Have you been contemplating in house drone operations for your business? Maybe even becoming a competitor for Drone Inspections Melbourne? You aren’t alone. It seems like in the past few years, more and more companies have been jumping into the UAV game. And why not? Drone mapping offers a savings of three times the cost compared to more traditional methods of data capture.They make a lot of sense, as long as you understand the commitment you are making.
Are Drone Operations Right For Your Business?
While you may have a strong use case for drones and a great understanding of the benefits they could offer your company – what next? Diving into the research can lead you down a long rabbit hole that you may never come out of. Firstly, there are more laws and regulations than you have probably ever thought possible. On top of this, you need a license and insurance, and then have to put in place operations procedures and manuals.
Once these are in place, it’s important to train your staff and nominate someone as Chief Remote Pilot. This person will need to understand everything about drone operations, which means a big investment in time and education.
For something that is meant to save you money, there are a lot of upfront costs to think about just to get started. You would need to invest about $10,000 over a three month period just to get yourself set up. This, of course, takes away resources from other areas of the business. Who has time for that? Though there are many commercial uses for drones, one must work out if getting your own drone is worth the effort.
It’s at this point that many businesses throw it into the ‘too hard’ basket. The fact is, while it can be overwhelming to begin with, if you approach drones with both eyes open and an understanding of the investment of your time and money, you will be more likely to succeed in the long run. Drone operations are an investment, and one that will pay off in time. Here’s everything you need to consider before setting them up in your business.
How To Get Started
There is so much to consider when it comes to implementing drone operations in your business. Here we will try and break it down as much as possible to give you the best overview of what to expect.
- The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) states, “If you intend to fly your drone for or at work (commercially), there are extra rules you must follow. You may need a remote pilot licence(RePL) or fly in the excluded category (sub-2 kilogram)”. If you are going down the path of in house operations, it’s often best to have everyone get their RePL. Operating under the sub-2 kilogram category has a lot of restrictions, making it not worth your while to try and work around. Courses for RePL range from place to place, but companies like Total RPA or UAV Air are great and priced accordingly. Expect to pay $2500 + GST per person for your RePL.
- Once your team is trained, you then need to nominate someone to take the role of Chief Remote Pilot (CRP). Their role is to oversee all operations with a clear understanding of the rules and regulations.They are also responsible for all maintenance and documentation going forward.
- Once you have some in place as CRP, your company needs to apply for an ARN number and your Remotely Piloted Aircraft Operating Certificate (ReOC).This allows you to earn money for flying, employ remote pilot licence (RePL) holders and fly outside the drone safety rules – also known as the standard operating conditions.
- Next, you will need to apply to CASA for your Operation Procedures and Manuals. These are legally binding documents that you must follow and abide by. With the ReOC, you will need to know what UAVs you will be operating such as Phantoms, Matrice 600 or Matrice 210. The best and quickest way to gain your organisation’s ReOC is by going through a company like Total RPA. They will write up all the documentation required for you to gain your ReOC at a cost of about $1595 + GST. You can also go through CASA, but there is a very long wait time for these documents to be processed and it can sometimes take up to 3 months to have everything approved. A third party can get it done within two to three weeks.
- With the documents ready to go, all your company now needs is to pass the final assessment that is required to be officially named as the CRP. This is a scenario based assessment. You will be given a mockup job scenario and will need to put forward a case using your Operation Procedures and Manuals on how you would complete the job. As part of the assessment, you need to have about an hour-long conversation with someone talking about the “job” and also asking questions in regards to the laws and the Procedures and Manuals.
Once your CRP passes assessment, you are on your way to having an in house drone operation. Pretty cool, right! Now all you need to do is understand how cameras and lenses work, the basics of Photogrammetry if you are planning on creating digital 3D models and making sure you have all the right equipment for whatever job you are planning on doing. Easy! Easy yes, but there are also some cons of using drones. Read here.
If this sounds like exactly what your business needs, but don’t have the resources to get the ball rolling right now, then another option is to find a drone operator that suits your needs. At Kapcher, we offer a wide range of services, including drone operations, and can cater to all industries. We remove the painful process of having to set everything up, maintaining all the documentation of every flight, dealing with airspace clearances and approvals. We take on these painful processes that would otherwise cost you time and money, to offer a smooth and hassle-free process.