Drones taking over

[old]

so it’s become apparent in movies, news, advertising and more that drone footage is taking a big slice of what was once heli work. Is anybody here worried? Is anybody here making money using or maintaining drones? Should we be?

[hybrid]

1 hour ago, old said:

so it’s become apparent in movies, news, advertising and more that drone footage is taking a big slice of what was once heli work. Is anybody here worried? Is anybody here making money using or maintaining drones? Should we be?

They are scanning fires at night as well...

[Heliian]

The pay is bad enough in the manned sector, I imagine a drone operator or tech doesn't make that much at the moment.  Since they're designed to fly themselves, an actual pilot isn't needed and since no live cargo is aboard, no one really cares if a rotor falls off.

At the moment, movie/tv production is done by very few companies and it's not essential to life either as we now know, so that's not really a big loss to the industry.  

Scanning fires, I have always thought was done poorly and a waste of time.  The equipment was weak and the coverage wasn't great either, I don't know about the drone scanning equipment, but I'm assuming it's even more lightweight and low power.  The range and flight times would be crap too i think.  The best solution would be to use space based IR systems that could scan a fire continuously and with accuracy.

 

I have no doubt that UAS's are going to continue to progress and become more prevalent in life but I also see the flipside.  There will always be need for real aircraft, you just have to stay on top of the revenue streams and maybe find new ones.

 

[sirlandsalot]

Movie filming from a helicopter is a very small industry, and it sucks trying to give a nagging cameraman/photographer his shot.  Scanning is boring, there is not much work doing it and you have to get up too early. Drones can have it.

[RDM-1]

15 hours ago, Heliian said:

I imagine a drone operator or tech doesn't make that much at the moment. 

Hmmm.... from what I have actually seen I was amazed at what they are making. Maybe it was just this one operator I witnessed. 

A friend reguired a shoot for a adverstizing promo. The "crew" some dude and his wife showed up in a small SUV with one larger ToughBox in the back. Of course being somewhat curious I asked the cost of such a peice of kit. Reply, $2500.00.

Cost to friend for flight and editing of film $1700.00. 

Seems you would not need a lot of revenue trips to pay it off!!!!!!

Plus, it is better for the enviroment (f##k think I threw up in my mouth)

[Heliian]

3 hours ago, RDM-1 said:

Hmmm.... from what I have actually seen I was amazed at what they are making. Maybe it was just this one operator I witnessed. 

A friend reguired a shoot for a adverstizing promo. The "crew" some dude and his wife showed up in a small SUV with one larger ToughBox in the back. Of course being somewhat curious I asked the cost of such a peice of kit. Reply, $2500.00.

Cost to friend for flight and editing of film $1700.00. 

Seems you would not need a lot of revenue trips to pay it off!!!!!!

Plus, it is better for the enviroment (f##k think I threw up in my mouth)

lol, if their equipment only cost 2500 and they only charged 1700 then that's still just enthusiast level.  Just a good quality camera is thousands of dollars, proper video editing equipment and software and the time to edit videos is also thousands of dollars.  

In any case, I was  thinking more of heavier commercial drone operations. 

[Amphibious]

6 hours ago, RDM-1 said:

Plus, it is better for the enviroment (f##k think I threw up in my mouth)

The drones are made of a lot of plastic, a petrochemical derivative

They are made in China.  Human rights abuses, Environmental disaster, Covid, Sars, etc

Lithium mining for the batteries has a massive carbon footprint.

 

Better for the Environment?  Debatable.

[chopterlol]

.

[RDM-1]

2 hours ago, Amphibious said:

8 hours ago, RDM-1 said:

Plus, it is better for the enviroment (f##k think I threw up in my mouth)

The drones are made of a lot of plastic, a petrochemical derivative

They are made in China.  Human rights abuses, Environmental disaster, Covid, Sars, etc

Lithium mining for the batteries has a massive carbon footprint.

 

Better for the Environment?  Debatable.

Can someone please direct me to the emoji of the little red guy banging his head against a brick wall!

[vortex]

Once high definition live satellite imaging becomes available it will eat into even more aerial observation work. Even the drones will lose work..