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Several Pilots in New Mexico Needed - Other Areas Developing Quickly

Florida Drone Supply

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www.floridadronesupply.com
Pilot Network Registration

Florida Drone Supply is excited to update everyone on the development and advancement of our network of pilots across the United States.

Towards the end of last year we started preparing pilots with the necessary training to be certified to perform cellular tower inspections for some of the largest cell phone companies and towers owners. Our network was advised that inspections would begin in January (most likely in TX, the Midwest and the West Coast) and build throughout the year.

As of mid January we have been engaged for an emergency tower flight in a remote area in TX (at a premium pay rate to the pilot) and just recently have engaged additional pilots near Austin, TX for for a number of additional tower inspections. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

New Mexico Pilots on Deck

It appears that the next immediate and large quantity of towers to inspect will likely be in New Mexico. We have pilots from New Mexico both trained and in training, but the potential scope of work will require a number of additional pilots who are interested in learning and performing cell tower inspections. We can get you in training as quick as next week or the week after next.

To get registered with our pilot network, click this link: Pilot Network Registration

Other Opportunities Within Our Network

If you have an interest in being part of any of the following lines of business with us, join the network. We are preparing training and pursuing opportunities to introduce many new lines of business to our network.

- Golf Course Turf Analysis (multiple flights per month on each course)

- Golf Course Videos

- Construction Site Mapping and Analysis

- Road and Highway Mapping

- Airport Runway Inspections

- Cellular Tower Inspections

- Powerline Inspections

Some of the business lines are operational now and some will become activate over the course of the next few months.

We are excited to help so many people develop their skills in new areas and introduce them to other lines of business.

Wishing everyone a fresh and exciting 2018!!!

Join Here: Pilot Network Registration
 
Pilot Network Registration

Florida Drone Supply is excited to update everyone on the development and advancement of our network of pilots across the United States.

Towards the end of last year we started preparing pilots with the necessary training to be certified to perform cellular tower inspections for some of the largest cell phone companies and towers owners. Our network was advised that inspections would begin in January (most likely in TX, the Midwest and the West Coast) and build throughout the year.

As of mid January we have been engaged for an emergency tower flight in a remote area in TX (at a premium pay rate to the pilot) and just recently have engaged additional pilots near Austin, TX for for a number of additional tower inspections. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

New Mexico Pilots on Deck

It appears that the next immediate and large quantity of towers to inspect will likely be in New Mexico. We have pilots from New Mexico both trained and in training, but the potential scope of work will require a number of additional pilots who are interested in learning and performing cell tower inspections. We can get you in training as quick as next week or the week after next.

To get registered with our pilot network, click this link: Pilot Network Registration

Other Opportunities Within Our Network

If you have an interest in being part of any of the following lines of business with us, join the network. We are preparing training and pursuing opportunities to introduce many new lines of business to our network.

- Golf Course Turf Analysis (multiple flights per month on each course)

- Golf Course Videos

- Construction Site Mapping and Analysis

- Road and Highway Mapping

- Airport Runway Inspections

- Cellular Tower Inspections

- Powerline Inspections

Some of the business lines are operational now and some will become activate over the course of the next few months.

We are excited to help so many people develop their skills in new areas and introduce them to other lines of business.

Wishing everyone a fresh and exciting 2018!!!

Join Here: Pilot Network Registration

Don’t mean to bust your balls but “to be certified to perform cellular tower inspections” Certified, SAY WHAT? Really? By who, U? Or certified by the FAA? And just what do you do with the “farmed personal information”?

Fees for this so-called “certification slip”?
Fees for your “Networked services”?
an so on...
Being transparent is key here
 
Anyone can get “certified” here in the US, by the FAA. No one needs to have a “tower certification” let’s be clear here.

Pilot Certification


To operate the controls of a small UAS under Part 107, you need a remote pilot airman certificate with a small UAS rating, or be under the direct supervision of a person who holds such a certificate
You must be at least 16 years old to qualify for a remote pilot certificate, and you can obtain it in one of two ways:
You may pass an initial aeronautical knowledge test at an FAA-approved knowledge testing center.
If you already have a Part 61 pilot certificate, other than a student pilot certificate, you must have completed a flight review in the previous 24 months and you must take a small UAS online training course provided by the FAA.
If you have a non-student pilot Part 61 certificate, you will immediately receive a temporary remote pilot certificate when you apply for a permanent certificate. Other applicants will obtain a temporary remote pilot certificate upon successful completion of a security background check. We anticipate we will be able to issue temporary certificates within 10 business days after receiving a completed application.

And… I can’t believe ED or any moderators are letting “Approved Venders, or anyone” farm personal information here. It’s one thing having a form on your site; it’s another having a direct link here on inspire pilots. Tisk tisk

My 2 cents
 
Don’t mean to bust your balls but “to be certified to perform cellular tower inspections” Certified, SAY WHAT? Really? By who, U? Or certified by the FAA? And just what do you do with the “farmed personal information”?

Fees for this so-called “certification slip”?
Fees for your “Networked services”?
an so on...
Being transparent is key here

Hey Port Canaveral Florida...good questions.

To start with, lets describe the hierarchy in a way we all will understand. At the top are the carriers and tower owners - they are the ones who order inspection services. They order them for a variety of reasons - from basic antenna angle confirmations to general maintenance to equipment & space measurements for upgrade planning, etc. If you have worked in this industry, you know that the bottleneck for much of this work to get completed is the amount of tower climbers and the number of times the towers must be climbed. They generally hire a national contractor who has an MSA with them to perform work on the tower sites. The national contractor hires the regional contractors such as us who perform the work with a combination of staff / employee pilots or contract pilots.

A large software company who sits on the National Association of Tower Erectors developed a process that allows drones (when done properly) to do a number of the functions required on a tower inspection - improving the rate at which equipment can be upgraded on cell towers and the angular calculations can be done to a high enough degree of accuracy. This process allows the data captured to be brought into auto cad for the engineers and gives sufficient detail for a cellular company to confirm the accuracy of the antennas on the RAD. Because its their software that the data is uploaded directly to - and they are the interface directly to ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc for viewing and analyzing the results, the flight profile and mission must be completed in a very specific manner or the results will be of no value to the carrier at all. This is the reason for the required training and certification to fly this profile at the cell tower location. And if you are doing this work, you know that in order to access a cell tower location you need codes, combinations, etc and the 3 largest towers companies only allow 1 contractor on the site at a time (for safety requirements) and this must be scheduled in advance through their online portals. If asked to open the equipment cabinets at the base of the tower, you must be familiar with the way they are accessed or be provided the proper tools. All of this is a required part of the training. The certification you receive is not from the FAA - it has nothing to do with your part 107 or your section 333 exemption - it is for doing this work for this national contractor. We understand the FAA requirements and have multiple private pilots on staff, and ATP rated pilot and a retired aircraft mechanic on staff.

With the shortage of tower climbers and the increased demand for carriers to provide better and faster phone and data service, there is a large amount of this work that can be done by drone pilots. We are part of a closed set of subs working for the national contractor and are helping a number of pilots get into this industry.

And really, there is a lot more I could say about the above topic...but it might be easier if you call us.

Next, as to your question about "farmed personal information", we use our pilot data (equipment, location and experience) to help manage the capabilities of our network and determine what work we can accept and accomplish - and what business lines our pilots are able to fly in. For example, there is a bid request we responded to for a major power company here in FL that needs 5 counties of power lines inspected. Being located on Merritt Island (FYI we have family and friends in Melbourne and on Satellite Beach - where we are working to get the local search and rescue equipment BELOW dealer cost) you would certainly be familiar with the power company. But their requirements dictated that the best platform would be an M210 (due to the requirement of both RGB and Thermal Images). They also require a level 3 thermographer to certify the the thermal findings. To be responsive to that bid request we had to know who in FL has that equipment and could be hired to do this work from February to December this year. Without an understanding of where are pilots are located, what equipment they fly and what their experience level is we would not be able to know if our network has the capability to take on a substantial amount of work like that. Its really the only reason for collecting the data we ask for - we need to understand who wants to fly with us and what they can do.

We are also getting ready to train pilots for golf course turf analysis. We are currently flying in preparation of a PGA tour event (as well as other non-PGA courses) and are working on a large golf course program for 2018. To be able to work within our established program requires ground control points, an RGB and BGNIR sensor as well as some other skill sets specific to golf courses.

Again, this is another one I could go on for quite a while but I think you will understand the need to know the items we ask our pilots about.

Finally, you asked about the fees to go through the cell tower training and for us to be transparent about it. The software company that designed the profile and processes / hosts all the data charges just enough to cover your hotel and meals ($395 for 3 days of training) and we do not add a penny. At some point this training will be able to be moved to FL and we will be able to provide it - but as of now they require every pilot in the country who is going to fly under their national contract to come to their training facility to be trained and certified (by them) before you can be contracted to do any of the work.

I hope this helps you understand a little better what our network actually is doing and how we are different from the type of network that you may have thought we were. We are all familiar with the other type.
 
Got it, thanks for clearing the air for everyone here!

I don't know if a'lot of people here are holding the M210 w/ a 5-6 thousand+ thermal imaging camera or have invested 16-20 thousand to get into scanning grass and cell towers. There are a few that do have the funds, companies too (hat's off to you) so to the i1 and i2 folks that have not invested the 15-20 thousand....your out of luck? Some financial numbers coming from real jobs rendered would help people getting into this line of work, I mean if I invested 18+ grand I'd better have a good return on investment! Not to mention wives that will cut your junk off and send you to the curb with that little expensive flying machine that only made you $900.00

Lets see numbers people :cool:
 
A chill pill needed?

He never said or implied that you need to invest in an IR sensor to fly the cell tower jobs, these images are collected with visible cameras with a minimum of 20Mega pixel. Then often post processed into a 3D point cloud.

Only a small number of flight missions nationwide currently require IR or even radiographic calibrated sensors. Believe me IF you are contracted to fly and provide that level of images then the employer already knows what the costs of that equipment and service are. And there are not many certified Thermographers at level 3 who also are part 107 pilots, so that might become a pilot and VO job.

However if the EPA 40 Code Federal Regulations, Part 60, Subpart OOOO become implemented there will be many airborne Optical Gas Imaging cameras flying around on heavy lift drones throughout the Oil and Gas industry.

ICI Mirage OGI camera - https://www.infraredcamerasinc.com/
FLIR OGI - FLIR GFx320 - Intrinsically Safe OGI Camera | FLIR Systems
 
A chill pill needed?

He never said or implied that you need to invest in an IR sensor to fly the cell tower jobs, these images are collected with visible cameras with a minimum of 20Mega pixel. Then often post processed into a 3D point cloud.

Only a small number of flight missions nationwide currently require IR or even radiographic calibrated sensors. Believe me IF you are contracted to fly and provide that level of images then the employer already knows what the costs of that equipment and service are. And there are not many certified Thermographers at level 3 who also are part 107 pilots, so that might become a pilot and VO job.

However if the EPA 40 Code Federal Regulations, Part 60, Subpart OOOO become implemented there will be many airborne Optical Gas Imaging cameras flying around on heavy lift drones throughout the Oil and Gas industry.

ICI Mirage OGI camera - https://www.infraredcamerasinc.com/
FLIR OGI - FLIR GFx320 - Intrinsically Safe OGI Camera | FLIR Systems
This is exactly right...if you were just going to fly cell phone towers you can technically do it with a P4 Pro. Many of our pilots use something else - but it does meet the minimum equipment requirements. We have been bringing M200s and M210s to the training classes to give our pilots some experience flying and learning the equipment - and in several instances they were the only drones able to be flown because we were flying in light rain, mist, etc. The other drones were all grounded for weather but the M200 / M210 were able to be flown and keep the training class rolling. Granted they are more expensive - but if you are committed to working in the industrial drone sector its a pretty good choice.

The reason the power line inspections are requiring an M210 are due to the RGB and Thermal images required at each and every pole and of the equipment on the pole. There are about 20 poles per mile and if you had to stop and change equipment twice to complete a single pole the work would be very slow. With the lack of thermal image support for the Inspire 2 (natively) you would have to change between copters as well to get 20MP RGB and Thermal on each power pole. There are some new options on the horizon that might be better for this work. The thermographer will not be with the pilot - I just mentioned the requirement as an effort to continue to describe the network and collaboration required to service some of the large contracts and specific requirements. While more pilots are enrolling in thermal certification courses, its not common at all.

You are definitely right on the oil and gas industry...lots to come there as well.

Thanks for chiming in!
 
The M2xx is somewhat weatherized, but none of the camera payloads have higher moisture protection nor have the gimbals. Prolonged exposure to high moisture flights is bound to have an impact on these payloads.
 
Flying communication towers is a services market in decline. Once all the communications towers have been digitized with 3D point clouds and inserted into corporate databases then this data becomes a permanent record. From that point on flights will be performed as a periodic maintenance function and or to document changes to towers for instance storm damage assessment or after equipment additions or changes.
 
Hey Port Canaveral Florida...good questions.

To start with, lets describe the hierarchy in a way we all will understand. At the top are the carriers and tower owners - they are the ones who order inspection services. They order them for a variety of reasons - from basic antenna angle confirmations to general maintenance to equipment & space measurements for upgrade planning, etc. If you have worked in this industry, you know that the bottleneck for much of this work to get completed is the amount of tower climbers and the number of times the towers must be climbed. They generally hire a national contractor who has an MSA with them to perform work on the tower sites. The national contractor hires the regional contractors such as us who perform the work with a combination of staff / employee pilots or contract pilots.

A large software company who sits on the National Association of Tower Erectors developed a process that allows drones (when done properly) to do a number of the functions required on a tower inspection - improving the rate at which equipment can be upgraded on cell towers and the angular calculations can be done to a high enough degree of accuracy. This process allows the data captured to be brought into auto cad for the engineers and gives sufficient detail for a cellular company to confirm the accuracy of the antennas on the RAD. Because its their software that the data is uploaded directly to - and they are the interface directly to ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc for viewing and analyzing the results, the flight profile and mission must be completed in a very specific manner or the results will be of no value to the carrier at all. This is the reason for the required training and certification to fly this profile at the cell tower location. And if you are doing this work, you know that in order to access a cell tower location you need codes, combinations, etc and the 3 largest towers companies only allow 1 contractor on the site at a time (for safety requirements) and this must be scheduled in advance through their online portals. If asked to open the equipment cabinets at the base of the tower, you must be familiar with the way they are accessed or be provided the proper tools. All of this is a required part of the training. The certification you receive is not from the FAA - it has nothing to do with your part 107 or your section 333 exemption - it is for doing this work for this national contractor. We understand the FAA requirements and have multiple private pilots on staff, and ATP rated pilot and a retired aircraft mechanic on staff.

With the shortage of tower climbers and the increased demand for carriers to provide better and faster phone and data service, there is a large amount of this work that can be done by drone pilots. We are part of a closed set of subs working for the national contractor and are helping a number of pilots get into this industry.

And really, there is a lot more I could say about the above topic...but it might be easier if you call us.

Next, as to your question about "farmed personal information", we use our pilot data (equipment, location and experience) to help manage the capabilities of our network and determine what work we can accept and accomplish - and what business lines our pilots are able to fly in. For example, there is a bid request we responded to for a major power company here in FL that needs 5 counties of power lines inspected. Being located on Merritt Island (FYI we have family and friends in Melbourne and on Satellite Beach - where we are working to get the local search and rescue equipment BELOW dealer cost) you would certainly be familiar with the power company. But their requirements dictated that the best platform would be an M210 (due to the requirement of both RGB and Thermal Images). They also require a level 3 thermographer to certify the the thermal findings. To be responsive to that bid request we had to know who in FL has that equipment and could be hired to do this work from February to December this year. Without an understanding of where are pilots are located, what equipment they fly and what their experience level is we would not be able to know if our network has the capability to take on a substantial amount of work like that. Its really the only reason for collecting the data we ask for - we need to understand who wants to fly with us and what they can do.

We are also getting ready to train pilots for golf course turf analysis. We are currently flying in preparation of a PGA tour event (as well as other non-PGA courses) and are working on a large golf course program for 2018. To be able to work within our established program requires ground control points, an RGB and BGNIR sensor as well as some other skill sets specific to golf courses.

Again, this is another one I could go on for quite a while but I think you will understand the need to know the items we ask our pilots about.

Finally, you asked about the fees to go through the cell tower training and for us to be transparent about it. The software company that designed the profile and processes / hosts all the data charges just enough to cover your hotel and meals ($395 for 3 days of training) and we do not add a penny. At some point this training will be able to be moved to FL and we will be able to provide it - but as of now they require every pilot in the country who is going to fly under their national contract to come to their training facility to be trained and certified (by them) before you can be contracted to do any of the work.

I hope this helps you understand a little better what our network actually is doing and how we are different from the type of network that you may have thought we were. We are all familiar with the other type.
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
 
This is exactly right...if you were just going to fly cell phone towers you can technically do it with a P4 Pro. Many of our pilots use something else - but it does meet the minimum equipment requirements. We have been bringing M200s and M210s to the training classes to give our pilots some experience flying and learning the equipment - and in several instances they were the only drones able to be flown because we were flying in light rain, mist, etc. The other drones were all grounded for weather but the M200 / M210 were able to be flown and keep the training class rolling. Granted they are more expensive - but if you are committed to working in the industrial drone sector its a pretty good choice.

The reason the power line inspections are requiring an M210 are due to the RGB and Thermal images required at each and every pole and of the equipment on the pole. There are about 20 poles per mile and if you had to stop and change equipment twice to complete a single pole the work would be very slow. With the lack of thermal image support for the Inspire 2 (natively) you would have to change between copters as well to get 20MP RGB and Thermal on each power pole. There are some new options on the horizon that might be better for this work. The thermographer will not be with the pilot - I just mentioned the requirement as an effort to continue to describe the network and collaboration required to service some of the large contracts and specific requirements. While more pilots are enrolling in thermal certification courses, its not common at all.

You are definitely right on the oil and gas industry...lots to come there as well.

Thanks for chiming in!
So what's the minimum drone and camera you can use for this job guys. want to go on the course but $10000 for a drone at this moment in time is not an option may be after some work has come in then yes
 
It is commented above by the OP. For tower inspection you need a minimum of 20Mega pixel camera, global shutter is an advantage in creating 3D point clouds. So a Phantom P4 Pro would be ideal. One of the required flight paths is to perform a POI 360 degree orbit while keeping the tower centered in the image. Again one of the strengths of the P4 Pro.

As far as power line/pole inspection, then the best platform for that job is to have dual camera capability, a visible camera and an IR thermal camera. Ideal airframes for this are drones with the ability to fly both sensors simultaneously. So a Matrice 210 or Matrice 600 are ideal platforms for this job.

All of these 3 platforms are readily available from the OP and if you call Florida Drone Supply ask for Jim as he has full details on pricing plus these flight opportunities.
 
So what's the minimum drone and camera you can use for this job guys. want to go on the course but $10000 for a drone at this moment in time is not an option may be after some work has come in then yes

For cell tower inspections, the minimum acceptable equipment is a P4 Pro. You need a 20MP camera and 1080 video. You can fly an Inspire 2 with your X4S or X5S or X7 but will need to be proficient in some 3rd party apps in order to be able to do the orbits that are required. As you know DJI supports that feature for the P4 Pro and the Matrice 200/210 but not the Inspire 2.

Golf course turf analysis requires an NDVI sensor - in particular BGNIR. You can get converted X3 cameras and we are testing a converted X4S right now. You also need ground control points for this.

The power line project we mentioned needs an M210 in order to do the RGB and Thermal at the same time.

We have other projects rolling out later this year as well.
 
A chill pill needed?

He never said or implied that you need to invest in an IR sensor to fly the cell tower jobs, these images are collected with visible cameras with a minimum of 20Mega pixel. Then often post processed into a 3D point cloud.

Only a small number of flight missions nationwide currently require IR or even radiographic calibrated sensors. Believe me IF you are contracted to fly and provide that level of images then the employer already knows what the costs of that equipment and service are. And there are not many certified Thermographers at level 3 who also are part 107 pilots, so that might become a pilot and VO job.

However if the EPA 40 Code Federal Regulations, Part 60, Subpart OOOO become implemented there will be many airborne Optical Gas Imaging cameras flying around on heavy lift drones throughout the Oil and Gas industry.

ICI Mirage OGI camera - https://www.infraredcamerasinc.com/
FLIR OGI - FLIR GFx320 - Intrinsically Safe OGI Camera | FLIR Systems


Areed with the 'chill pill' comment.. :D Usually I'm one of those guys against potential farming and issues with licensing etc... but FDS is a high quality contributor to this forum and has always been above board with everything he has done here.
 

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