurance. Because approximately 15% of the single rotor helicopter's power output is used for torque compensation (driving the tail rotor) some mistakenly think this throws the advantage to the multi. Even with this portion of total power not going to overall lift, the single rotor will still outlift the multirotor by 20%-30% due to the larger aerodynamic economies of scale.

3. "Multirotors are more reliable than single rotor platforms." False. Multirotors are often presented as having more redundancy than a single rotor, due to having 6 or 8 propellers. The issue here is that each of these propellers have individual motors and speed controllers, each being a potential failure point. For example, each octocopter has 8 times more solder joints to potentially melt due to high resistance overheating compared to a single rotor. Some argue that should an octocopter lose one motor, control can still be maintained. While this is true, the problem is, that to carry a Red Epic size camera, the power systems are usually very near their operational limits, making recovery after losing a motor far less likely. A large single rotor platform can very easily carry a Red Epic in the most demanding climates without significantly taxing the power system. All of its mechanical components have evolved over decades of outright abuse to be very reliable. Another added bonus flying the single rotor heli is the ability to glide down safely by autorotation in the event of  a main power failure.

4. "Multirotors can do anything a single rotor platform can." False. Our latest single rotor platform called "BRUTUS" can easily lift a 30 lb. camera payload and fly it for 15 minutes. It also has a top speed of over 80 mph carrying a Red Epic (twice the speed of any multicopter). It can smoothly descend at a rate 5 times faster than a multirotor and can also provide usable footage in up to 25 mph winds safely. Multirotors are generally preferred when flying close to talent. We are now getting smooth footage from the Movi at 100mm's so the heli can be flown at a safe distance from talent and still pull of tight shots.

5. "A heavy lift multicopter costs the same as an equivalent single rotor platform." False. At current pricing, an 800 size single rotor heli is approximately half the cost (both with GPS flight control) of a heavy lift multicopter with the same camera stabilizer/auxiliary components.

6. "Multirotors provide smoother footage compared to single rotor platforms." True. Or at least this is true for most. Having said that, a highly skilled builder can balance a single rotor to be just as smooth but this level of skill is uncommon. The recent development of brushless gimbals like the Freefly MOVI MR also levels the playing field between both platforms ability to provide stable footage. We have recently discovered that we are able to run much higher stiffness settings on our MOVI flown on our single rotor rigs compared to the multicopter which is another very significant advantage. This is primarily due to the difference in vibration frequencies and mass distribution between the two arrangements. We have also discovered that in fast forward flight (> 25 mph) the single rotor helicopter provides much smoother footage, due to the greater vertical distance between the rotor disc and the camera mount along with the fact that most single rotor rigs have main blade axle damping which helps to absorb aerodynamic disturbances like wind gusts. On multirotor rigs the propellers are rigidly mounted to the motor shaft which permits such disturbances to be directly transmitted to the airframe. Sychonization issues between multiple motors often results in unwanted vibrations that occur intermittently during flight. Using a single motor rotorcraft alleviates this problem.

These comments should not be taken as being negative towards multirotors. We have and use both types of copters wherever they fit best. In rough terrain, it is awesome to be able to hand-launch and retrieve a multirotor for example. There is an increasing number of clients who are specifically requesting multirotors under the impression that they are always the better choice and single rotor platforms are less capable "old technology" which is incorrect. In the hands of a top-notch, world-class pilot, both platforms can be very safe and can provide breathtaking, dynamic camera movements.