InterDrone Podcast

This episode's guest is bringing a voice and organization to the drone pilot community from the ground up. Chris Anderson Drone Trainer started small not knowing square one about drones and is now a seasoned and successful drone business owner teaching others. His Drone Trainer podcast is hands down the largest collection of pilot interviews out there, but that’s really only the tip of the iceberg of the resources and training materials Chris provides free to the pilot community on thedronetrainer.com.

From Chris' unique position he has insights into the practical business side of drone operations from pricing to best practices as well as regulation internationally. He also has the best collection success stories from all the pilots he has interviewed on his podcast. You can’t have a drone program or business without the pilots, and Chris has got them covered as you’ll find out now.

You can find out more about Chris at thedronetrainer.com

His Free Log Book is available here:

https://thedronetrainer.com/free-drone-flight-log-book/

The First PX4 Developer Summit in Zurich marked an inflection point for the developer community and the industry as a whole. More than 200 developers from 20 countries filled the halls of ETH Zurich, the birthplace of PX4, to learn how they could contribute to the fastest growing open source code base for UAVs.

The core developers in the community are committed to making the code base accessible and reliable for the enterprise user down to the hobbyist. During the sessions at the summit, they went over all the advancements being made in the community, the standards being set, and the roadmaps for future rollouts. I was able to pull a few of them aside to share their insights on the community at large, the MAV SDK, computer vision, and more.

This episodes guests:

Ramón Roche, Program Manager at Dronecode

Julian Oes, Senior Software Engineer at Auterion

Jonas Vautherin, Software Engineer at Auterion

Martina Rivizzigno, Computer Vision Engineer at Auterion

Tully Foote, ROS Platform Manager at the Open Source Robotics Foundation

To find out more about what was talked about at the developer summit check out the official show site:

https://www.dronecode.org/dev-summit-zurich/

Launching off the success of the first PX4 developer summit, the core devs from the community will be traveling to Las Vegas to speak at InterDrone this September 3-6. Dronecode has sponsored a special PX4 Track focused on educating the broader drone industry about the benefits of open source and how to successfully utilize PX4 to build custom UAS solutions for their businesses.

Richard Lopez is the National UAS Operation Executive with Hensel Phelps Construction Co., an employee-owned company founded in 1937 that over the last 80 years has grown to be one of the nation’s most recognized general contractors, serving both public and private clients. Richard leads the implementation of new sUAS technology, software, and advancements at Hensel Phelps to increase efficiency and safety on the jobsite while providing valuable information for forecasting, recordkeeping, and as part of the procurement effort.

In this episode we go through all the steps it took to launch a drone program in both the risk averse construction industry and the strict regulatory environment of the 333 exemption era. Since then, Hensel Phelps has evolved its drone program into an example for the entire construction industry to follow. Just recently it received the first-ever waiver to fly over people with the aid of a parachute from the FAA. After hearing Richard talk about what he and his team have done with drones over the last few years, we think you’ll understand why they were the first.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is a non-profit political organization that advocates for general aviation. With the advent of drones they've grown to include remote pilots among their membership. Aside from political advocacy and promoting the safety in the skies, they provide training and legal services to their members. They are on team pilot and looking out for the operators.

Kat Swain is responsible for leading the UAS “Drone” membership and programs at AOPA and joined the association in 2016. Before joining AOPA, Kat was Vice President for Measure UAS, a technology startup providing commercial drone service to several business verticals. Prior to that, Kat worked in innovation for USAA Insurance, developing and leading one of the first insurance drone operations, and held various insurance leadership positions during her fifteen-year tenure.

Find out more about AOPA on their website:

https://www.aopa.org/?utm_source=InterDrone&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=InterDrone%20Podcast&utm_content=Kat%20Swain%20AOPA

If you're trying to obtain a waiver from the FAA you should be looking into SORA. The Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA)guidance represents the consensus of various national aviation authorities on a common process to identify, qualitatively assess, and manage the safety risk posed by unmanned aircraft systems(UAS), when preparing the safety case required for regulatory approval to conduct certain types of operations. It is the de facto standard for assessing the risks of a UAS operation.

To talk about SORA we invited Andy Thurling, Chief Technology Officer at NUAIR, which is the organization that manages the NY UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport. At NUAIR he leads technical research on current and future UAS technologies, evaluates potential paths to implementation and industry standards for approval by regulators, and also test techniques to verify compliance.

Andy was Director of Product Safety and Mission Assurance at AeroVironment in Simi Valley, California.He is active in standards bodies such as ASTM and RTCA and internationally as a subject matter expert to the JARUS working group developing SORA.

You can Dowload the latest version of SORA here:

http://jarus-rpas.org/sites/jarus-rpas.org/files/jar_doc_06_jarus_sora_v2.0.pdf

Isabelle Nyroth grew up in an a family of RC enthusiasts. Becoming a drone pilot was a natural progression for her. These days she's all about the aerial data provided by the automated industrial drones of Airobotics.

We discuss her new role as US Project Manager and how Airobotics helps customers in the mining industry improve safety and efficiency. Airobotics use of Lidar as payload and one of few companies to have BVLOS in multiple countries are also topics of discussion.

Isabelle shares her insight and advice for women working or wanting to work in the drone industry, as well as the importance of getting outside your comfort zone.

https://www.airoboticsdrones.com/

@issabellen

This episode is a kind of a sequel to the previous one. To take you on an in-depth tour of the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) Mark McKinnon of LeClaire Ryan joins the podcast to lend his perspective. Mark has worked for over 25 years in all areas of aviation and transportation law, including litigation, appellate, regulatory and other administrative matters. He is a co-chair of the Dentons US LLP Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) practice and has written and spoken extensively on UAS and aviation matters. He has a great ability to reduce complex legal matters into digestible and actionable insights for business. The ANPRM one of the best ways you can make an impact on future drone regulation. Mark is here to explain why.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) from the FAA are currently up for public commentary and represent a significant opportunity for every player in the drone industry to help shape the future of regulation in the United States.

To discuss the importance of the NPRM and ANPRM, we asked Christopher Korody to join the podcast to outline the documents, the history that got us here, and the potential ways it can shape your own operations for the better.

Christopher is a 45-year marketing veteran with deep experience in the technology, aerospace and automotive sectors. He launched DroneBusiness dot center to provide UAS and robotics companies with the market research, strategy and communication programs necessary to stand out in this crowded marketplace.

Christopher’s weekly newsletter, Dronin’ On, aims to connect the dots in the commercial UAS industry. Chris is who I go to when I need an accurate take on the state of regulation and this week I am sharing his take with you.

Important Links from the Episode:

Drone Business Center

https://dronebusiness.center/subscribe

LeClairRyan Webinar

https://bit.ly/2tUgvD7

Plane.ly Spoken Blog

https://plane-lyspoken.com/

In today’s episode we are going to talk about Illinois’ Mutual Aid Box Alarm System MABAS. Like its statewide technical rescue, water rescue, hazardous materials and US&R capabilities, MABAS is implementing a statewide UAS program that would allow for the deployment of Drone Teams through its mutual aid network.

To speak about MABAS we have Kevin Line and Brendan Stewart joining us today.

Kevin has more than 30 years’ experience in the fire service and is currently the Deputy Operations Section Chief for the (MABAS) in Illinois. Among other titles and accolades he sit on the Emergency Management Accreditation programs Urban Search and Rescue Workgroup and on the State Urban Search and Rescue Alliances Development Committee.

Brendan is the President & Chief Pilot at AeroVista Drone Academy. He has almost a decade of unmanned aviation experience and over 2,500 flight hours to show for it. It his and Aerovista Drone Academy’s mission to make drones the de-facto standard mission critical tool and to equip Fire, Law Enforcement & Public Safety agencies with everything their department needs for efficient and effective drone operations from takeoff to landing.

Judith Sherman is currently the Chief of HIV and AIDS at UNICEF Malawi. Her career in international public health began in 1988. She has been living in Africa since 1992, including Guinea, Morocco, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Her interest in using drones to advance health outcomes began in 2014 with an in-flight magazine and a casual conversation with a drone enthusiast colleague. In 2016, Judith launched UNICEF’s first drone initiative – a feasibility study on using drones to transport laboratory samples for early infant diagnosis of HIV. Since then, she has led efforts to establish Malawi’s drone regulations, develop Africa’s first humanitarian drone air corridor, use drones for emergency preparedness and response, and build local capacity to integrate drone operations and drone-acquired data into development.

Important Links:

https://www.interdrone.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/LVC-Trial-and-Symposium-Summary_rev_DC_2.pdf

https://www.lakevictoriachallenge.org/symposium/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB6Bdr_bglk