Zoom Aerial Photography Gathers Information From the Air

from geelongadvertiser.com.au

PUBLIC perception associating drones with sinister destruction paints an unfair picture of what the unmanned devices can do, Zoom Aerial’s Warwick Renton Gibb said.

“They were certainly born out of the military,’’ Mr Renton-Gibb said. “And everyone has this thing about drones and Afghanistan but there are so many applications which are terribly useful.’’

He and business partner John Lyons are behind Zoom Aerial Photography, a new business operating out of Freshwater Creek and offering the services of a number of drones.

Both airline pilots, the men came to the business with close to 70 years combined experience with aircraft which, incidentally, is exactly what drones are classified as.

Try shooting one out of the sky and you’d be charged with an act of terrorism.

“Say there was suspected animal cruelty and the RSPCA wanted to check it out,’’ Mr Lyons said. “And the farmer, rather than have that cruelty be detected, might come out with a gun. He’d be a terrorist in the eye of the law.’’

The idea for going ahead with the drone business, apart from an ongoing fascination with aviation, is a retirement plan for Mr Lyons and a Plan B for Mr Renton-Gibb who broke both ankles in a paragliding accident and is uncertain whether he will be able to pass the strict medical to fly large aircraft again.

“We identified a number of areas which require flying and thought this was good because we have an interest in photography and an interest in agriculture,’’ Mr Lyons said. “We were able to generate a suite of operation manuals to satisfy CASE (Civil Aviation Safety Authority).’’

Weighing less than 800 grams, made from polystyrene and costing more than $40,000, a drone provides an alternative to more costly methods of information-gathering including manned aircraft or a team of surveyors.

“Getting a helicopter or aeroplane is hellishly expensive and if the weather is crappy you’re not going to be able to see through the cloud anyway,’’ Mr Renton-Gibb said. “It would take four or five surveyors four days to do what 15 minutes of flying this does. We back that up with about 12 hours of processing the information.”

Half-a-day of Zoom Aerial sampling and processing costs around $1500.

Applications include inspecting blades on wind farms, a job which needs to be done regularly due to the huge safety factors issues involved with the turbines and involves a person rappelling down each blade. The job with a drone takes less than 15 minutes.

Another type of drone, propeller driven, and pictured, is more suited for cinematography, videography and general graphics.

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