I would be happy to come out, in the past few months I have done over a half a dozen demos, Recently I got asked from LAFD fire to fly for the MOBEX exercise, the mayor of LA ,national guard, LA county fire etc, recently just finished a demo with Glendale. SWAT, fire scope , LAPD Swat, I wanted to show the safe use of a UAS system and the benefits they can bring to , active shooter, Urban search and rescue, etc.
Promoting Commercial sUAS.
- Thread starter Av8Chuck
- Start date
Av8Chuck
Member
That would be great if you could be there. I'll send you a PM, I have a few questions.
Thanks
Av8Chuck
Member
And who say's good old fashioned PR doesn't work? Well, actually I'm not a subscriber to this paper so I don't actually know what it says but we're the first picture that comes up for the article.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/local-ne...st-coasts-greatest-variety-of-planes_96115986
http://www.vcstar.com/news/local-ne...st-coasts-greatest-variety-of-planes_96115986
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SamaraMedia
Active Member
Nice going Chuck! Hope the article is positive, judging by the headline - which includes no mention of "Drones" - I would guess you won't be the focus of the story and since I'm not a digital subscriber I won't be able to read it either. Congrats!
Av8Chuck
Member
I want to let you know what’s happened regarding the Camarillo Air Show and what I’m thinking about doing next.
Last Thursday I flew at the media day event, went great, several journalists were interested in sUAS and mentioned it in their coverage of the show.
Things seemed to be going well, busy writing and editing then I got a call from the Air Show Boss informing me that I needed to be a member of the AMA [Academy of Model Aeronautics], which I’m not so we agreed on a pilot that was and who would fly the demonstration. The Next day he called again and informed me that the FAA considered having a booth and flying the demo a commercial activity, even though I wasn't flying, so I had to choose one or the other, I chose the booth and things seemed to be OK again. Finally, yesterday I was told that the FAA had threatened to revoke the Air Show’s permit if I had a booth there. Needless to say I’m not having a booth.
First I want to express both my frustration with this process at the same time my appreciation for your contribution to it. It will take me a few days to gather my thoughts but this experience has only served to strengthen my resolve. I have sent this message to everyone who contributed footage for the booth video, if you contributed and have not received a PM or email from me please let me know. I'd also like to thank filmfly for contributing the dialog for the announcer, Kloner and CameraJ for volunteering to come to the event and answer questions at the booth.
I don’t know how effective this kind of advocacy could ultimately be but judging from the FAA’s initial reaction it certainly got their attention, not sure if that’s a good thing... I’d like to continue with the development of the www.sUASBusinessAlliance.org website and organization, I’d also like to hear any thoughts regarding this.
So please let me know your thoughts and impressions and thanks very much for your contributions.
Last Thursday I flew at the media day event, went great, several journalists were interested in sUAS and mentioned it in their coverage of the show.
Things seemed to be going well, busy writing and editing then I got a call from the Air Show Boss informing me that I needed to be a member of the AMA [Academy of Model Aeronautics], which I’m not so we agreed on a pilot that was and who would fly the demonstration. The Next day he called again and informed me that the FAA considered having a booth and flying the demo a commercial activity, even though I wasn't flying, so I had to choose one or the other, I chose the booth and things seemed to be OK again. Finally, yesterday I was told that the FAA had threatened to revoke the Air Show’s permit if I had a booth there. Needless to say I’m not having a booth.
First I want to express both my frustration with this process at the same time my appreciation for your contribution to it. It will take me a few days to gather my thoughts but this experience has only served to strengthen my resolve. I have sent this message to everyone who contributed footage for the booth video, if you contributed and have not received a PM or email from me please let me know. I'd also like to thank filmfly for contributing the dialog for the announcer, Kloner and CameraJ for volunteering to come to the event and answer questions at the booth.
I don’t know how effective this kind of advocacy could ultimately be but judging from the FAA’s initial reaction it certainly got their attention, not sure if that’s a good thing... I’d like to continue with the development of the www.sUASBusinessAlliance.org website and organization, I’d also like to hear any thoughts regarding this.
So please let me know your thoughts and impressions and thanks very much for your contributions.
stitch1615
Member
I would be compelled to contact the FAA and find out what authority they have to threatening withholding a permit because you have a vendor booth.
I would go to the tower at that airport and request a letter stating their thought process.
I would almost guess that the Air Show boss felt threatened in some way and he made the choice.
They may prevent you from flying, and I don't understand that because our RC club has flown at numerous airshow events over the years.
My guess is you will find this was more a second thought by the airshow boss then the FAA.
Of course,, then we have an agency that feels empowered to do whatever they please no matter the rules.
Flying could be considered commercial but a static booth would have had no conflict with the regs at all and should have been allowed. You got screwed buddy.
I would go to the tower at that airport and request a letter stating their thought process.
I would almost guess that the Air Show boss felt threatened in some way and he made the choice.
They may prevent you from flying, and I don't understand that because our RC club has flown at numerous airshow events over the years.
My guess is you will find this was more a second thought by the airshow boss then the FAA.
Of course,, then we have an agency that feels empowered to do whatever they please no matter the rules.
Flying could be considered commercial but a static booth would have had no conflict with the regs at all and should have been allowed. You got screwed buddy.
Av8Chuck
Member
I guess the same right that says its legal if your one class of citizen [hobbyist], and illegal if your another [professional] because you some how profited from your involvement in sUAS. The interesting, and most frustrating thing about this experience is that it had nothing to do with flying, the MR is by far the most benign thing flying, it had nothing to do with safety and everything to do with message.
Av8Chuck
Member
Regarding the demo video
A couple of quick but important issues. I wanted to get the video into the hands of everyone who had contributed to it as quickly as I could before announcing what happened in this thread. Although I mentioned that its not complete and that I still had to watermark it, unfortunately in my haste I didn't stop to think that it should have been watermarked before sending it each of you so I have removed the file and will upload the watermarked version once I've completed it.
Also if you have contributed footage could you please email what you'd like your watermark to be to me directly at Av8Chuck@verizon.net. Sorry I know most of you have replied to this request before but it became rather confusing trying to match up real names with online names and footage so I'm trying to make sure I get this right.
Finally, for now, the link to sUASBusinessAlliance.org doesn't go anywhere yet, I just needed to register it so I could create the banners for the booth.
Sorry for causing any confusion.
A couple of quick but important issues. I wanted to get the video into the hands of everyone who had contributed to it as quickly as I could before announcing what happened in this thread. Although I mentioned that its not complete and that I still had to watermark it, unfortunately in my haste I didn't stop to think that it should have been watermarked before sending it each of you so I have removed the file and will upload the watermarked version once I've completed it.
Also if you have contributed footage could you please email what you'd like your watermark to be to me directly at Av8Chuck@verizon.net. Sorry I know most of you have replied to this request before but it became rather confusing trying to match up real names with online names and footage so I'm trying to make sure I get this right.
Finally, for now, the link to sUASBusinessAlliance.org doesn't go anywhere yet, I just needed to register it so I could create the banners for the booth.
Sorry for causing any confusion.
SamaraMedia
Active Member
Funny how less than a week earlier the FAA gave you permission to do the "media day" event at the airport but now you can't even have a booth? And they wonder why most of us don't trust them to make a good decision on the future of this hobby/business! Talk about Flip-Flop. Maybe it was two different divisions of the FAA that made the decisions or they felt that the positive media play you got during the demo would be disastrous to their public perception of "drone" use by the general public or commercial business.
Thanks for all your effort on this Chuck.
stitch1615
Member
I guess one could file an FIA request for any internal memos concerning UAV's, drones and Multicopters to see what they are actually saying behind our backs.
Perhaps that will come up in the lawsuit. I'd suggest a wait and see as to how that irons out.
I have no doubt that some correspondence to regional offices exist and they have been given some order's concerning the matter.
Regional chiefs will then interpret those to their own understanding and act as they would in most matters.
Some chiefs are very reasonable people and others are complete and utter morons. Kind of like "Drone" pilots.
One thing that might help is if we don't fly "Drones" then stop calling them drones.
The public perception of drones will not change anytime soon with the media continually calling anything that flies without a pilot a drone.
Another thing may be to keep a low profile and not blast your every move across Youtube and the Net.
If you have a shoot to do, just do it , get paid and move on. The world and the FAA don't have to know about it.
Stop bragging about all your FPV exploits.
That's my, "Never Solicited, Always Offered", 2 cents.
kloner
Aerial DP
If you held up any multi rotor and asked 100 people what that is 99% will say drone.... sometimes you don't get to make choices like this,,, bet every search platform wished everybody didn't say google it....
was just curious what the definition of drone is these days,,, there we are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drone
It's really gonna suck working with these guys for quite a while..... all the old dogs will have to move along to make decent judgment from them a reality from more than a limited few sources.....
was just curious what the definition of drone is these days,,, there we are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drone
It's really gonna suck working with these guys for quite a while..... all the old dogs will have to move along to make decent judgment from them a reality from more than a limited few sources.....
That's usually the time you & the airshow BOSS gather your legal councils and have them contact the FAA. Threatening to revoke their permit on baseless things is not only immoral but illegal and malpractice.
Same with forcing their hand on denying you a booth.
Please expand. I haven't seen any laws that deny me, a permanent resident in the US, to start a business and use sUAV's to benefit my company (and lower the risk to humans, save other companies money, etc).
Maybe the FAA should be more concern about those large UAV's the military is flying near me...
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Av8Chuck
Member
I think most commercial sUAS is done exactly that way, well below the radar but one thing I noticed trying to pull this together is that here in the US people are getting fed up to the point that they are willing to take this issue on publicly. The reason that's important is in part because when I was editing together the footage that so many contributed from area's where sUAS is legal, it was appreciably better than most of the footage that I see coming from the US. They can go out and shoot freely, without the threat of being prosecuted, share the footage, give and receive feedback openly which I believe is resulting in an iterative process that's resulting in much better overall quality. Short version, they get paid to practice...
Personally, I'm tired of having to look over my shoulder and worry about what I post online, not because of safety concerns but because I don't want to get busted. I'm not a criminal.
Another thing that really annoyed me was how hard everyone who had volunteered for the last year organizing and setting up this show worked, and a bureaucrat who's job it is, who gets paid to oversee this sort of thing could so cavalierly threaten to cancel it. Talk about the total miss use of power
Personally, I'm tired of having to look over my shoulder and worry about what I post online, not because of safety concerns but because I don't want to get busted. I'm not a criminal.
Another thing that really annoyed me was how hard everyone who had volunteered for the last year organizing and setting up this show worked, and a bureaucrat who's job it is, who gets paid to oversee this sort of thing could so cavalierly threaten to cancel it. Talk about the total miss use of power