Multirotor

Daniel Herbert of Rockaway Twp. gets aerial shots with his feet still on the ground

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danielherbert

BY SANDRA PLEDGER

Making a business work goes a long way, as Daniel Herbert, a Rockaway Township resident and owner of Skygear Solutions, Inc. would know.

He has been a successful business owner since 2014. Herbert found his way here from Delaware and provided Rockaway Township with a glimpse of what his company is about at White Meadow Lake Festival Days recently.

“It’s been a long time since I felt like I lived in a real community of families all happy to coexist and enjoy a great summer weekend together,” Herbert said. “I am always looking for exposure for my business and I also enjoy providing a new view from the air to those who are uninitiated with this technology, so of course I brought some equipment with me to show off.”

His wife, Marina Kopylova, is his partner in ownership and also operates as chief marketing officer.

Herbert said that having already worked with radio controls as a hobby and with retail and marketing is what made going into this type of industry a natural progression.

He said that multirotor drones have quickly trended into the highest revenue-generating products for both consumer and professional sales.

“This stuff is just plain fun,” Herbert said.

The camera streams live HD video to him on the ground which he can watch while framing shots. It also records the video and photos onto a memory card that he can recover after it lands.

The drone takes video and photographs. Both are very high quality but not usable for “spying” on people. The camera does not have zoom capability and the aircraft is quite loud if it gets up close.

Herbert’s company provides aerial photography and videography services, along with individual and group flight training. They also host several events each year, attend legal panel discussions, security conferences, perform flight demonstrations, have product launches, and provide customer service.

He said that Skygear sells ready-to-fly drones from $29.99 to well over $10,000. They also offer custom solutions that can be specialized for law enforcement, fire companies, agricultural use, cinematography, or even drone racing.

“We believe that with such a new and poorly understood technology that a certain level of after-care is necessary for customer retention and further dissemination of our brand,” Herbert said. “Educating our customers is a priority. Ensuring that safety guidelines are followed as well as maintaining a certain common courtesy to the public is very helpful in preventing unwanted incidents.”

Several events that Skygear Solutions has already done this year include: hosting the Team Delaware leg of International Drone Day with over 300 attendees in March, covering the Newark National Little League season opener and providing aerial footage to the crowds and setting up multiple hands-on displays to hundreds of Little League age boys and girls, and attending the Summit Aviation Community Day in Middletown, Delaware.

Safe UAV Operations Around Low-Flying, Manned Aircraft

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NAA

Its this weeks spot the group running scared campaign.

Let’s Be Fair About Sharing The Air…. Come on chaps really. What about get out the way you massive polluter?

Can you tell the National Agricultural Aviation Associations press release today has got my goat! I think primarily because they call unmanned systems UAV’s and anybody that is serious knows that term went out of fashion several years ago.

Also it sort of tells farmers that they know better and that they are safe hands.

I guess they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. For the association welcoming unmanned aircraft with open arms would be a good thing. Stacks of new members. I suspect there might be a similar if not larger amount of Ag drones out there already. For the current fee paying membership of NAAA this not a good thing.

I personally don’t think UAS are as much of a threat as surveys would suggest. The big numbers you hear have been extrapolated from a different country with a different need and scaled. They make no sense and were a sabre rattle from another dying association. Satellite data will replace what most folks are rushing to do right now.

The EU Copernicus project will map the entire planet every four days and hand out the data for free. Try doing that with a Phantom. Low res to start with but getting ever better. The real money will be in taking that free data and making it actionable. Then Mr Farmer might well use his local RPAS crop sprayer to do the job more efficiently in just the areas required.

Perhaps instead of sharing the air this could really read, Ag pilot transiting my farm get above 500′ and stay out of my way.

I think I am qualified to look at both sides, I am a licensed helicopter pilot and also don’t want to be hit by a Phantom in flight but I think crop dusters are overplaying their hand here.

To ensure that farmers are fully informed before making decisions to operate or contract with a UAV operator, NAAA encourages members to participate in our UAV Safety Education Campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness, foster communication and prevent accidents between UAV operators and low-altitude manned aircraft.

The first public outreach tool in the UAV safety campaign is a specially designed “safety stuffer” that gives aerial applicators the means to make a simple yet bold statement. Use it to educate your customers about the safety concerns agricultural pilots have about hard-to-see UAVs, and to share NAAA’s recommendations for safe and responsible UAV operations in rural areas.

Similar to NAAA’s Wind Tower Safety Stuffers, the new UAV Safety Stuffers are designed to fit into a No. 10 envelope. You don’t have to advertise to get the message out. Simply slip an insert in along with the invoices you normally send to your aerial application customers.

The double-sided safety stuffers are printed on glossy, four-color paper and available in packs of 100. Best of all, the UAV Safety Stuffers are free to NAAA Operator Members. Non-members can get them, too, for $25 per 100-pack. NAAA encourages aerial applicators to order as many packets as they can reasonably use. We will continue to give them away to NAAA Operator Members while supplies last. (Additional postage fees may apply for large orders.)

Let’s Be Fair About Sharing The Air

The UAV Safety Stuffers build on the “Let’s Be Fair About Sharing The Air” campaign NAAA launched in 2010 to promote wind tower safety education.

Crop-sensing and aerial imaging stand at the top of many lists of the most popular uses of civilian UAVs. The fervor among farmers champing at the bit to purchase their own UAV to use for crop monitoring and other purposes has been well documented. What gets lost amid all the rosy projections for UAVs’ commercial uses is the safety concerns of pilots, and in particular the concerns of aerial applicators and other pilots operating near ground and the lower reaches of the airspace.

It’s up to everybody—NAAA, its state association partners and aerial applicators—to educate farmers, crop consultants, ag retailers and the public about safe and responsible UAV operations in rural areas. NAAA’s UAV safety stuffers are one component of that. Each ad ends with a simple plea to UAV operators: “Fly with care.” We invite you to get the conversation started in your area by using NAAA’s UAV Safety Stuffers.

Drone Competitors Take to the Skies as Part of Unmanned Challenge Hosted by Embry-Riddle at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

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20150723_Oshkosh_Day2-4034

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2015 attendees gained hands-on experience at the controls of unmanned flying machines as part of the Small Unmanned Aerospace System (sUAS) Challenge during this year’s fly-in at the 63rd annual Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) convention held July 20-26 in Oshkosh, Wis.

The sUAS Challenge, which featured an obstacle course for the unmanned flying vehicles commonly referred to as drones, was sponsored by EAA and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s aviation mobile interactive exhibit, the Embry-Riddle Experience.

“Not only were the challenges educational for the participants, they served as informative demonstrations for the thousands of fans there at Oshkosh of unmanned capabilities and technology,” said Embry-Riddle Worldwide Assistant Professor David Thirtyacre, who oversees the unmanned demonstrations and challenges for the Embry-Riddle Experience. “Our students get this hands-on experience every day, so it’s really exciting to bring that and what we do best to those who share our passion about aviation and the future of unmanned.”

The competition pitted more than 80 competitors ages 12 to 62 against each other daily with qualifying and elimination rounds resulting in four final competitors racing head-to-head each day. In addition to the daily competitions, more than 200 spectators gathered at the drone cage for “The Manufacturers Cage Match,” featuring professional pilots from UAS manufacturers and hobby stores. Embry-Riddle Daytona Beach, Fla., campus student Kendall Clutts finished first.

“As with traditional manned flight training, Embry-Riddle is positioning itself to provide the highest quality of sUAS flight training available once the FAA certification criteria are established. Our sUAS challenges are another example of our commitment to excellence in flight,” said Embry-Riddle Worldwide Dean of Aeronautics Dr. Ken Witcher. “We are committed to supporting the growing UAS industry through educational programs related to the design, operation, and application of this remarkable technology.”

The Dromida Ominus and Blade 180QX HD systems used in the competitions were supplied by Hobbico and Horizon Hobby LCC. Etched Memories provided the trophies.

Winners:

Monday, July 20 – Nicholas Crofoot of St. Johns, Mich.

Tuesday, July 21 – Bjorn Vasenden of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Ariz., campus

Wednesday, July 22 – Daniel Wilewski of Poplar Grove, Ill.

Thursday, July 23 – Kyle Rickert of Antioch, Ill.

Friday, July 24 – Robin Mox of St Johns, Mich.

Saturday, July 25 – Kendall Clutts of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla., campus (NOTE: Clutts broke the course record with a 19.44-second qualifying run and swept the final round with three back-to-back victories).

About the Embry-Riddle Experience
The 53-foot trailer known as the Embry-Riddle Experience includes unmanned aircraft demonstrations, aviation and unmanned simulators, a virtual crash lab and degree information that demonstrates how Embry-Riddle students, staff and faculty are leading the way into the future of aerospace and aviation. Simulators in the Embry-Riddle Experience provide a variety of fixed-wing, rotary and multirotor aircraft models in realistic operational settings such as airfield and steep soaring slope locales in the bayou, desert and mountains. Another unique feature of the Embry-Riddle Experience is the Virtual Crash Lab (VLAB), which was developed in conjunction with the university’s Aircraft Accident Investigation curriculum and is designed to allow participants to interactively inspect a crashed commercial aircraft. Operators can move and survey the crash site, inspect the fuselage and debris and take photos with the use of Oculus Goggles. The Embry-Riddle Experience travels throughout the country to aviation and engineering shows as well as schools and special events. For more information on the Embry-Riddle Experience, go toerau.edu/follow.

About Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, is a nonprofit, independent institution offering more than 75 baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its colleges of Arts & Sciences, Aviation, Business, Engineering and Security & Intelligence. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., through the Worldwide Campus with more than 125 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and through online programs. The university is a major research center, seeking solutions to real-world problems in partnership with the aerospace industry, other universities and government agencies. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu, follow us on Twitter (@EmbryRiddle) and facebook.com/EmbryRiddleUniversity, and find expert videos at YouTube.com/EmbryRiddleUniv.