Moving to Getting-Handsy.com

Hello Everyone!

I have created a new official website, Getting-Handsy.com.  

I have moved everything over to this new site, and will plan on only updating that.  So head over there and check it out!

Thanks!!!!

- Zach

Drones/UAVs and Exemption 333

Drones/UAVs

Recently our insurance agency has jumped feet first into the Drone/UAV insurance market.  It's new and exciting, and from the sounds of things, only going to get bigger in the near future!

(I've heard that the estimate for drones being sold during Christmas will be over 1 million...)

We decided that since we were insuring these UAVs, that we should at least have one.

First we looked at building our own.  There are tons of parts and kits out there, so we went looking for a professional who might be able to tell us more about it.  We ended up at a local hobby store, Hobby Haven.  They gave us tons of options if we just wanted to buy the parts, but also said if we were looking to just get into drone flying, that it might be easier and cheaper to buy a pre-assembled beginner-type drone.

Then they asked an important question, "what do you want to do with the drone?"

We hadn't really thought about it.  We just wanted one to say we had one.  Were we just going to fly it in our back yard for fun?  Did we want to First Person View race (google/youtube it, you won't be disappointed)?  Or did we want to take pictures and videos?  Those are the main 3 things we had considered, and each requires a different type of drone.

We decided that we would start with a picture/video drone and go from there.  We picked up a Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K.

My father and I with the new Typhoon

Quick first flight of our Typhoon

The Typhoon is on the pricier side, running about $1300 or so, but that's because it comes with a number of safety features (button to return it "home", smart/follow mode, etc) and a camera that can take professional pictures and video.  Our thought was that if we wanted to get into the commercial side of drone use, then we needed a drone that was capable of fulfilling those requirements, and the Typhoon met them.  

Which leads us to...

Commercial Use and Exemption 333

The FAA is the Federal Aviation Administration.  They are the governmental agency that regulates and oversees our (the U.S.A.'s) skies.  Because Drones/UAVs fly in the sky, they have to be regulated by the FAA, and for the last number of years the FAA has been trying to come up with rules for UAVs.  Technically UAVs fall under the hobby, model aircraft rules that are already on the books, but since UAVs are a hot topic, it seems like the FAA has decided to make new rules specifically for these.

There seems to be a lot of confusion, frustration, anger, etc when talking about the FAA's proposed (or lack there of) rules for UAVs.  I'm not going to get into that, but what I will say is that currently in order to do commercial operations (such as photography with the intent to sell photos) "legally" with a drone, you must use the Commercial rules for regular Aircraft.  

This leads to some problems because, if you didn't know, drones are NOT large manned aircraft.  Most drones are no where near the size of regular aircraft; they don't run on the same fuel; they don't require a pilot riding in the drone...and the differences continue from there.  Because of these differences, if a person/company wants to use a drone for commercial operations, they must file for an Exemption to the Aircraft rules (commonly known as Exemption 333).  

Our Experience

Once we acquired our drone, we decided we might as well go through this Exemption process, as many of our clients have.  That way we would know what they went through, and if we so chose, we could use our drone commercially as well.  I took an afternoon at work to try and figure out what we needed to do to file our exemption.  After about 3 or 4 hours of research, I had written our company name and address....that is all I could figure out.  It is a complicated process, and completely based on regular Aviation/Aircraft.  

We ended up sending our information to a lawyer that my father had done a UAV Podcast with,  Enrico Schaefer, of Dronelaw.pro, who specializes in the Exemption 333 process.  They asked us some questions, and then put together the whole thing.  Currently, our exemption is awaiting approval, which they say can take anywhere from 60 - 180 days to just acknowledge, let alone approve (or something like).

Again, it's a long complicated process and it helped having someone who specializes in providing the information the FAA is looking for.

My Biggest Complaint

The main complaint I have with the current rules for commercial UAV operations is that you must have a pilot's license.  This affects me personally, which is probably why it's the biggest problem I have with it.  

I don't have a pilot's license.  I have never wanted to fly regular aircraft.  It's not my thing...but drones look fun, and they are much cheaper to own than an actual aircraft.  Also, with my years of experience playing video games, I felt like I wouldn't have a problem flying them...and I haven't.  I'm not saying I'm a professional UAV pilot by any means, but I flew it for 15 mins for the first flight, and didn't crash....didn't have any close calls...nothing.  It was super simple.  In the 2-3 weeks we've owned it, I've flown about 45 mins (not a whole lot, ya, but the batteries only last 15 mins).  All the flights we have made so far have been with high winds, and we haven't had any problems at all.

My point is, why do you need Private Pilot experience to fly a UAV?  It doesn't make sense.  The only crossover, that I can find, is not based on skill, but based on rules.  If you are a Private Pilot, you should know the rules of the US Airspace.  That is something I don't know, but could easily google if I needed to.  But besides that, any kid who plays Mario Cart, or a First Person Shooter can fly one of these drones.  The requirement is a big joke...but anyway...

In Conclusion

So long story short: drones are fun, working with the FAA is not fun.

If you have a chance to fly a drone, do it.  It's been a fun experience, and I am actually looking forward to getting a second Drone for racing (First Person View is neat!).

This isn't technically FPV, but as close as I can get currently

- Zach