Equipped with the right camera, drones can capture mesmerizing fly-by videos and bird's-eye-view photos. But there’s a big problem with that, and it goes beyond the high price of most UAVs: They can be quite dangerous in the wrong hands.
Drones require skill to fly safely. Even in a wide-open setting, you may not be allowed to fly them. And we've seen lousy, or just plain stupid, drone pilots ground aerial tankers fighting fires in California and nearly hit a helicopter carrying seven firefighters to another California blaze. The US Forest Service has since June tallied 11 incidents in which suspected drones interfered with firefighting efforts. And just last week, pilots in five commercial airliners spotted drones as they approached New York-area airports.
Even as the FAA contemplates just how to regulate drones and lawmakers propose stiff penalties for drone pilots who get in the way, the demand for the often amazing photos and videos these devices produce continues rising. The Consumer Electronics Association predicts US sales will reach 700,000 this year, up from 430,000 last year and 128,000 in 2013.
A few startups want to feed that demand for footage without compromising safety or impeding first responders and pilots. The idea is they can provide experienced pilots to those with the will, but not the skill, to utilize drones. Skycatch bills itself as "Uber for drones" and helps companies find and hire unmanned aerial vehicles for mapping jobs, surveying, and other work. DroneBase does much the same thing. And now there's Droners.io, which promises to let you "get anything filmed by drone." It is more than happy to film weddings, parties, and just about anything else.
Droners.io is a two-way marketplace that connects people who want sweet aerial videography with drone pilots who specialize in different types of events. There are drone pilots who specialize in weddings, pilots who specialize in surfing videos, those who shoot inspection and real-estate videos, and so on. Founder Dave Brown, a software engineer who says he’s both fascinated with and intimidated by drones, came up with the idea partially because he didn’t want to risk piloting a UAV himself.
“I grew up having all kinds of nitro RC cars and boats, but never got into the aerial stuff, and currently don’t have a drone myself,” he says. “My wife and I are both avid kitesurfers. Our friends who own drones frequently film us or other people out riding on the waves. The footage is absolutely stunning, something if I had the money for, I would pay for in a heartbeat. I did some Google searches and found it really difficult to find local pilots who could do something like that, even though I knew they were around.”
Over the course of about eight weeks, Brown said he built the online marketplace primarily out of a cramped office with a tremendous view: His 1985 Westfalia camper bus, which was parked along his favorite kitesurfing beaches on the south coast of Rhode Island.
Brown had experience building similar tools that connected specialists with consumers. He recently worked at CustomMade, a two-way marketplace that served as a matchmaker between custom furniture- and jewelry-makers and potential customers. While Droners.io just launched, Brown says the service has a roster of 100 pilots nationwide through the service, and he is looking to add 800 more. All of them have been vetted with safety in mind.
“The majority of the pilots are found through the FAA’s Section 333 exemption process,” Brown says. “This exemption is required by the FAA to legally operate a UAV for commercial purposes... There is also a rating system that helps ensure that pilots are delivering quality product to their clients. After a pilot completes a job, both client and pilot are asked to review each other.”
An irresponsible pilot isn’t the only risk factor when it comes to drone videos. Brown says that client requests are also screened to ensure each job is legal and safe.
“There needs to be a mindshift, especially for young, inexperienced pilots, that these things are not just a toy,” Brown says. “They can really cause some serious harm to people… Each job that is posted is manually reviewed. If there is anything that is dangerous for the pilot, endangers other people, or just straight up stupid, there’s no way it’s getting posted.”
The fee for each mission depends on the job. Brown says the pilots usually charge anywhere from $500 for a real-estate video to more than $10,000 for a professional TV or movie job that requires a lot of editing. Droners.io takes 10 percent of the cut for each job, with a cap of $1,000 per assignment. Right now, Droners.io only operates over U.S. turf. However, Brown says the service has drawn interest in the U.K. and Canada, so he is considering expanding to those markets.
