10 Reasons for Drones & More...

This week drones got a bit of a bad rap because they disrupted air traffic at Madrid Airport in Spain. In the video below you will the live interview I did with TRT World where I give my take on the incident.

Drones are replacing helicopters, crop dusters, pilots and lots more and are being used for the following:

1. Amazon is launching its drone delivery service and they are so invested that they have designed their own drone. Jeff Bezos is a great believer in technology.

2. Medicine & pizza delivery by drone. Flirtey is a drone company founded by After graduating, Sweeny co-founded Flirtey with Ahmed Haider and Tom Bass in 2013, as the first drone delivery service in the world. He moved to the United States in 2014 and based his company in Reno in Nevada, because the city was chosen by the Federal Aviation Administration as one of six test sites for commercial drones. He partnered with the University of Nevada, Reno, established a Flirtey office on campus and hired graduates from the university’s Unmanned Autonomous Systems program.

In 2018, Sweeny was included on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list.

3. Movies. We have seen this industry substitute helicopters for drones, bringing the cost of aerial footage down big time.

4. Police & Fire Departments. Police use drones for mapping areas, crime scene investigation, tracking criminals and lots more. For Fire Departments, education is an important element in spreading the word about the effectiveness of drones for fire applications. A fire department might choose to implement a drone program after they experience a situation in which a drone would have been a useful asset. Drones can be helpful for hazardous materials protection, search-and-rescue, and wildfire applications.

The value of a drone is really down to providing better information for decision-making. In the case of a hazardous material spill, for example, a drone can provide information much faster than it would take personnel to don hazmat garments to approach an area safely; there is also no risk to life.

A drone can provide a 360-degree view of a single-family house fire within seconds, this application is useful to the police and fire department. A thermal imaging camera mounted on a drone can provide instant feedback on hot spots and where the fire is moving. Some drones can drop payloads; for example, they can drop a life jacket to a swimmer or a radio to someone who is trapped. Drones can also be helpful in training, providing high-level views to document activity for evaluation after the fact. 

Communication with a drone is localized between the drone and the remote control. A smart phone or tablet can be plugged into the drone’s remote to communicate images across the Internet. The remote’s HDMI output also allows a drone’s image to be displayed on a TV monitor.

5.Traffic Watch. This was originally done by helicopter or light aircraft and now being done by drones, reducing operating costs.

6. Agriculture. Agricultural drones let farmers see their fields from the sky. This bird's-eye view can reveal many issues such as irrigation problems, soil variation, and pest and fungal infestations. Multispectral images show a near-infrared view as well as a visual spectrum view. The combination shows the farmer the differences between healthy and unhealthy plants, a difference not always clearly visible to the naked eye. Thus, these views can assist in assessing crop growth and production.

Additionally, the drone can survey the crops for the farmer periodically to their liking. Weekly, daily, or even hourly, pictures can show the changes in the crops over time, thus showing possible “trouble spots”. Having identified these trouble spots, the farmer can attempt to improve crop management and production. Another application is drones repacing crop-dusters.

7. Construction Business. Whether you're building an apartment complex, a villa or a golf course, drones can help. Through the actual construction phase, drones can be used in many ways to increase the efficiency of project management and keep construction on schedule. Using drones for construction, you can track progress regularly, providing detailed progress reports. Drones can take daily assessments of project status, materials, and assets. If problems occur, drone video footage can provide a documented timeline of where the problem originated and how to rectify it through repair or design alterations. Drones also allow owners to view their property whenever they wish, providing them with knowledge and ease of mind about their project. Drone surveys can also be used to quickly and accurately demonstrate project progress in order to bill the client for the amount of the project that has been completed.

8.Military. We recently saw the US military take out terrorists in Iran, using drone technology. This is gradually replacing soldiers in many missions, bringing costs down but also not putting soldiers' lives at risk.

9.Environmental & Conservation. Professionals such as environmental engineers, researchers and conservationists are turning to drones in place of slower terrestrial surveying equipment, lower-resolution satellite imagery and expensive – and sometimes unavailable – manned aircraft services. Some of these applications are coastal management, monitoring floods, tracking wild animals and many more.

10.Security. Whether helping boost security at a prison or keeping your private residence safe from intruders, drones are great at enhancing security.

Fabrizio Poli is founder of Biz Jet TV.. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker & has been featured on Russia Today (RT), TRT World, Social Media Examiner, Bloomberg, Channel 5, Chicago Tribune, Daily Telegraph, City Wealth Magazine, Billionaire.com, Wealth X, Financial Times, El Financiero and many other Media offering insight on the aviation world. Fabrizio is also regularly featured as an Aviation Analyst on Russia Today (RT) and TRT World. Fabrizio is also aviation advisor & correspondent for Billionaire Chronicle Magazine Fabrizio is also considered one of the world's top 30 experts in using Linkedin for business. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube available both in video & audio. You can also follow Fabrizio's aviation videos on Biz Jet TV  Fabrizio is also a published author.