Drone winches

[Slim.Slamma]

J

Just that they are legit and do good, honest business. That's all all I can ask for. Thanks again

My Mentor @The Editor on the inspire forum who took me under the wing said he never heard of them.

That’s a flag for me but I did see some good reviews.

Remember as a Leo community member once said Honey before vinegar.

If I find any good news I’ll let you know.

 

[drvrbobob]

P
Please do and let me know. I knew joining phantom pilots would deliver good results.

I may have missed it, but what country are you in? As a hunter and outdoorsman I love your idea. I hope you can find the aircraft that you need within your budget. Keep us advised of your progress and will look forward to some videos. I do believe that this is an industry where people thinking outside of the box will certainly benefit us all.

 

[KDCypP4Adv]

the idea of saving dogs and children is admirable and Great for promoting the good that drones can do (already many are saving lives delivering life belts to drowning bathers in Australia etc).
On a humorous note tho (please don’t shoot me metaphorically or literally), if a certain hunter doesn’t have the gumption and forward planning when setting off in the morning to pack some much needed lunch, just let natural selection happen I say )

 

[drvrbobob]

the idea of saving dogs and children is admirable and Great for promoting the good that drones can do (already many are saving lives delivering life belts to drowning bathers in Australia etc).
On a humorous note tho (please don’t shoot me metaphorically or literally), if a certain hunter doesn’t have the gumption and forward planning when setting off in the morning to pack some much needed lunch, just let natural selection happen I say )

Yeah, well and good but things happen and then it is possibly life and death...

 

[KentA]

Yeah, well and good but things happen and then it is possibly life and death...

Unfortunately not everyone who buys hiking boots has wilderness experience. Around here they often get caught in unanticipated snow, believe north is west, or the handle of their suitcase breaks on the way down a mountain. Too often the locals are expected to assume the responsibility of saving these lost souls which is almost a daily occurrence during the “tourist season”. The rest of the year these “guests” can be threatened by truly adverse conditions.

Our area is densely forested so drones would be impractical for most search & rescue. They would be useful, however in locating distressed boaters & perhaps delivering a bottle of gasoline.

I applaud your efforts, skyjockeyinc. I hope you find answer you're looking for.

 

[skellyrocker]

I am new to this forum. We are going to start a business delivering food and supplies to hunters,fishermen,campers,hikers,etc.... All in rural non-populated areas. Want to know if anyone could suggest a good rtf platform that comes complete that would be able to safely carry a parcel up to 5 to 6 kg with a operating range of atleast 2 miles and fly fully loaded for a minimum time of 15 to 20 minutes with the parcel.
Also need a winch of some sort that can carry this amount of weight and that can lower the parcel from a maximum height of 200ft, this would be needed to lower into areas congested with trees and dealing with mountains and such, and also for safety reasons to not allow the drone to come in contact with customers. Any input would be appreciated, we are in the early stages of this and if you can maybe even put us in touch with a reputable company that could customize a platform to do what we need would also be great. Thanks for your feedback.
Jimmy T.

This is a really interesting problem - and I'm not sure that all the solution components are there - yet. Looking at your specs one by one:

Parcel load 5 - 6 kg. As stated elsewhere there are certainly drones out there that can carry this sort of load. AS an example a Matrice 600 can carry a 6 kg payload for 15 minutes. With a maximum flight speed of 18 m/s (~40 mph) that would give you a flight distance (one way) of 10 miles with no wind - obviously flying at full tilt would reduce the flight time, but it looks as far as range and payload are concerned it's doable. That's about a $5k drone for the base model.

Of course this will have to be retrofitted with a winch and associated electronics for operation which will reduce your parcel payload capability.

The idea of solar power is the right kind of thinking - but the wrong method. Intelligent Energy have been developing hydrogen fuel cells which give significant increases in flight time (I believe they have had a four hour flight on one test). If you want to get serious about this I would speak to them about their technology. Link at the bottom of the page.

At two miles you are probably going to be in BLOS and definitely on EVLOS. Others have mentioned that BLOS is beyond the current operating regulations but, at least here in the UK you can operate on EVLOS - not sure if it's the same in the US? So theoretically as long as you can maintain a visual on the drone with a spotter at a distance of two miles (suitable good spotting scope should manage that) you could do it. Of course this then limits your delivery service range and perhaps your company offering, but might give you a start and a name.

I would also engage with the FAA and discuss with them what your thoughts and plans are. I can't speak for the US, but in the UK the CAA and NATS are always happy to speak to drone pilots about ideas and projects to ensure they can be carried out safely. The drone industry is still emerging and I found that the regulatory bodies are happy to speak with people about what can and can't be achieved. That said make sure you have your ducks in a row. Do a risk assessment to identify all the potential issues and how you will mitigate against them - use of technology, operating procedures, system redundancy can all be used to mitigate against potential incidents (and lawsuits).

Finally, there are a lot of good people on this forum. Some of them are a bit burdened with the curse of knowledge but I wouldn't let that hold you back.

Our Products / UAVs | Intelligent Energy

 

[WetDog]

Other than a lot of researching and talking to people like you guys, we area newbies. We just purchased our first real (advanced)drone, a phantom 4 pro plus. We purchased it to further advance our flying skills and get a real understanding of how drones work. We will not be delivering food and supplies 2 miles away, just want that kind of range to implement the other services we plan to experiment with. Providing potential land buyers with a live bird's-eye view of the land they are looking at, search and rescue of very expensive hunting dogs that get lost daily and of course people( especially young childten) that wander off from there families. We are located in a very rural area that is nothing but forest, fields, rivers and nature. There are a lot of things we see that we can do and we are trying to get a drone that can multitask for us as we figure out what will work and what won't. We are only going to be testing out ideas and coming up with new ones as we move forward. We have a lot to learn and a lot of research to do. So I thank all of you for any advice that you have and steering Us in the right direction.

You might consider a couple more things -

1. In many places in the US it is illegal to operate an aircraft if you are hunting, if you are around hunters or in national parks, wilderness areas, etc.

2. The OTHER hunters might take exception to your noisy little device floating around the sky.\

3. Search and rescue with drones is VERY limited. That's the battery deal. While you are seeing Phantom class drones used by SAR, they are used in fairly limited circumstances. If you really want to search for something, you get a helicopter.

4. Just because you're above the trees, it doesn't mean you can see much. Dogs, children, deer all manage to hide from said helicopter with $100,000 infrared cameras.

In short, you're just playing at something. You don't look for some general class of device and then look for some way to make money / organize or whatever you're up to. By the time you are actually doing something remotely useful you are deep into 5 figure territory, something you've admitted you can't do. Believe me, we've all thought of this. And moved on because, at our funding levels, it's just a fantasy.