Hey Hugh, looks like you may need to hire Paul
 

FAA to Allow Use of Drones on Film Sets | Variety

Since he's one of our resident experts on things with spinning blades and most certainly the expert in the unmanned operation of such things and seeing as you are likely to have to deal with the imminent safety issues you may want to get him on a consulting contract.

Gives you an excuse to have dinner together, as if you need an excuse to have dinner together.

Hugh hosted me at Disney and was very gracious...this is the first large crack in the dam.

The world of imagery will benefit.

Would be awesome for TV sports broadcasts.

Time to use the phrase "PULL"

Ya know silencerco just released a 12g suppressor. ..

They've been available in England for a long time....

They've been using them for a long time. What has changed??

This was on a set over the summer in DT Los Angeles. They have been in use for a looong time. :cool:

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What did the fish say when he ran into a concrete wall?














Dam


.

Paul and I have had extensive talks about this, over the last three plus years, including a lunch with one of our top attorneys a few months ago (duh, like I don't leverage my contacts). The issue has been the legality of using them. We use them in Canada and the UK extensively. But they have been "technically" illegal for commercial use in the USA. Paul provided us with a very elegant technical exemption which our top attorneys declined to use. Not that the exemption circumvented the law, but from a Disney image perspective we declined to use. The exemption that Paul suggested was solidly legal, but our attorneys considered it and also had to consider how it would present itself with the Disney "Image". We didn't want to be seen as "weaseling" around the FAA rulings banning them.

If you didn't see it a few weeks ago, Disney filed several patent applications to use micro-drones over their theme parks for public display purposes. Some very cool stuff on using them as a sort of artificial screen in the sky for imaging.

We, through the Motion Picture and Television Association (MPAA), have been pushing this for years. It's not just our issue, but the entire industry.

Do some production companies use them now in the USA ? Absolutely. I've even seen a few of our own production companies use them in the USA.

A day will come, soon, when "pirates" will be broadcasting sports in outdoor stadiums with them, franchise owners and media outlets will have to send up their drones for combat and the ensuing air wars will be more entertaining than the sport. At least I hope so.

We, through ESPN, pioneered the use of the cameras that you see over football games a decade ago. They use a four winch "push-pull" system to move the cameras over the field. We also use them with "Tinkerbell" now at the theme parks when she "flies.

We're three steps ahead of you. We're looking at RF "jamming" technology to defeat them. We considered surface-to-air mini rockets, and Red Baron-type biplanes to take them down, but we thought they would interfere with the guest "experience".

Actually, a Red Baron/Snoopy theme would go great at Knotts, just down the road. The Mouse would have to opt for an X-Wing/Tie Fighter angle.

In Germany DHL is using a drone to fly medicines to a pharmacy on an island several times a week/day. I this is still controlled/monitored by a mobile controller, but only a limited time. I think in the beginning of next year the controller will not be there anymore.

Robot Wars was a fun show years ago. Drone Wars would be better.

I had a hand in starting this little exercise years ago:

US Military Black Dart Exercise Test UAS Countermeasures | UAS VISION