Recent content by WVDronePilot

My Experience: I do “pictures” for a licensed roofer. He uses the pictures to show the condition of the existing roof. I make no claims and stay out of the process. I have my own license and insurance. In order To do inspections on my own I would have to be a licensed home inspector. Easy work...

@BigA107 is correct. But one way to get a "feel" for what your competition is charging is to check their websites. Do a search for other drone companies and sometiems they list their rates. But generally speaking to answer your question... "What value are you bringing to the customer?" is...

I archive my emails on my local computer. I created a local folder in my email and drag the ones I want to save into it. This folder is saved on my local machine and then becomes part of my regular backup. This takes the email off the server but it is still searchable by my email program so...

Only speaking to the cold... Some drones (Inspire 2) have self-heating batteries which makes a ton of difference in the drone's operation in cold weather. But the tablet/phone and controller (and fingers) suffer from this cold more than the drone itself. I have lots of experience flying in...

Would have been nice to have these rules 3 years ago... finally some common sense on the part of a gov't agency... I hope I didn't speak too soon.

I'd like to add another bit. At an Engineering firm where I used to work, we had an eBee and did official survey grade mapping, etc. with it. Great tool for large areas, very efficient but expensive. There are many options for fixed wing drones at a relatively inexpensive cost if you look...

I replied on a couple of comments below, but I'd like to throw my thoughts down here for you. Here is how I would approach it myself and please if you don't know what some of these things are, don't worry... -What does the customer want exactly? Planimetric? DSM? DTM? Orthomosaic? 3D...

I use the same setup too. I've dabbled in stitching myself and found I can generally do a much better job using WebOMD and fooling with settings, but MME works great.

Same in WV, also we are not technically allowed to "map" either. I call them orthomosaics "pictures" for lack of a better term.

Lol. So true! Just remember those are information videos and not sales/entertainment videos. After doing the latter for so long I miss the “just give us the data” jobs.

We’ve done a few together. A tornado damage assessment and some oil and gas jobs. Been doing mainly located stuff with no VO requirements now. She is willing to help when I need it.

My wife had to be my VO on a big job for Proctor and Gamble. Couldn’t find anyone else willing to drive 3 hrs one way every week. She got her OSHA 10 and Fluor safety certification too. Yeah it was hot in the summer and frigid in the winter. Did it for over a year. But we always went to a great...

I know I'm a little late to this conversation, but I've had this same issue. The building I was flying was similar in size. I was flying video and not mapping. I made plans to map if requested and my solution was to fly higher. 25 feet seems extremely low to do mapping. The pixel resolution...

We had similar situations where job was 3+ hrs away. Always take your laptop and check when you are done with the job. Another thing I did was a couple test video/photo(s) first to see if I was getting correct focus/exposure/framerate, etc... And ALWAYS backup your SD card to the computer...

Hi TreeLineView, I flew in red airspace in Martinsburg, WV. I did have to go through the DJI process submitting paperwork proving I had the authorization from the FAA. DJI unlocked for a specific date and for a couple days at a time, then I had to request each time online (they had the...