INTERNATIONAL
FROM THE COCKPIT
Bill Lavender bill@agairupdate.com
Drones - Where’s the Economic Advantage? One of the more often asked questions that I’m approached with goes something like, “How do you believe drones will impact our industry?” I read a lot of digital information concerning drones from news alerts subscriptions to newsletters dedicated to drone use. Admittedly, I’ve never flown a drone and my hands-on experience is naught. However, AgAir Update does own a drone for photography that is used legally for photo work for some articles. None of the above qualifies me to be considered an expert drone commenter, either pro or con for the devices. However, that fact doesn’t prevent me from making observations backed by decades of experience in agricultural aviation. A significant part of the drone industry believes drones are ideal for agricultural aviation applications and for whatever reasons solve perceived issues that don’t exist. Regardless of your particular feelings about drones in agaviation, the mantra “follow the money” should be adhered to. In this case, it is more like, “Where is the economic advantage?” The drone industry has two insurmountable problems that, from what I know, have not been approached effectively by it; drift potential and load/production ability. I have yet to see scientific data that validates a drone can make an even swath application and without drift issues. I know there is current research on-going, but only for one, maybe two, particular drone configurations. How about the different configurations of rotors, for example? This is a two-fold issue in that effective, current drone capabilities require Ultra Low Volume (ULV) applications, which in turn lead to very small droplet sizes to be effective. A 6 | agairupdate.com
ULV applications can actually outperform higher volume applications, if done accurately and correctly. Here’s where the drone may fail a flight test for a swath evaluation. How does six to eight rotors that keep the drone airborne affect the spray pattern? Where is the needed downwash that is easily created from a heavy, fixed wing aircraft or helicopter? It takes a massive air displacement to have the downwash needed for an application’s crop penetration that a drone does not have. Let’s keep this in perspective by stating this discussion relates to current market drones that are economically feasible. Here comes into play the economic advantage, or rather the lack of. Sure, the military and maybe some wellfunded research entities may have a large UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). But, how much does one cost that is as large as even the smaller 400-gallon ag-aircraft, or even the 200-gallon capable ag-aircraft? How much does a fleet of these very large drones cost? Drones believed to “take over” ag-aviation are typically under 55-pounds, or are attempting to receive an FAA waiver for only, relatively, slightly heavier drones when compared to a real ag-aircraft. Now you know the two “elephants in the room” limitations for drones in ag-aviation: drift potential and economic advantage. It is going to be very challenging to overcome the drift potential problem with multi-rotor drones. The helicopter drones probably could mitigate the drift potential. Single-rotor drift data is available. They still face the economic advantage obstacle, of which there is none, considering the initial purchase price and operating costs. Why does the industry need drones for large scale applications, anyway? Ideally, if the drift
