An associate of ours contacted us recently and wants us to survey a 25 acre plot of forest he and his team want to use for a solar farm. VLOS may become an issue depending on tree height. Everything's hush-hush right now so I can't even get Airmap visual of the land. This will be my first flight in a different state. What steps should I be taking now to ensure a successful flight when we arrive?
Drones in Alabama
- Thread starter LR Smith
- Start date
If VLOS is an issue then its a no-brainer; you can't fly. Without a waiver which will probably take you longer to get than the client is willing to wait, you are grounded.
As part of your due diligence at you are going to need to perform a risk assessment and determine if VLOS is going to be an issue. That will require walking the site and determining elevations and lines of sight. That should be part of every flight you take.
^^^ Nailed it!!
Hush Hush or not you need to be notified of the location so you can do you Due Diligence now. Google Earth can help a lot but unfortunately boots on the ground is the only way you'll know.
When you're negotiating it make sure to include provisions for payment for services rendered (travel etc) even if you can't do the flight once you arrive on site.
If you can't do it 100% within Part 107 then you can't do it at all.
Hush Hush or not you need to be notified of the location so you can do you Due Diligence now. Google Earth can help a lot but unfortunately boots on the ground is the only way you'll know.
When you're negotiating it make sure to include provisions for payment for services rendered (travel etc) even if you can't do the flight once you arrive on site.
If you can't do it 100% within Part 107 then you can't do it at all.
I'v done several proposed solar as well as other tracks that had an issue with VLOS in Ga. Some just couldn't be done, while others required me to make several flights from different locations around the project. One, i even used a free standing deer stand on a hill near the center of the project. that gave me the small difference in elevation needed to complete the job. when you get the sites location, down load a USGS quad sheet of the area and look at the topography before heading out.
