Learning to fly…
A drone here, a drone there, drones everywhere.
We’ve been writing a lot about emerging technologies and the future of AEC lately. It is THE hot topic at the moment, and it seems to dominate our collective consciousness.
Maybe that is just the circles I move in, we certainly have never been accused of being luddites, but I believe it’s not just us. This is probably because technology moves so rapidly, and it affects our day to day lives to such an extent, that its getting harder and harder to ignore the intersection between the Digital Life, and Digital Work experience.
A good example is the use of Unmaned Aerial Systems (UAS), more commonly known as drones.
Drones are everywhere.
Very rapidly, drones have become smaller, cheaper, more capable, and easier to operate.
As an FAA licensed airplane pilot, I have a particular interest and passion for all things that defy gravity, so naturally, I jumped on the bandwagon at the first opportunity. To get paid for an afternoon’s worth of flying around capturing job site video and photos hardly felt like “work”, and before you knew it, we had built an impressive aerial platform to carry a GoPro, and the obligatory Lego pilot.
Of course, as it happens, you can now go to your local hobby shop and pick up something way more sophisticated for a lot less cash than I put into that drone, and it will get better video to boot. So it was just a matter of time before the phone calls started coming in: “So and So got a drone for his/her birthday and can they bring it to the construction site to take some aerial pictures?” Well, at least they asked. This latest example of a widely available new technology is a perfect illustration of why just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
In this article I’ll dive into this complex topic, try to demystify some of the information around it, and show you why it is worth doing, because the value to be gained is quite remarkable. Just one word of caution however, different countries will have different rules around airspace use and access for drones. I’m familiar only with the USA and the rules the FAA has in place. Even then, this is just my two cents, so do your homework.
Back in 2015, the FAA, responding to the exponential increase of drone usage, and following a string of high-profile reports of airliners full of passengers having near-misses with drones during takeoff and landing, issued some new guidelines essentially banning the use of drones for commercial purposes, and establishing a registry for personal or hobby use drones. At that point, my own drone was grounded, and my employer at the time decided to have a rigid no-drone policy.
If I’ve never been accused of being a luddite, then the FAA has never been accused of being a nimble and swift agency, which is why I resolved at the time not to hold my breath while they figured it out. As luck will have it, this is one area where it seems that the regulations moved at lightning speed, and today we have rules in place that, at least to this observer, seem quite reasonable. I won’t bore you with the details, but you can find out more, and get licensed to operate a commercial UAS rather easily. Visit the FAA website for more: https://www.faa.gov/uas/
If you’ve read this far, then you probably have some interest in this issue, which means that you have also heard recently that personal drones no longer need to be registered with the FAA. Good news for the hobbyist, who should nonetheless still follow my recommendations to follow, but irrelevant if you want to fly over your job site.
Lets go back to our So and So from before. Can they bring their birthday present to the site and get beautiful 4K video of the demolition next week?
NO.
Commercial use of a drone still does require registration, and it must be performed by a licensed pilot. The FAA has a new category under which to license UAS operators, and I would not allow anybody without such certification to fly over persons and property under the care of my company, and neither should you. If a PE on your job, within the site, wearing your company PPE, and being paid to be there because its their job, brings their personal drone and is flying around, is that commercial use? I’m no lawyer, but that is too much liability for my comfort zone. Are you willing to undertake the risk that the thing lands on a laborer? (Those prop bladed are sharp! Mine are carbon fiber and will take a finger off) Or worse, what if the thing lands on a car driving down a neighboring street causing an accident? Modern drones are easy to fly and can be automated, but It’s well within the realm of probability.
So now that I’ve hopefully deterred you from mindlessly allowing drones buzzing around the site, lets figure out how to do it, because trust me, you want 4K video of that demolition next week, or at least your marketing team does. You also want to generate 3D meshes from aerial pictures to calculate your cut/fill status, or compare to your 4D simulations to track schedule deviation, or leverage AI to calculate productivity, and all the other incredible things that you will dream up to do.
The easiest way to do this is to outsource it. There are increasing numbers of providers that you can contract to operate drones on your job site. The provider you choose should hold a current (you should check) Commercial UAS Operator or Remote Pilot certificate under the FAA part 107, and carry insurance on case of any mishap or damage. By being a licensed pilot, they should be familiar with all the regulations around airspace use, and the tools available to ensure compliance, as well as know how to get fly in controlled airspace, and properly report any incident per the regulations. Anything having to do with flying objects of any kind, is heavily regulated, and certification is the only way to have access to all that information.
Even if you outsource the work, it is important to have your safety department in the loop to make sure they approve, and are looking at drone operation with a safety mindset. You should also insist on a flight plan ahead of time. A good flight plan should include research on the airspace classification above the site, proximity to airports, site specific hazards such as neighboring buildings, power lines, trees, etc. And weather information. Any wind over 15 miles per hour was enough to ground our drone, especially in an urban site.
If you prefer to keep things in-house, you can designate those with an interest to be your drone ‘champions’ and task them with becoming certified by the FAA. The process is relatively easy, and not very costly at all. Your drone champions can then be armed with the right information, and knowledge to create the above mentioned flight plans, and work with your safety teams to draft a drone policy that you can get behind. This is what I’ve included in such a policy in the past, and I believe it may be a good starting point:
Any drone operator must be FAA Certified under part 107.
All flights to include an additional, non operating observer.
Prior to any flight, a site specific flight plan must be filed.
No flying in inclement weather.
No flying in heavily congested urban sites (site specific risk assessment).
Flying to take place at low activity times.
I’m rather conservative when it comes to this stuff, but it’s better to start from a point of safety.
Management, legal, and safety departments should be involved in drafting this policy, and the job’s insurance policy should include UAS operation, some exclude them, so make sure to check, even if you are outsourcing the work. If something happens, who do you think they lawyers will go after? The sole proprietor drone operator, or the multi-million dollar general contractor?
If you really want to take what you can get out of drones to the next level, there are ways to automate drones, so that they fly the same route day after day taking photos at the same spot to track progress, use sensors to analyze ll kinds of data, and even feed Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning systems to do things that seem like science fiction, but it’s happening, at a staggering pace. Check out our friends at http://www.alive.ai/drones-and-robots/ and prepare to have your mind blown. Construction is a relatively new market for this technology, but the path has been paved by agriculture, oil & gas, power distribution, etc.
The sky is quite literally the limit.
