What about it????

[KarbonBird]

Anyone thinking of franchising an AP business?

What would the issues be?

I can think of "Pilot Training" as probably the most important obstacle!

[trireme]

It would be a great idea to team up, advertise, and just have pilots for different regions. It could likely help save a lot of money for insurance and advertising, if it was a group.

It would be hard to train people, but qualify them on there skills instead.

[crewchief]

Anyone thinking of franchising an AP business?
What would the issues be?
I can think of "Pilot Training" as probably the most important obstacle!This idea might work quite well in Australia actually, but the time is definitely not right in the U.S. The company I fly for doesn't even mention how the pictures will be taken. If the customer asks, they'll say it could be a mast, an airplane, a helicopter, or a robot - depends on the circumstances. We don't hide the fact we use RC/AP, but we don't broadcast it either. They just get a great product at a great price.

There was an old cartoon called Pogo with the famous line: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." (This sort of reminds me of our current foreign policy, but that's another story!) The thing that most successful AP businesses fear is that some bonehead with an RC helicopter will think it's a great idea to make some money on the side, and end up crashing into somebody's property, or worse. With the FAA currently sitting on the fence over this issue, a couple of incidents like that could be just the excuse they need to put the kaibash on the whole industry.

Another good reason to keep a low profile is the seemingly endless source of nay-sayers that seem to crawl out of the wood-work anytime something new pops up. I spent some time in the wind energy business, and you'd think that everyone would be pro green power, but noooo. There were even guys like Kennedy and Kerry who switched from pro to con when the wind farms started showing up in their back yards. My theory is there are a lot of people who don't have a life and can't wait to stick their noses in to try and control yours. Lots of model helis flying around over neighborhoods would be just the thing to make them lick their chops.

A shot from yesterday:

[Tonystott]

Rossco, this would be unworkable in Australia unless the photography doesn't involve R/C aircraft. the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has regulations which are even more draconian than anything the FAA in USA is contemplating. In Australia, to operate an R/C aircraft commercially, the aircraft is deemed to be a UAV. There are three classes: 0 -100g, 100g to 100kg (!), and over 100kg. So even a Trex450 fits in the same category as a 99kg UAV. The pilot needs to have an Operator's Certificate.

CASA advised me that I would expect to pay CASA $A3,000 - $A5,000 (based on $A140 per hour of their time) to "walk me through the process". At one point I was told that 2 inspectors would be flown from Brisbane to Sydney to "inspect my operations base" as part of the process. When I explained that "my operations base" is the boot of my car, CASA instead helpfully suggested that I might need to travel to Brisbane to do a demor flight for these inspectors.

Bottom line is therefore, that each franchisee would need to go through this whole hoop, so the concept won't get off the ground (groan :))

Mast-based photography can be, and is, possible for franchising.. see http://www.nz.open2view.com/franchise/country.php?country=au

[Tonystott]

Despite the legislation having been in place since 2002, there are evidently only 7 active UAV Operator's Certificates in Australia. The operator of R/C blimps in Melbourne took 2 years to get his certificate, at huge expense. CASA quoted me $A3-5,000 (at $A140 per hour) for them to "walk me through the process"... One of the pioneers of UAV activity in Australia is Bob Young of Silvertone Electronics. He had been supplying GPS-equipped fixed wing UAVs to the military in this country for around 20 years (really!), yet he has been told that every buyer of his systems would need to go through the whole hoop, while insurance was going to be about $A7,000pa PER AIRCRAFT!

Sorry to burst your bubble!

[crewchief]

Tony,
I know Australia (or "Austria" for G.W.B.) is also really tough for private pilots. However, isn't there some sort of loophole for microlights? Although you couldn't fly directly over conjested areas, I have gotten some really great pictures from an ultralight.

BTW, speaking of boneheads flying helicopters, I just noticed one down at the bottom of my thumbnail!

[KarbonBird]

OK - let's say that you wanted to set up an AP franchise in the UK or New Zealand (no issues there with regs etc).

What are the issues facing a would be AP franchisor?

[Tonystott]

Bruce, the same situation applies in Australia to ultralights... as soon as there is a commercial component, the red tape flies off the reel :(

[crewchief]

Bruce, the same situation applies in Australia to ultralights... as soon as there is a commercial component, the red tape flies off the reel :( Gosh, that's a terrible shame. Australia is one of the last great frontiers in the world and an ideal place for aviation. I can't understand why the government has gone so overboard on regulation. In the FAA's FAR's (Fed. Avn. Regs.) Alaska has its own set of rules because life there is so dependent on aircraft. In the days after 9/11 they just kept on flying up there while all aircraft were grounded everywhere else.

[Tonystott]

I should add though, that the general perception of the local authority is that they can't even manage what goes on inside the airfield, let alone elsewhere. They tend to only get involved after an incident where they grab the book and throw it...