Drone Operators: What goes on behind the scenes!
As a customer of a drone operator you might think you’re just paying for some aerial photos but you probably don’t realise what goes on behind the scenes both before and after the operator has left your site. This blog post is to help you understand all the work that goes into each and every flight and to help you understand what it is exactly you are paying for.
Whenever an enquiry hits my inbox, my very first starting point is to ask myself “is this flight feasible?”. Can I give the customer what they are asking for and can I do it safely. At this stage all this might entail is a quick look on google maps at the site and it’s surroundings, working out things like where I might take off from and where I might need to fly to in order to get the shot they desire etc. If it looks feasible I can also gauge how much work might be required to conduct the flight and provide the customer with an accurate quote. If I can’t come to a conclusion I might even make a site visit to assess feasibility in person.
Once the customer has accepted the quote and requested the work to be done the real hard work starts. A thorough risk assessment is completed for the site. The purpose of the risk assessment is to try to identify hazards such as:
Radio Interference
Airports and Other Aircraft
People
Buildings
Obstructions
etc
The list goes on but once we’ve got a complete list of potential hazards we then have to weigh up their likelihood and severity given the location. Risk is then calculated for each hazard (Risk = Likelihood x Severity) and we use a matrix as follows to determine if the risk is acceptable or not:
This is Hampshire Aerial Photos Risk Assessment Matrix
Where the risk is considered unacceptable we seek mitigation to try and either A) reduce the likelihood of the incident occurring (e.g. if the risk was associated with crashing into a building due to GPS interference, we might consider doing the flight in Atti mode. The risk of crashing into the building is still present and the severity is the same but the likelihood is reduced)
or B) Reduce the severity once it does occur (e.g. if the risk was associated with crashing into a person and critically injuring them, we might consider using rotor guards. The risk of crashing into a person is still present and the likelihood is the same but the severity of the outcome is reduced).
The fun doesn’t stop there, once we’ve packed all our equipment and arrived on site we conduct a walkthrough of the planned flight. Battery time is critical so it’s much better to plan what you’re going to do on the ground rather then when you get up in the air and wasting battery. The walkthrough also serves as a means to confirm the risk assessment and ensure all the mitigation is in place.
The next task is to brief the rest of the crew to ensure everyone is aware of their responsibilities during the flight and also the customer to ensure they are aware of the dangers. Only when all of the above is complete are we ready…”ALL CLEAR, POWERING UP!!!!”
After the flight is complete and the crew debriefed and thorough inspection of the aircraft is completed and logbook updated and then it’s back to the office to start processing the photos and videos.
