Opening Insights - Asset to Earning
If you find yourself in the midst of economic peril, and you’re looking for a way make a quick buck, all you really need to get started is a pickup truck. The possibilities are just about endless. From delivery, to transporting tools/equipment, towing, to waste disposal, construction and so on. The idea is, if you have a pickup, you don’t need to go hungry – there will be some way to change that asset into earning. The same can be said for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), better known as drones.
With the expansion of the UAS market for hobby, commercial, civil, military and more, there has never been a greater demand for responsible and effective training. Read on to learn more about the Pocket Wisdom Insight's (PWI) direction for content creation, publishing and training program development that directly addresses this need – empowering content creators and strengthening the UAS job market.
Informational Insights - Licensed Commercial Operator
If you have a UAS and have $150, you can become a licensed commercial operator and make a living. No, a small consumer UAS, like many available through online commercial retailers, will not carry heavy loads like a pickup truck, but they do have just as many uses, if not more – all depending on the creativity of the operator.
UAS can fulfill the need of the 3-D’s – that is, jobs that are dull, dirty or dangerous. It is dull to monitor 100-mile-long gas pipeline. It is dangerous to fly above a wildfire. It is dirty to distribute pesticides, but don’t let the 3-D’s steer you away, there are many fun and exciting things to do with UAS. In fact, simply by incorporating an unmanned aircraft, even a dull/dirty/dangerous job becomes fun.
Agriculture should be near the top of everybody’s list. Across the world, in some way shape or form, agriculture is a staple of commerce for many communities. What does a UAS do for agriculture? Precision agriculture is how small operations streamline and make the best use of their resources while gaining access to on-demand intelligence. Ranchers can check their fence lines for breaks, find that missing animal, or to herd smaller livestock – think of a flying sheepdog.
Monitoring wildlife, search and rescue, poacher intervention or securing your perimeter, an eye-in-the-sky will ensure you have current reconnaissance. Many security organization rely on UAS for constant situational awareness. Various organizations in Africa rely on UAS for 24-hour poacher monitoring to protect their endangered wildlife.
Emergency services available through “911” can be enhanced using UAS. The Scan Eagle aircraft has been used for wildfire management in Alaska and the northwestern United States for years, providing ground personnel with instant hotspot and fire line identification. Aerial intelligence keeps the firefighter safe and more accurately manages resources for faster resolution.
Media and the arts are enhanced with UAS. Get action shots for your local paper or take video for an organization needing media advertising. You can find a flying 4K camera for under $1,000 and learn everything you need to know about composing a shot from free online sources. Wedding and real estate photography and videography come to life with an aerial perspective. Photos video that before took a whole team of licensed professionals to accomplish are now within your reach with the right software and the willingness to read the owner’s manual.
Construction and inspection personnel have an incredible job resource with UAS. Mapping the land and taking volumetric measurements are easily within the capabilities of the correct software and UAS combination. Work for any construction, mining or surveying operation by providing survey intelligence for a fraction of the cost of a surveying team. Inspect power-lines, wind turbines, solar panels, smokestacks and all those other hard-to-reach places.
All of these areas and many more are available to those who want to carve out a career for themselves, or those looking work. Many veterans already have experience with UAS from their military training. The job market is still wide open. In some cases, the start-up cost can be prohibitive, especially if you’re looking for a $50,000 aerial filming rig. That's a bit much for a beginner. Fortunately, for around $1,000 you can purchase a stable, reliable, capable platform to get your UAS career started. That's actually much less than the cost of a pickup truck!
Don’t forget, you must be licensed through the FAA before being compensated for flying UAS.
Showcase career: Security Person, the epitome of dull/dirty/dangerous
A security person's role stretches so much farther than enforcement, it is to instill confidence, trust and service in how they perform their security duties. The security guard is always there when needed, but they are disadvantaged when they come up against armed intruders. Why not providing them with a tool to get ahead of the bad-guys, increasing their situational awareness?
UAS-enhanced security does not replace the personal touch that security personnel have; it extends it as well as extending their capabilities. Suddenly, a security person armed with a UAS can rapidly assess, explore and respond to a situation more quickly, without invasion, and within minutes, report back to the caller providing a resolution to their concerns. You will have on-demand exploration and supervision of unusual situations. No security guard should ever be without a UAS, for their own safety as well as the safety of the clients that they serve.
Publishing and Education
An important point to bear in mind is the tremendous opportunity for UAS operator training. If you have a UAS education program and wish to infuse it with the real power behind the PWI learning technology, methodology, human understanding and data science; or if you are planning to build a program, review the following material:
- Creating Responsible Operators (review the Collaborative UAS eBook)
- PWI Content Integration Guide (learn how to integrate your content)
Learn both UAS operations and first-time-problem solving skills, then you can transcend your experience in both UAS skills and problem solving skills in the development of your own UAS App-Ons™. In doing so, you become,
- first, a recognized author
- second, a recognized consultant/instructor
Fast – Easy – Safe – Fun
The content of others is woven into the models, storytelling and Socratic process as a collaborative method of learning how to solve unidentified and/or first-time-problems.
The object of the publication is to connect the Topic of Interest to the audience with practical illustrations, called a story. So the content is meaningful and useful based on the examples in the story. It promotes the concept of thinking.
Learn about the importance of becoming a content creator and having the backing of a publishing network with the methodology and technology to empower your content to reach your target audience and cross generations with a message that's meaningful to all.
An excellent example of this process is found in Lesson 1 of the 5 Dimensions of Good Pilot Solutions series on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) training.
Possibilities for Consideration - Earn a Living
Just imagine the possibilities! If you have a UAS with a camera, you won’t go hungry! That is, if you have the willingness to learn how to use it. If you have the willingness to provide education or possess content that you want to publish, connect with an SOS Buddy and learn how to get started.
Let us know how you plan to use your pickup truck of the skies to earn a living. Share your insights with us in the SocraticQ™ below.
Take a moment and examine…
- As you reviewed the material above, what stood out to you?
- What is the potential impact, economically and/or socially?
- What action is needed to stop or support this idea?
- You may want to consider whether you:
- want to be aware of,
- should become supportive of,
- would want to be active in this topic?
Add Your Insight
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Being willing is not enough; we must do.
LEONARDO DA VINCI