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Recent content by manutter51

  1. M

    Finding a Visual Observer

    Now that I have an FPV drone, I need a visual observer. Which I also should have even for non-FPV work, but thus far I've worked solo. Where do you folks get yours? My wife teaches music lessons in the evening, my kids are grown and gone, I'm kind of an introvert (besides being a remote worker...
  2. M

    Level 1 sUAS Thermal Cert - Clemson Vs ITC

    I took the online course (Level 1 sUAS) from ITC, and was happy with the result. It was basically the in-person lesson plan except everyone was connecting over Zoom or some similar service, so we still had some casual conversation between students, and the course itself was led by a live...
  3. M

    Search and Recovery (missing persons, presumed dead)

    Well, sadly enough, my first case was a missing person who was presumed to have been murdered (and I'm omitting the details for privacy reasons), so I went into it assuming that a successful result would probably be traumatic. I have a little bit of experience dealing with traumatic stuff, so...
  4. M

    Search and Recovery (missing persons, presumed dead)

    That's interesting, I hadn't thought of that approach. My first search I turned on the camera and tried to cover a specific part of the terrain, filming as I went. It was more contour flying than your typical lawnmower pattern, since the search area was the sides of a steep ravine. There were...
  5. M

    Search and Recovery (missing persons, presumed dead)

    Hey folks, I've been asked to help with a rather grim task: searching for the remains of persons who have been missing for over a year and who are presumed dead. I got involved with a search that was advertised on Facebook, and though my search was unsuccessful, the family appreciated my...
  6. M

    Drone based thermography quality and usability.

    The images produced by the M2EA thermal camera are not compatible with FLIR Tools, unfortunately. It's ok for roof inspections where all you really care about is locating "hot spots," but if you want to do in-depth analysis you're likely to be disappointed. DJI has their own thermal analysis...
  7. M

    OSHA 10 cert?

    Is it worth getting an OSHA 10 certification, like for progress monitoring at construction sites?
  8. M

    M30, M30T and H20N Taking Pre-Orders NOW at Floridadronesupply.com

    Would that be compatible with FLIR Tools? I've been looking for software like that for my M2EA.
  9. M

    Any SkyGrid opinions?

    As a computer guy in my daylight incarnation, I have to admit my BS detector went off when they started talking about how great it was that their app was using blockchain to record flight data "immutably," as if somebody was having problems with their flight logs being altered after the fact.
  10. M

    Any SkyGrid opinions?

    I just had a video pop up in my YouTube feed about SkyGrid, which I had never heard of before. Searching for videos and blog posts turns up mostly videos by the SkyGrid team themselves, plus a few basically press releases about their main product coming out (and how they combine multiple...
  11. M

    Second mission for DroneBase.com

    Well, now you've got me thinking. I hadn't looked at it from that angle before. I'll grant you that if I'm the guy who goes around charging $80 for a complete roof daylight + thermography mission, yeah, that's bottom feeding and bad for the industry. On the other hand, just because DB pays me...
  12. M

    Mission in red Restricted zone

    Well, I check B4UFly on the phone app when I arrive on site, but it's MUCH nicer to have a desktop link I can check before leaving home!
  13. M

    Mission in red Restricted zone

    Ooo, that's nice, that's definitely going to be my first stop from now on. I was using the FAA/ArcGIS site with all the little boxes (and the Fly Safe site, of course).
  14. M

    Mission in red Restricted zone

    I could probably get away with it--the airport only has a few shuttle flights a day and probably not too much private pilot traffic. Latrobe, PA, isn't a major commercial center, really. But for my 5th commercial drone mission? Nah, I'm going to err on the side of caution this time.
  15. M

    Mission in red Restricted zone

    Oh, I definitely checked both, I just posted the DJI screen shot because it shows the relative location of the mission and the runway more clearly.