Recent content by John Githens

Like with many other topics in life, "it depends". I have both the orange lids and the larger black and white flexible, numbered targets. The lids with centered nails help when in thick brush areas. The other targets are fine for bare earth or pavement. There may - or may not - be an expectation...

It can be educational to review the long list of litigation activities on this rupprechtlaw.com page.

Also, government entities are developing in-house UAS Operators and (more important in my perception) the post-flight data processing and analysis capabilities needed to meet their organization's information requirements and specifications. For example, at least one department in the US Army...

I was wondering when someone would comment about the "hire a drone pilot" websites. I have yet to see any posted job that was worth the initial setup effort, multiple battery charging cycles, travel time and mileage, onsite risk and time (especially in urban locations over busy roads and walking...

Heads up, the "drone work scam" is still happening. If you have a drone-related business and are contacted by someone who claims they have a well-paying job for you, be very alert. In my case the scammer found a live real estate listing 3 hours from my home base, then made contact through my...

A sobering read. Would have been nice to know if the operators of the three sUAS had been contacted about their behavior: "Of the 24 NMACs identified by Embry-Riddle researchers, Rice noted, the same three sUAS were responsible for more than half (13) of the encounters. Further, in 96% of the...

Also worth reading to consider your options: Optimization of UAV Flight Missions in Steep Terrain Note the cautionary comments about relying on SRTM DEMs.

This is not my area of expertise... Have you read The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Collection User Guide? More than the Guide is available on the Earth Engine Data Catalog. I don't know if you would get the desired level of granularity of surface data for your flight planning. I would...

As a side note, I found that it can be very difficult to see a crack in the landing structure of a P4P.

Appears to be a Parrot ANAFI Thermal Drone with something attached to the top.

There are probably many offerings out there to help create a Business Plan, and beyond. Some tips above on this thread. Locally, LivePlan software (no affiliation to myself) has been offered by a granted 501c to help start small businesses. I have not used that product. Early on, it may help...

OK, so if anyone is still following this thread, is there any news on "progress" of the NC court case? Here is the latest info that I found. A quote: "If this case does in fact end here, NC drone pilots should beware of what can land them in hot water with the NCBEES and in violation of NC land...

By accident I found this recent thread on Reddit. If you want to read about some experiences with ASPRS.

R.Perry, your succinct summary of industry trends should be read by anyone who arrives on this forum with hopes of making money with a drone. That said, in some locations there may be a few jobs where there is minimal "local" competition (for a while). Differentiating one's advertised Services...

Thanks for starting the thread. I've occasionally wondered how the FAA authors could use only words, with no visual examples, to describe "sparsely populated areas". And the authors were probably not thinking about the viewpoint of multirotor drone operators. From my experience, where I...