Commercial Drone Industry Best Practices

                                                 

The following list contains recommended guidelines for Part 107 Commercial Drone Operations that are intended to promote a positive image for this rapidly evolving industry.

Safety

• Although not a regulatory requirement, notify nearby airports and heliports of your operations. This promotes a spirit of cooperation with the manned aircraft community and helps avert misunderstanding and minimizes overreactions.
• Wear high visibility reflective vests. When working near streets use traffic cones and signs in order to avert causing traffic accidents. 
• Don't fly close to vehicle traffic in a manner that would cause a distraction and possible accident.
• Maintain a safe distance from Cell Towers, Electric Transmission Towers, Radio Transmission Towers and other high intensity RF transmitters.
• Always evaluate surrounding obstacles before flight relative to an unexpected return-to-home (RTH) event.
• Don't fly waypoint missions if there is a high probability that persons or vehicles will enter the flight zone during the flight.

Privacy

• If you can, tell other people you’ll be taking pictures or video of them before you do so.
• If you think someone has a reasonable expectation of privacy, don’t violate that privacy by taking pictures, video, or otherwise gathering sensitive data, unless you’ve got a very good reason.
• Don’t fly over other people’s private property without permission if you can easily avoid doing so.
• Don’t gather personal data for no reason, and don’t keep it for longer than you think you have to.
• If you keep sensitive data about other people, secure it against loss or theft.
• If someone asks you to delete personal data about him or her that you’ve gathered, do so, unless you’ve got a good reason not to.
• If anyone raises privacy, security, or safety concerns with you, try and listen to what they have to say, as long as they’re polite and reasonable about it.
• Don’t harass people with your drone.

General

• Don’t offer services without required credentials in your state such as mapping (surveyor's license), thermal imaging (ASNT certification) and building inspection (inspector's license).
• Avoid flying close to wildlife. Don't fly in wildlife protections zones or near nesting birds.

As a pioneer is commercial drone operations, Perfect Perspectives Aerial Imaging is committed to advancing the industry in a positive manner.

http://perfectperspectivesaerial.com/

Drones Prove Versatile Tools For Aerial Cinematography/Video Production

Once drone technology entered the scene, it came with endless predictions and hype regarding it’s potential for virtually every conceivable purpose one could imagine. As you probably know, much of this drone hype has not panned out as “game changing” as advertised.

There is one area where drones have had an enormous impact however – Aerial Cinematography. This was foretold several decades ago when a little company from Belgium called Flying Cam started flying film cameras on custom built radio controlled helicopters. Getting low altitude shots from a manned helicopter is both expensive and often risky. Drones provided a welcome alternative. Slowly Flying Cam’s dynamic, close-range aerial shots began making their way into the biggest Hollywood films and due to their pioneering efforts, they enjoyed a bit of a monopoly for quite some time.

Today this has all changed. Later this summer there will be over 100,000 FAA certified commercial drone pilots in the U.S. Drones really are making a difference in many business sectors, but none more prevalent than in aerial cinematography and video production. There are several reasons why drones are showing up more and more on movie and even video production sets, even those with modest budgets.

Drones Are A Time Saver

If you have ever been on a movie or large video production set you know that much of the time spent is in set up. Camera kits need built, set’s need dressing, costume/make-up/props all need time to get sorted out. The beauty of drones in this setting is they can be unpacked and in the air in just minutes which is huge.

Drones Can Replace Other Tools

Drones are being used to replace everything from jibs, cranes, man-lifts, dollies and sliders. Avoiding the rental costs and set up time for a large Technocrane is a huge savings for a production. There is one caveat here however, an excellent drone/camera operator team is needed to safely replicate the super smooth shots they need to replace with these other production tools. This is particularly true when flying inside a large building where the drone can’t obtain a good GPS lock. This is where the experience of seasoned drone crew is well worth the extra day rate. Quite often as a time saver, we even use our drones with follow-focus for a quick and dirty hand-held shot in place of pulling out our MOVI stabilizer which adds value on set.

Recently Perfect Perspectives was hire to fly a small drone equipped with a custom built grappling hook underneath for a local casino TV commercial. Later day and night exterior drone shots where also captured. This is one of many examples of how the versatility of drones adds value to video productions.

If you pay attention you will notice that drone shots are making there way into all forms of multimedia these days and we predict this trend will only continue to grow as more and more creative uses are found in cinematography, video production and advertising.

To learn more please visit - 

http://perfectperspectivesaerial.com/services/aerial-cinematography/

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/

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.