JAN - MAR, 2020AEROSPACEDEFENSEREVIEW.COM8As we enter 2018, the drone operating industry is settling into three categories, each trying to make their way through a set of rules that, although permissive for line-of-sight operations, limits what many companies hope to achieve with the technology.The first group can be described as Tier one operators; those using drones to take real estate photographs and perform roof inspections or a wide number of other applications that can be achieved with a system (drone and payload) that costs significantly less than $10,000. This group makes up the majority of the 100,000 (+/-) drones that are registered with the FAA for commercial use. The opportunity is there, but for most, it is insufficient to support a full time career.The Tier two group consists of enterprises trying to sell a higher value proposition for applications such as infrastructure inspection. Generally requiring a more sophisticated system and better credentials, the investment needed to participate in this sector is significantly higher. While there is some positive activity in this area, lucrative fee-paying assignments are still rare. Many large utility companies have commissioned proof of concept studies and are actively assessing the benefits of using drones. However, the transition to a flourishing commercial industry is woefully slow by most predictions.An additional category in this second Tier is agriculture. Originally seen by many as an industry that could comprise up to 80 percent of the commercial market, the current reality falls well short of that. The technology is available to perform a variety of crop and yield assessment tasks and yet the take-up among farmers has been very low. Why would a farmer need to be told by a drone operator that an area of their farm was overly wet? Chances are the DRONESTHE NEW ERA OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFTS:By Chris Proudlove, SVP, Global AerospaceOpinion
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