Part 107 finally pushed me over the edge to get started

[Mike Bohlmann]

I've been thinking about getting into the UAV business for over a year, and the new rules from the FAA made it simple enough to get started.

I've been into airplanes since I was a little kid with my dad being the main trigger. After many years of wanting to get my license, price and opportunity finally came together a few ears ago to get my sport pilot license. While 333 would have been doable, it was still quite pricey to start exploring commercial drone operations. Part 107 simplified that greatly, even if being a pilot is only a marginal benefit.

We bought a Solo a few weeks ago, and we're still learning. I'm hoping to do some RGB-based NDVI while the crops in Illinois are still green. In the meantime, I've been doing some basic video production. Here's one I'm feeling good about:

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[pyrate]

yeah I am thinking the same.
Waiting on the conference here in Dallas with Doug to make my final plans

 

[Rex Barlow]

Let me understand correct that 107 don't need to have pilot license?

 

[Mike Bohlmann]

Correct, but a pilot license means that I can meet up with one of my instructor contacts on August 29th and go do a commercial flight immediately since I already did the online training. It also means I won't have to spend any extra money on tests for staying current since pilots just have to do free online training to stay current for drones.

 

[Ed Beck]

While the agriculture industry looks really inviting I'm not sure how it would be for a 3rd party. If I was a farmer I'd consider a drone to be essential for gathering data and would want to fly it whenever and as often as I could.

Just sayin' I don't know for sure. Anyone have experiences that prove me wrong?

 

[Mike Bohlmann]

While the agriculture industry looks really inviting I'm not sure how it would be for a 3rd party. If I was a farmer I'd consider a drone to be essential for gathering data and would want to fly it whenever and as often as I could.

The workflow isn't automated enough for most non-corporate farmers. NDVI scans are not diagnostic by themselves, it takes going into the field and expertise with diagnosing problems and applying solutions. That's why we're mostly looking at partnerships with ag service companies since it's the data we generate that can lead them to selling services to farmers. The limitation of line-of-sight and one drone per pilot means that most service companies will be better off contracting out their data gathering work.

This is based on our conversations with farmers and ag service managers.

 

[Ed Beck]

Thanks.

 

[Pushjerk]

Good info here:

http://www.suasnews.com/2016/06/truth-drones-precision-agriculture/

 

[yt lee]

Good info here:

The Truth about Drones in Precision Agriculture - sUAS News

It really depend how you use the technology. For example, USGS develop a program for the counting irrigation, circles. USGS uses it for computing water usage and crop yield.