Drones, the unmanned flying vehicles now ubiquitous from battlefields to neighborhood parks, are generally restricted for commercial endeavors.
Zooming into this void is Lexington-based Unmanned Services Inc. (USI), which says it’s the first company in the city to receive approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to use drones as a money-making enterprise.
USI provides high-resolution picture, video, and mapping support services with remotely operated unmanned aircraft systems. Company co-founders Manfred Marotta and Chris Stiles pride themselves on offering the only such full-service, legally approved services in central Kentucky.
“There are so many good uses here in the U.S, not just for war,” said Stiles, USI’s president. “People are starting to realize that they’re not just killer drones over in the Middle East.”
Indeed, the possible uses for commercial drones are manifold. Among the services USI provides: real estate property evaluations and reclamations; roof inspections and property insurance claims; land and natural resource surveying for mining and construction sites; agricultural land assessment; search and rescue missions; and event coverage for festivals, concerts and media outlets. Commercial drones can be used for everything from power line inspections for utility companies to aerial coverage of flash flooding for local news stations.
The drones USI uses aren’t the typical remote controlled toys with GoPro camera. Rather, the company employs “prosumer” models, typically weighing less than 10 pounds and equipped with gyro-stabilization technology and adjustable lenses for steady, high-resolution video images. Infrared cameras are also available for uses such as the monitoring of pesticide levels and crop performance. USI charges a flat rate of $150 for event coverage, $150-$200 for real estate video, and an hourly rate for utility companies.
“We’re seeing guys with no experience, and they’re charging $400 an hour,” said Marotta, the company’s CEO. “It’s insane to see that not only are companies paying this, but they’re also in jeopardy of a $10,000 fine from the FAA for every offense.”
Together, Marotta and Stiles boast almost 30 years of field and operational experience in government contracting, unmanned flight training, logistics and customer support. Marotta was a member of a Navy drone squadron and Stiles, an Army veteran, earned a degree in military intelligence in UAV operations. Originally based in Pennsylvania, the pair relocated to Kentucky and incorporated USI in 2011. Yet it was a few mere weeks ago that USI finally gained federal approval.
“Currently Kentucky has no laws on the books as far as drones are concerned,” Stiles said. Moreover, a formal application process for exemptions at the federal level only began in July 2014, he said.
“We’re in a grandfather phase,” Marotta noted.
Though the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act accelerated the use of unmanned drones for commercial purposes, the agency remains understaffed and underfunded. The exemption process also is complex: Drones are prohibited from flying within a 5-mile radius of airports; operators must be licensed pilots; aircrafts must remain below 400 feet and 500 feet from nonparticipants; verbal permission from property owners must be obtained; aircrafts must be registered; companies must submits reports of monthly activity; etc.
Thirteen Kentucky companies have received exemptions, with USI the only one in the central region.
“Just like a physician has to have a license to work on a piece of equipment in a hospital, we have to have a license to operate our piece of equipment in national airspace,” Marotta said.
Now that USI has a federal exemption, its founders have a new focus.
“We keep safety first, even over profit,” Marotta said.
USI’s co-founders vowed to educate the hobbyists who may not understand the federal regulations as well as the illegal flyers who choose to ignore them, operating without exemptions or registered aircrafts.
“A lot of the guys that are coming into the market are traditional RC guys or they’re someone who does aerial photography. They don’t really understand the legal implications,” said Stiles. “So, we also try to educate.”
Marotta and Stiles are working with city and state legislators in the hope of creating and passing a drone privacy bill. Longer-term goals include incorporating drone education into STEM curricula and creating unmanned flight training programs at the collegiate level.
Many experts predict that commercial drones will usher in a multibillion-dollar industry by 2020.
“Imagine the jobs that could be created in Kentucky,” Marotta said.