UAS News Podcast — 2012-08-23
Transcript
Hello everyone and welcome to another installment in a series of ongoing podcasts where we discuss the issues and news that are relevant to the global unmanned technologies community. We interview the newsmakers. Although we don't have any guests today, we do have your host here, Patrick Egan, and we'll say a big hello to our co-host, Gene Robinson. Gene?
Hello, Patrick. Good morning. How are you, sir?
I know it's early for you. Well, it's not as early as it would usually be. I'm out here. I feel like I heard a bell somewhere in the...
Hiring the Rockies. I'm out here in beautiful Colorado Springs out here doing some work at the Battle Lab, and it's tons of fun. Great bunch of guys out there. Let's see here.
This week's episode, we're going to talk about and focus on a very popular subject, and that is monetizing unmanned technologies or trying to monetize unmanned technologies and positioning yourself for when the regulations come out. I know that that's a very popular topic everywhere I go, and I mention that. The drone usually lights up, and, oh, yeah, we want to monetize it. Next month, I'm going and I'm going to speak to the Oklahoma Economic Development Committee about the same thing.
Everybody's really interested in making some money, and I can tell that that was popular also at the EBSI. That's part of... We'll talk about that too, some of the takeaway from the Unmanned Systems North America Show. We'll talk about that too.
Anyway, Gene, anything in the news that you would like to talk about off the web page or anywhere else that you may have found it? Yeah, I caught a little factoid yesterday that was put out by the OAG. OAG is a kind of aviation intelligence agency that keeps up with comings and goings of aviation. They determined that scheduled flights are at the lowest point that they've been in a decade.
Yeah, I was pretty surprised at that. They say even for August that there will be 21,400 less scheduled flights than there were last year. So the airspace, the national airspace has got to be getting safer, right?
Yeah, one would think. Well, you know, it's funny too. You say that. I've heard that the AOPA membership numbers are way down, and I don't know what they are exactly, but when I was on the ARC, they were pretty high, and I've heard that they've come down a lot.
It is kind of funny even, you know, you think about the private airplane thing. It's a pretty expensive prospect. I don't know if it's the economy and there's less flights and all the rest of that, but it should be getting safer. You are right.
That's an interesting factoid. I'm going to have to check into the membership too on the AOPA and see what's happening there. Another thing that's kind of newsworthy that I wanted to talk about is, you know, last week we had almost 15,000 downloads of the podcast. Yep.
And, you know, I think that's newsworthy. And I'm thinking that, you know, 17,000 downloads and then there's the website, the SUS news website. We're reaching, you know, 10 to 15,000 people a day. And, you know, the community is getting larger.
Yeah, that's significant. There's a lot of folks out there that are really looking for this information. Well, they are, and I think, you know, there's been a lot of talk about unmanned technologies and unmanned aircraft and regulation and yada, yada, yada. I mean, I have to be surprised.
I kind of thought this was a niche type of audience. And, you know, I think that ABSI has six or seven thousand members. You know, the RCAP has got probably around two thousand. And there's some other people out there.
But man, you know, I mean, when we're hitting, you know, downloads of 20,000 or 17,000 or, you know, 10,000, it's telling me that either like the whole community is listening to the show or coming to the SUAS news or there's interest outside the community. Either or. It doesn't really matter to me. But what it does suggest to me is that this community does not need to suffer in silence anymore.
That was definitely something that we had. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, that was an uphill battle with us before, especially the RCAP. It's, you know, we didn't really have an avenue to come out and say anything, you know. We could, but it was to a really limited audience.
So basically we had a situation where, you know, the regulator or whoever could basically act with impunity. And we'll talk a little bit more about that, but I don't want to get too far into the weeds on that one right now. I was quoted on another Wired.com story last week, the day brightener for the FAA. I know they love, you know, when I bring this stuff up in the major media.
But, you know, like I said, we are going to use this site and other sites as kind of a force multiplier. And we're going to get that message out. And obviously, you know, people are listening. I mean, you know, these, I don't go out there and beg to be quoted.
I mean, you know, these people come and find me and they usually come and find us either off of the web page or the podcast now. Hey, I listen to your stuff. It's great. I want to do an interview.
And, you know, and they've been in some good publications too. You know, the New Yorker, people are still reading that, believe it or not. So we're going to get the message out there. And we're just going to keep getting the message out there until we get a little action going.
That's kind of what I'll press. The best part about it is that it's just the fact. I mean, really, when you look at it, people are looking for the straight scoop on what's going on in the industry. And everything that you've said and everything that we've said and everything that we've put forward has been a collection of facts.
It's not theory. It's not, you know, what we supposed to happen. It's the truth. And it's kind of inescapable.
Yeah, it's been easy to kind of just sweep it under the rug because there's been no accountability from the press. There's been no accountability from the political side. And if not for lack of trying, I mean, I've had a federal representation, you know, even now, my congressperson wrote the acting administrator a letter on the behalf of small business and the voice on the arc. And the guy didn't even write her back yet.
Does that? Does that, you know, the representative form of government that we all learned in civics class?
Hell no. That is, I don't even know what that is, but it's ridiculous. I mean, if you elect people, how do you want to get political on a deal?
But how it works, I thought we went in the booth, you had Mark, I get a vote for the person, oh, this person here. And then they go there. And then if you have an issue at a federal or state level, you contact that person. They contact the, you know, representative.
You know, last time they were throwing boxes of tea in the harbor and stuff, you know. It's crazy, man. But anyway, we're going to keep on that one. And the reason we're going to keep on that one, and you know, that's again, some of the show take away, is, you know, some folks say that I'm a little bit of a flame thrower.
And, you know, I say to that, well, if I'm a flame thrower because I want to see small business have a niche here and a future and I'd like to see small business utilize this technology and, you know, there would be a business for this, for people to make money and hire their, you know, friends and neighbors and all the rest of that. I mean, that was the other thing is everybody came out there, the acting administrator, and was talking about how GAA, you know, contributes a trillion dollars to the economy every year.
You know, I like to hear a trillion dollars to the economy. And how much of that is going to translate itself into unmanned technology?
Nobody can find anybody anymore that says, well, you know, unmanned aircraft is a passing fad. We all know it's here to stay. The military is saying that in the very near future, 30% of their fleet is going to be unmanned. So, if you transpose those numbers over here onto unmanned here in GAA, you know, you can start extrapolating the numbers pretty quick and, you know, 100 million, you know, conservatively in the near future, 200 million, whatever.
How much of that pie should be available to small business, Gene? What do you think?
I would think that, you know, most of the innovation and the garage shoppers out there that have been working really hard on advancing aviation should have the opportunity to monetize the ideas that they come up with. There's no question about it that they should get a very large portion of that economy. It would help through the stratum, whether you're middle class, upper class, whatever. If we could get that ball rolling, in the UA industry, there is no doubt in my mind that there would be a lot of people that would benefit from it and it would help the economy significantly.
Yeah, I mean, you know, you don't have to be an economist. I think that's what you said. I agree with what you said. You know, and I will say because people are like, oh, these garage guys, yada, yada.
Actually, I got a friend request from a guy here. He's they're trying to save elephants in Africa from being poached as we speak. And he's trying to get me on Skype. But, you know, I got the podcast to do, but I'll talk to him after.
But, you know, I do think that part of the takeaway from the show to Lockheed Martin, Lockheed Martin, I noticed in their booths, you know, not only did they do the Pro Cirrus thing, they also have a small quadcopter. They have a small aerostat that they bought from another guy that we know. The model with the big guys is like the software model, where instead of doing the innovation yourself, because it take them millions and millions of dollars to do it, where like in the Pro Cirrus model, I would call that a garage budget for technology that, you know, blow you away.
You know, so people are starting to make a move and people are realizing, hey, you know, these guys developed this, I could come in and buy this. And, you know, most people stay on. They get a payout. They stay on, you know, that's how our economy works.
And all we're really asking for is an avenue to start making some money. You know, a lot of people, I'm almost seeing a little bit of a flashback of five years ago, you know, or even a little longer where people are investing a whole bunch of money. They're all ready to go. The technology is here and somebody's dragging their feet, man.
You know, that's all. I would have to concur because you and I were at those meetings with the RPCA and Reno and the meetings with the... ...AFGM. Yeah, it's all it's all filtering. And the other, you know, the FAA, we're out in the lead.
Really? You can, you could go and get an FFOC in Canada to operate commercially five years ago, you know, CASA, how many years ago?
UK, those guys, you know, I've talked to those days, UKCA, very pragmatic. Okay, we're going to let you operate. You go out there and operate. And if you're, you know, you prove that your operation is safe, we're going to let you go higher.
You're going to go further. You know, we want to see this thing turn into a business. Now we're not going to let you go willy nilly, but we are going to let you start off and depending upon what you want to do. I mean, obviously if a guy wants to do smoke stack, you know, inspections, you know, I don't think you're going to have much aircraft flying into the smoke stack.
You know what I'm saying? So, uh, there, there's an example. So the FAA is not leading the way. Well, they are leading the way in dragging their, you know, I got to remember this as a family show.
I must use some, don't work, bloom. Um, they're dragging their feet. Put it that way. Anyway, um, they're not leading the way.
And, you know, again, um, you know, there's been, there's been, uh, there, it's funny. I don't want to talk about where I saw that, but I got a fresh iteration of the FAA propaganda and I can't believe, uh, that they are still pushing, uh, that propaganda out cause I just, I mean, I guess most people don't know it. I got to write the book. The book's going to be, I mean, you know, you think that these articles are day brighteners for the FAA, they're not going to like it.
They are not going to like it. I mean, I will, I will name names. I'm going to talk about what really went down, how it went down, who benefited and why. Now, um, I think I'm going to go back to the light sport aircraft and talk about, you know, Blakely and how she, uh, shewed the LSA in and then made the jump to AI.
Was it AAI or IAI? I forget which one it is, but it's the, uh, uh, aircraft. It's another pro, um, aircraft group made the jump right at. What?
Other initial groups. Yeah. I forget if it's AI or I forget exactly which one it is, but she made the jump right from administrator, you know, at like 150 K a year LSA gets, uh, you know, created the skids get creased. Oh, we got, you remember when they were like with F 38, Oh, F 37, you know, boy, ah, look at the work they did.
She jumps right out of the FAA over to this other group and I, I somewhere like half a million a year, clinky dinky do. Hey, I don't know. You know, I'm not going to say, you know, you can't make money because, you know, that's what we're all here to do. I, you know, I, but I'm saying is I think we need some motivation like that.
We can get some stuff done. So I'll probably roll back talking about that one. Talk about the GAA TA survey, which the FAA could use to gather information on unmet aircraft, because I mean, remember, you know, we're going to get in the way back machine here, Jean. Okay.
Let's go back to 2005. What did the FAA, well, even before that, what did the FAA since day one, what's the FAA said they need?
Safety. That's their charter. We will make sure that the airspace is safe. Okay.
That's true safety. But how do we determine safety?
What do we need to determine safety? Data. Oh, data from data. We got a winner.
Okay. So eight years has gone by. What do we need still?
Data. And the unfortunate thing is, is even back in 2006, when we said that we would provide them data, we actually produced a piece of software that was free to any unmanned aircraft or aircraft that were in the airspace. So, whenever we did this type of research, we told them that there would be a way that these people fell into a Doris Carve. And they were kind of provided the data.
And no that doesn't work at all. What happened was they used this data to find those flyingiem són in their vetting process, we were told that the data was no good because it couldn't be validated. Oh, we were told a lot of stuff, but please continue. Well, I mean, it's frustrating when you make the effort of, you know, Gene there and Dallas, you know, asked us to produce data and we said we would and we did.
And unfortunately, it just, it was just missed out of hand. Well, you know, and that's been a lot of the deal, but it's kind of funny, you know, because like, you know, I remember because every year they would roll out, you know, it's like the February rollout. Well, and it was funny as even when Rick Prozac took over the helm of the Titanic. First thing he said is we need data.
And I remember asking him, this was his first public appearance, you know, it's like, okay, Rick, what kind of data are we looking for? Well, we don't know. Well, how are you going to capture it?
You got a matrix going. Well, we don't know. Okay. You got any inkling with you?
I mean, something on scribble on the back of a cocktail napkin. Anything?
Inkling? Idea?
Nothing. So, you know, that's 2009, it's 2012. And I've been telling everybody about this GATA survey, right?
And it's easy to do. It's that we already got it. That's what they use for the rest of the, all other aircraft can use that. It's, and you just like you said, right?
Well, there's no way to validate it. Even if you go do this survey, you don't have to have your log book, you know, PISHPA. You just from memory, buddy, you know?
And then I was told too, that even after I remember the edict of 2007, oh, you know, can't collect data from illegal operations. I said, no, I just can't do that. That just doesn't happen. Then you go and you read how they collect the data for the GATA survey.
I know this goes right over most people's heads, but how they collect the safety data, how they extrapolate the numbers for the safety of the NAS and GA doing the 10-6 and, you know, yada yada. They do, you fill out the GAATA survey, which goes out to barely anybody. You can ask most pilots, they've never heard of it. Anyway, right down, I did, I don't know how many takeoffs and landings.
I flew the golf bag around. I had a couple of burgers with Johnny. Put that in there. You write that all up.
You lick the stamp, you throw it in there, the way it goes. And they go, oh, okay, well, let's, you know, what we're going to do is we're going to, we're going to, he flew a thousand hours or whatever. I'm throwing telephone numbers out there, but it doesn't really matter because that's what the FAA does. Okay, well, every plane that was registered in the last 10 years, you know, they flew just as much as Billy over here.
And, you know, and then that's how they doctor up the numbers. NTSB comes out and says those numbers are totally worthless. But when it works in the FAA's favor, because, you know, you're supposed to, if you sell an aircraft, you have X amount of days to re-register or supposed to be re-registered every three years. So if you're going to go back and you're going to assume safety data from aircraft that have been registered in the last 10 years, we don't know where they are.
That was, that was how they found out that those a hundred thousand aircraft were missing, but they didn't know where they were. And they're talking about safety. Now, you know, you get like, you know, you're a pilot, right, Gene?
Yes, I am. Okay, you know, wait, what kind of inspections do they have on aircraft?
They seem to be endless. Yeah, you know. A thousand hour complete airframe. You have to, it's just, it's on and on.
Yeah, but, you know, if you've registered that aircraft 10 years ago, is it still airworthy? You know, are we, are we just going to assume that?
Are we going to assume the data from illegal operations for, you know, somebody who hasn't registered their aircraft in 10 years and we're talking about safety? It's a joke. I mean, it is, it's, it's shameful is what it is. So, you know, I know there's different offices and all the rest of that, but, you know, I mean, to come off and say, you know, we're concerned about safety.
And then the other one that's, you know, those planes burn leaded gas, 600 plus metric tons a year of lead. Remember EPA, no level of lead is safe for children. None. Nothing.
And they're spewing this lead all over the country. I know, I live in the flight path. I didn't know that, you know, where the kid goes to school, he's on the flight path, they come right out of the field, spewing the lead. It's all about do no harm, safety.
I don't get it. General aviation was given a year or two years to comply under a waiver. And they've been getting a waiver every year since, I believe, haven't they?
Do no harm. Oh, wait. Oh, yeah. Oh, hold on.
The other thing, remember, GA, we're all about safety. ADSB, man, all the infrastructure is coming in here on, you know, in January. So are you telling me you're not willing to spend a few hundred dollars?
You know, I mean, if I was if I was the association spokesperson for any association, I'd be like, you know what? We're about safety. We want our C.R. members stay safe.
Go out, spend the five hundred dollars, get the ADSB mounted on the dashboard like you're doing your Garmin. Go get it. Invest in the safety of your person and the people on the ground. You know, that one's been beat into me.
I've heard that for years. So, I mean, you know, you could take it for what it's worth, but I'm just not I'm not really buying that stuff, man, you know, because if it's really all of that, then you can do things today. We could use ADSB, GA could use ADSB, you know, 121 could use ADSB, everybody could do it. And we could we could increase the safety of the Nass.
There's powerful people don't want to do it. And you you want to take a crack at why we're not too excited about ADSB. GA wouldn't be excited about the prospect of all the safety and the and the promise of ADSB. Hmm, would it be because it would allow you a into the national airspace?
Well, that you know, there's going to be some other things if you're not flying in the right area or you're dragging your tail in the clouds or, you know, there's some other things that you're doing. That's going to be logged in along the beach at 50 feet. Yeah, you know, stuff like that. But, you know, we don't want to again the flamethrower there.
I'm sure this is going to give people hives this this whole conversation. But it's true. You know, you're not going to be able to do the old Sky King anymore. That's why they're not interested.
It's not even mandated until 2020. So anyway, you know, it's just these are some of the issues. So, yeah, I'm a flamethrower, you know, and I think that there's some people that agree with me. There's probably 14,000, 10,000, I don't know, 5,000 people that agree.
Anyway, we really got off on the weeds on that one. And we want to talk about monetizing this stuff. And I think that's all relevant conversation into, hey, this is really what's happening. So let's let's be serious.
Let's get real and let's let's get the like the as far out there. I know right now it's political. I mean, it's pretty much right now. Obama administration, FAA, slowdown, D.O.T.
has got the as far and they're back to back and forth. And I'm sure they've been told to slow down, too. And, you know, FAA say, well, our hands are tied. We can't really do anything.
OK, that's fine. You know, you know, I'm going to give them the six months. But, you know, prior to that, you had six years. And what have you done?
So, you know, you can't can't blame it all on them anyway. So we got we went long on that one. But let's let's talk about some of the easy ways that folks can legally make money. Gene.
Oh, yeah. The first one is my favorite. And, you know, that's the one that I would go for right away. And that's my idea of a good time.
So go ahead and explain how you can do that. Well, you know, people can and they are getting deployment slots on some sort of debt in Afghanistan. It's a hard year in Spartan conditions, but it is a good way to get some experience. It's not for everyone.
I mean, I got to tell you, I don't camp anywhere. They don't have room service, the bar, and they have neither of that in Afghanistan. But some of the younger guys, it's definitely a way where they can get experience and they want to go over there. You stay over there for six months or a year and you, you know, you get the training, you become certified, you learn how to fly and you can get jobs hopefully back here to have that experience or you can go back out again.
I know, guys, that's basically a career. They go to Afghanistan for a while, come back, you know, and then go back again. But they are gaining experience in this field. You know, then there's the military contracting.
And some might think it's kind of tongue in cheek. It is a very closed circuit. It's very hard to get into the FBO. That one, you know, that's a hard one to get in.
But like I said before, some of the bigger companies are that's how they're acquiring technology, like Lockheed Martin, you know, Boeing buying in situ, things like that. So that is possible. They're long shots, but it is possible for a small company to get in and try and sell the military something, which I have personal experience of that, too, which has been, you know, several years now. Even if you have a product that they need and they know they need and they could buy and save the taxpayer millions of dollars, they move slower than the FAA.
Just the way it is. But that is that is the way you can do it. Another one, this one kind of breaks my heart to say it, but is move your company offshore. And there have been many that have done that that we know of.
There's lots of them. Other countries are allowing for commercial use of this technology and we named some of them, you know, the Australia, the Canada, the Japan, the UK, even somebody else. I don't want to mention names, but he says he's sold 16,000 systems, unfortunately, because of the ITAR thing. And that's the whole other thing we want to, we could probably talk about him.
I'm not an attorney and I will give you marks and legal advice on that. But anyway, he moved his operation to Mexico. Why did he move his operation to Mexico?
So we didn't have to deal with ITAR. ITAR is something that they could tell you, give you the green light now and you can start telling and then they could come back and say, wait a minute, we made a mistake. That's controlled technology. You got to go get that.
And you're responsible to find all of that technology sold for the last however long. That to me does not sound fun. No, and it's not. No.
And I mean, you know, Leavenworth is on the other end of that. And he thought the conditions in Afghanistan were bad, huh?
So not too happy with that. You know, so you want to be careful of that. I do know a lot of people have moved offshore and even some of the bigger companies have now offices and, you know, branches in other countries because they see the same thing. The other one, you know, work with a public entity and where you can apply for a COA or an experimental certificate.
You know, there's still limitations on what can be done and you can't charge for flying. But, you know, there are there are ways that companies have gone out and done this, you know, certain systems, you know, I don't know if I really want to name them. But there are exceptions. I guess if you know how to work it, you know, and talk to the FAA, you can get an experimental certificate and you can go out there and you can make some money.
I don't think you could charge for flying. That's where, you know, well, you can. Actually, there are examples where you can charge tens of thousands of dollars for flying under a COA and outside of restricted air or warning airspace at an airport. And you still make money.
And, you know, I'm not going to give that away because, you know, we're going to have to work through that. But there are examples of that. There's multiple examples of that. You just have to know where to look and, you know, we can see about opening that up.
I know, you know, I want to talk about that if we don't run out of time, but a little bit later. Another thing you could do is start a business, an auxiliary business that supports industry. And there's a steep learning curve. But, you know, we're seeing more of that, you know, Dr.
Jeremy, some of the other University of North Dakota, Emory Reynolds, John Bonboard, and obviously, you know, they may not be for profit. Some are, some aren't. But they're out there and they are, you know, making some money, teaching people about these systems and concepts and everything else. So that is something that could be done.
And the same thing that there's people doing consulting. And, you know, we will talk, hopefully talk about that more. We already went through 30 minutes. Payload management, remote sensing, all that stuff is starting to come on pretty strong because you really don't have to deal with flight portion up.
You just develop the product and say here it is and let those who are developing the airframes and working through the FAA, let them absorb the brunt of that. Exactly. And then, you know, they might have the bandwidth and everything to deal with that. The other one, you know, there was another one I was, this one's kind of a little facetious, but, you know, it's possible that you could apply for a job at the FAA, you know, the UASIO.
This is good. They're expanding that one office into six. I hear that they're hiring some people. And unfortunately, you know, the people, and this is another what happens as they hire people that have no unmanned aircraft experience.
You know, who to thunk it, but that's kind of how it works. But they give it a crack. They're hiring more people. They're trying to find people.
That's another way to do it. I think the fifth we heard was they're going to put on an additional 3,000 personnel. Yeah. So, I mean, there's got to be some opportunities there.
And there's some people I'm sure that have the qualifications, they might even know this technology. It would be great if we could get more people in here that know more about the technology and get them into this, you know, into those positions where they're trying to make role making. I mean, it's just one of these things that, you know, yeah, we got these people. We're going to bring 3,000 people on board.
They don't know anything about the technology. They're going to have to get up to speed. It's going to be a lot of training for AV to bring these people on their product line, learn about unmanned aircraft systems. I mean, that task is daunting.
So, that's going to take years. You know what it is. I mean, whatever. So, we'll just have to see what happens there.
Anyway, you know, another thing I wanted to talk about too, and some of that consulting stuff, you know, I don't really ride anyone, but over the last couple of weeks, this thing's really heating up. And I've been talking to more and more people who are getting into consulting and, you know, they've got experts. I've heard in the last couple of weeks, multiple inventors of the drone. And it's not out of the order.
You know, I know. I'm shocked. Right. But I've heard from several locations, oh, I got Joe Bagot Donuts over here, the inventor of the drone.
I'm like, I've never heard of this guy. And he's got to be, what's he got to be, like, you know, 98?
So, I mean, technically, they had them during World War II. And most that generation is getting kind of old. So, I guess with that, you know, we've been saying it before. Can watch out for the snake oil salesman.
I mean, if somebody, I mean, a lot of these people are starting consulting businesses and they are going to the police. They are going to disaster relief agencies and they are bringing UAS along and they're saying, hey, this is how you use it. Well, do you have any experience with them?
I mean, they're going, well, no. To me, it's... They do know how to fly them. Some do know how to fly them.
Yeah, but that's, you know, you got some stones, man. You're going to go out there and take these people's money and you don't know anything about them or how to apply them. And, you know, and then it also goes, I guess, with making money, it's also saving money, conservation and faith would be to, you know, hire someone that's reputable. And then that's going to, you know, roll into me and Gene here and announce we've actually put together a partnership called, well, no, it was Omega Unmanned Technologies.
And we're hanging out the shingle. I almost felt like it was like a public service effort in the sense that, you know, hearing all of these consultants come online, the inventors of the drone and people going out there and telling police departments, you know, this, that, the other thing, we want to sell this, oh, hey, it's going to be great. You're going to be able to use this in 60 days with the COA and yada, yada. I was like, Gene, we got to get out there and do something.
I mean, we were already talking about doing an application training. But, you know, you got to be aware. I mean, what do you think, Gene?
I mean, I know we talked about it, but. Well, you know, like you say, if you haven't been over in the rock pile or the sandbox, flying a raven or a shadow or even a predator or anything else like that, you sit there just really not a venue to get the experience here at CONUS. And there are a lot of folks out there that say they've got the stuff. And we have, as we have spoken to them and talked to folks, we have found quite the contrast that sure, they may know how to fly them,
but they are putting themselves forth as experts in a field that is so young that you really can't have a PhD at this point in unmanned aircraft application.
As you said, you know, Dr. Jerry has started his curriculum. I don't know if he's had anybody graduate from his program, but I don't know of any PhD programs in UAS applications anywhere at CONUS. Do you?
No, there are none. And he's offering something else. This is more of an engineering-based deal, but I don't know. I mean, I know that people are trying to start flight training schools and all this.
You know, that's great. You know, go ahead. I know that even AV is trying to start a training school and they might be doing it under the, you know, there where they already fly and train people. You know, they may try to do it under that.
But the thing is, is okay, that's fine. But, you know, just like you said, you know, okay, over there in the sandbox or in the mountains or at the beach or whatever. But again, you know, early, you know, written articles about this. The asymmetrical warfare overlay is not going to cut it on the American public.
Don't even go there, man. I'm telling you right now. So, you know, again, it's like when you hire any other professional service, you know, in my life, in my business, and I've been a small business guy for 27 odd years. I like to work with the top tier folks, people who are reputable, people that are good.
I don't want to go to the cut rate doctor. I don't want to go to the cut rate accountant, you know, and I sure as heck wouldn't want to go to a cut rate lawyer. I mean, how many times in business have you, well, didn't you check this guy out?
No, you know, buddy of mine said he was good. And, you know, and you know where that goes. You've heard that story a bunch of times. So, you know, I can't emphasize it enough.
Vet the folks you're going to deal with. That's why me and Gene are starting this thing. You know, you could follow the history with Gene's done. He wrote a book about it.
You know, you could follow it up. You can vet him. It's easy. Myself, I've been out there for years.
People know what I've been talking about and what I've been doing. And, you know, I think as far as that's concerned, you know, we're talking about applications training, system training, system manuals, both training system, maintenance, maybe some help with COA and experimental certificate assistance. And if you're thinking that you want to get into this, you know, there's the preferred vendor list. And there's been a little bit of talk about that.
And I know we even asked about that when we were on the phone with those folks. How do you get on there?
Now, look, you know, we've talked about the expedited COA. If you're not on the list, you're not eligible for the expedited COA. You know, and you're not going to get this just anywhere. You know, we know the ins and outs.
We've been here long enough. We know who's doing what and where they're doing it. So, that's, I mean, you know, that's what you get here. You know, the other thing is pre-purchase assessments.
I mean, I've talked about that over and over and over again. Don't, you know, you're not going to buy the Predator for, you know, a town of 10,000 people. It sounds exciting, but you don't need that, you know. No, no.
And of course, that's kind of an extreme example. But, you know, even the $200,000 system, you know, that's, let's say, over 25 pounds, you're not going to be able to use that. So, you know, you want to do your pre-purchase assessment. You want to figure out what your system needs are.
And you want to have evaluations of systems for the ConOps in your geographic location. Because the other thing is, you're not going to be able to go out there and go willy-nilly. You know, even when this whole deal cracks open, you're not going to just be able to go, I'm out here doing whatever I want. You're going to still, there's a process that you have to conform to with the FAA.
Again, a lot of people talk about this, but there's a lot of holes in their Swiss cheese that they lay out. And Gene, I'm sure you've heard no shortage of that. No, no. Definitely haven't.
And, you know, one of the things that you spoke of just really strikes a chord is that every situation is different. Every township is different. Every geographical area is different. And people don't recognize the conditions that can affect a small unmanned aircraft.
And it's just, it blows my mind that people will go out and buy quad rotors that have a 12 or 15 minute duration and expect to cover 20 miles. It's just not going to happen. They're sexy and they look great and they hover and it's a helicopter thing, but they're like a helicopter. They're not an efficient flyer.
And a lot of folks don't think of that. Well, you know, and it's easy to tool in the toolbox. So, you know, you might have applications for that, but are you going to go out there and, oh yeah, but are you going to go out there and drop the whole budget on one tool?
You know, it'd be like I'm going to go into business as a electrician and I'm going to spend my whole budget on this, you know, government $5,000 hammer. You know, so, you know, you need to go out there. You need to get educated. You need to learn about the tools and you need to learn also, it's not only those public operators, but other people too that want to be in its business.
How do I position my business to be ready for when the FAA gives the go code? And, you know, you want to go straight to someone who knows where those guys go out there, vet us, you know, do whatever you can go out there and do searches, Google searches or whatever. That's what we're going to start offering. If you're interested in that, you can get in touch with me at patrick at SUAS news.
You can also, if you have some suggestions, comments, ideas, whatever else, you can email me at the same email address, patrick. At SUASnews.com or you could, for right now, email Gene. Do you want to give your email, Gene?
Sure. You can get me at gene at rpflightsystems.com or gene at SUASnews.com. Exactly. So, you know, you have any questions, you know, anything we can help you with, please feel free to contact us.
Like I said, I'm going to help this dude out here with the anti-elephant poaching effort. But whatever we can do to help, please call and let us know. I hope today's show was kind of informative for people that want to be in this business. There's definitely some pitfalls to look out for.
There's definitely things you need to do before you, let's say, bet the farm. And you got to get educated. And you should get educated about who you're going to do business with. You need to get educated with how you're going to do business.
And a little bit of planning and forethought up front goes a long way at the other end. And so, you know, all of the different education avenues are good. Learn as much as you can. Be careful who you talk to.
These snake oil salesmen are out there. They're ready to sell to anybody. If you've got a checkbook, they're ready to sell to you. And I mean, I've heard all kinds of things.
Well, it's not really that it's illegal or there's this or that. You know, you got to do the homework. Right, Gene?
That's it. You got to dig deep too. And you got to dig deep or you got to find out people that know what's going on. So hopefully there was a little bit of, you know, we were talking about monetizing this technology.
We did give you some stuff that you could do. Also, how to position yourself in the future. And also some historical background, which we always try and do. There's going to be more of that in the future.
Like I said, we will out the ore cart from the gold mine. You're going to get stuff here you don't get anywhere else. That's right. Yeah.
And then the people that are going to come on in the future too. We got some good guests at AEVSI said they would come on, but we're out of time. So Gene, see you next week. Okay.
Everyone take care.