Yuppers....
I built the GA military Drones and down to the thickness of a Washer was Scrutinized.
They have Yet to get a commercial vehicle
certified,far as I know.
My Little Gray Friends-——Predator B.
They have Yet to get a commercial vehicle
certified,far as I know.
I am certain that you know a lot more about many aspects of this subject than I do, so forgive me if I inadvertently mischaracterize the situation in some way.
There are many drones under 55 pounds that are approved by the FAA under Part 177. But things get far more complicated when you start looking into Part 135 Air Carrier Certification and drones larger than 55 pounds. Part 135 certification is the only path for small drones to carry the property of another for compensation beyond visual line of sight. The companies and individuals allowed to operate under this set of regs are a very small and exclusive club which are required to work very closely with the FAA. The expenses related to doing this are high and restrictive.
In this environment $2500 is chump change. Just having employees and attorneys sort out a situation like this is going to cost more than $2500 before an employee allowed to do repair work is ever allowed to put his hands on the machine.
When an electric car has its battery compartment dented by a rock... insurance companies sometimes require the entire battery to be replaced which often results in the car being totaled. And that doesn’t even begin to compare with the BS that the FAA puts people trying to advance aviation. Our home is on a small airport and I have neighbors who work for the FAA. Some of them have attitudes that others have a hard time comprehending. Making big companies, small companies, and individuals pay through the nose and jump through endless hoops means nothing to some of them. This is typically in the name of “safety”, but there are many other reasons as well.