Daily Mail editorial: Drones are free and creating jobs: what next?

The Charleston Gazette-Mail ^ | May 22, 2017 | Justin Rogers

[2ndDivisionVet]

Twenty-five-year-old Blake Oliver saw an opportunity last year and took advantage of it.

The young St. Albans resident is simply doing things the old-fashioned, American way — finding a niche to build his own business and earn a living. Instead of struggling to find a job from an established company, Oliver created his own. History has shown that in many cases, its companies like this — a small family firm where smart people see an opportunity and go for it — that become the big employers of the future.

As business reporter Max Garland described in the Sunday Gazette-Mail, Oliver, a 25-year-old longtime drone enthusiast, obtained his unmanned aerial vehicle license and created Sky Vision Imagery in August. He did so just a few months after the Federal Aviation Administration implemented new rules that streamlined the process to become a commercial drone pilot.

The FAA pondered for years how heavily to regulate drones. The hesitancy caused U.S. investors lost revenue as entrepreneurs in other countries began using drones with increasing success. The FAA finally released more reasonable licensing regulations for commercial operation of unmanned aerial vehicles in 2016.

Oliver’s Sky Vision is a drone-centric business consisting of him and his father, Tim, that uses the remote-controlled aircraft to take pictures of the land below and creates maps from the images. In its brief existence, the St. Albans-based company has found no shortage of interested customers, Blake Oliver said, including the state government and a convention and visitors bureau in North Carolina wanting to show off its city from the sky.

Sky Vision is one example of the good things that can happen when heavy-handed government regulation is relaxed and imaginative citizens have the opportunity to create new markets, new industries and new services.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of people who still want to squash innovation before it happens — or, in some cases, afterward. In February 2015, the Federal Communications Commission under the Obama administration famously declared the internet as a “public utility” to be treated like an old-fashioned phone company under the Communications Act of 1934 — despite the fact that a free internet had created billions worth of new business growth.

The impact of the Obama administration’s action decreased investment in internet improvements by both large and small service providers, according to Tunku Veradarajan, writing in the Wall Street Journal.

Fortunately, the FCC under the Trump administration has voted to nix those regulations and return the internet to free form, where creative entrepreneurs can invest, take risks and make progress for all.

Who knows what other new creative opportunities can be achieved with lighter regulation?

[DoughtyOne]

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[wally_bert]

I ought to look into this.

[ctdonath2]

“obtained his unmanned aerial vehicle license”

A court just invalidated the drone licensing regulation.

[TexasRepublic]

I and my dad used to do aerial photography the old fashioned way - from an airplane. It was a low-wing aircraft, so we would have to dip the wing steeply to get a clear shot of the ground. He would bank the plane at some angle, then I would hold it steady while he hung partway out the window with a camera. Great memories!

[21twelve]

I’ve seen lots of real estate ads use them now - video.

I was on a “webinar” where they had several drones going through a large building under construction and using LIDAR(?) - or something similar. It would scan the construction area and compare the “as-built” with the blueprint at the end of each work day. That way if something was out of place (like an I-beam) they could remedy it right away.

[21twelve]

I looked on youtube for the construction stuff. Some amazing stuff. Also lots of videos with “You Too Can make MILLIONS in the Drone Business”. To find out how - buy my book and drone for under $1,000 and get started - NOW!!