Joshua Johnson – CAD Drones LLC
Search the internet for videos using the phrases “Drone Crashes”, “Multirotor Crash”, “Drone Fails”, etc. You are bombarded with 100s if not 1000s of videos that show “toy grade” and “commercial grade” Unmanned Aircraft falling from the sky to their demise. If you accumulate the total views these videos have received it’s roughly a billion or more. This is a very bad look for the emerging commercial drone industry but we will get back to that later in this article. Now for some this might come with a great financial gain if their video is monetized and receives a high number of views. When it comes down to uploading a video of crashed unmanned aircraft we have two types of people. First we have the people who have a true accident or malfunction and just watched their $300-$5000+ aircraft get destroyed. The other type of people is the ones who intentionally fly recklessly and often crash UAVs and use video views for financial gain.
While I don’t agree with it I do however applaud the ones who are able to recover the financial loss of an accidentally crashed UAV through this method. Many times the video is the only thing that is salvageable during one of these events. I gained my passion to create affordable “must need” products for the Drone Industry from 3D Robotics Chris Anderson. This passion was gain during my time as a member and assistant administrator for his DIYDrones.com community. That’s why my main goal is to work with companies like 3D Robotics so they can start selling and offering our parachute products/system as an option for their customers. While3D Robotics is our main focus at the moment we want to work with many companies who manufacture brand name drones of all weights, sizes, and types. Integrating our affordable parachute or multiple parachutes into the hardware, software, and design will give a lot of great publicity to any manufacturer and pilots.
At CADDrones LLC we believe that it won’t be long before a “parachute recovery/safety system” is required for heavier unmanned aircraft operating for commercial purposes. That’s why we’ve worked very hard to bring an affordable line of parachute products to the unmanned industry. Using a parachute on your UAV can even help lower you insurance rates for your commercial drone company and flight operations. Currently we’re working with a handful of people and companies to create video content of our products in action. However we are always looking for more people willing to help show these things in action. We’re looking at selling our parachute products to not only commercial drone pilots but companies who assemble, manufacture, and sell brand name as well as custom drones.
Our company goal is to get our lightweight, low-cost, and durable line of parachute products integrated onto as many UAVs as we can. We manufacture set sizes for Drones ranging from 2-55 lbs but have custom solutions for UAS up to 1200 lbs or more.
Using a parachute will not only protect your investment in a UAV but it might keep someone from losing their life. This could help keep you from losing your company in a worst case scenario. The last thing the commercial drone industry needs is someone crashing a 20-55+ lb UAV into property or people. This most certainly will put a strangle hold on the emerging commercial drone industry in the U.S. and abroad. We want nothing more than to see parachutes become a must have accessory/feature for everyone in the commercial industry. If the hobby side of the industry/market sees’s the commercial sector using parachutes they will follow the trend. As an industry we can successfully increase safety and greatly reduce the damage caused to and by Drones during a crash.
Far too often those who fly illegally/recklessly for video views and financial gain go unpunished. The practice of glorify those who take these reckless risks needs to end as well. In order for the commercial Drone industry to flourish parachutes and safety features need to be more affordable and commonplace.
This will happen more as the FAA mandates parachutes for UAS in certain weight ranges but we encourage others to join the revolution. Advertising lower insurance rates to those who use these safety products and features is just one of many ways we need change. Rewarding those who fly safely and give the industry a good name should be the main focus of companies, associations, and organizations alike. The drone operators who don’t have safety and the commercial drone industry in mind when flying should be punished to the full extent. As a business owner in the commercial drone industry (like many of you) nothing is more concerning then seeing articles about someone flying a drone unsafely and/or harming people in the process.
If you, your company, or anyone you know is interested in integrating our parachute products into your unmanned aircraft please don’t hesitate to contact us. Please help us spread the word!
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