Ditchmen • NUCA of Florida Ditchmen • July 2016 | Page 9
FAA: Smaller Contractors Using
Construction Drones the Most
via
ConstructionEquipmentGuide.com
Drones are taking off as a
construction tool. What is
interesting is that it is the
little guys, that is, smaller
contractors, who are most often
employing the small unmanned
aerial vehicles.
Proof of this is in a report
from the Federal Aviation
Administration. The agency
is systematically issuing
exemptions to applicants so
that they can fly drones without
being flagged for encroaching
on public airspace. The FAA so
far has issued more than 3,100
of these so-called Section
333 exemptions and about
1,500 of them have gone to
construction-related applicants.
According to the agency,
construction firms booking
less than $1 million in annual
business volume and employing
fewer than 10 employees so far
account for about 90 percent
of the FAA’s exemptions. That
is a remarkable statistic that
suggests smaller contractors
see drones as everyday-project
tools.
Most drone work to date has
been for cursory site inspections
and similar eye-in-the-sky
assignments. Yet the technology
and its pilots are pushing ahead.
Real estate developers are
using the drones to photograph
and videograph houses and
properties, and at least one
innovator reportedly is working
on a paint drone so people
don’t have to get on ladders for
second-story stuff.
Advances are being made in
synchronizing drones so a team
of the aerial machines can
independently but cooperatively
complete separate tasks in a
project. So far, a rope bridge
was constructed using three
four-prop drones and a bricklike tower was erected with
several drones hauling in the
building blocks.
However, most drones are
not yet big enough to haul
consequential amounts of
material to rooftops or hard-toreach parts of a work site. And
still being developed are the
interactive control and spatial
systems sophisticated enough
to warrant contractors investing
in drone “crews.”
Yet drones are coming. You
can almost hear them. The
day is near of UAVs being
commonplace pieces of
construction equipment. And
it is likely to happen first at a
small, neighborhood contractor
near you.
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JULY 2016 • DITCHMEN
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