Blogs

In an effort to further professionalize the operation of drones, I was looking around for templates where I can log flight hours and model maintenance. I want to be able to turn over some documents that show flight hours, experience and that I'm serious about how maintenance and flights are executed. To interpret this correctly, I add that I restrict operations to the following constraints, based on what current legislations seem to agree on internationally. These are 6 simple rules that I always comply with:

• less than 3.5 kg model weight
• less than 400ft altitude
• less than 500m distance
• non urban areas
• permission of land owner
• 2 miles away from airports and helipads, or prior contact and flight scheduling

It doesn't make a lot of sense to copy verbatim the logbooks used in general aviation. First, the type of piloting/operation is very different. Second, the importance of the motor, propeller versus the rest of the equipment is negligible, so separate logbooks for motors and props don't make sense.

So I've started on a little suite of apps for Mac OSX where I intend to keep my own logs. They will be kept for a month and then printed, signed off and archived. The one above is the pilot logbook, an example of general aviation available here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11452962/Pilot_Logbook.pdf

As you can see, the "condition of flight" and "piloting time" you find on those logbooks do not reflect how drones are usually operated. You can be either pilot in control (having direct manual control), but in other cases allow the drone to be operated automatically through an autopilot, in which case you become an operator in control. There are also other options like instructor or receiving instruction from others, all which counts towards flight time. The condition of flight is also different. It doesn't make sense for civil applications to fly in night time or in IFR conditions, because you must always have VLOS.

I think the most important contribution is the 'stress level' column. This reflects the maximum stress level of the pilot/operator during the flight. The idea is that the pilot reflects on the flight and determines what made him feel uncomfortable. It may be that training is needed to deal with flying close to equipment installations. In other cases it may be high wind situations and not feeling entirely in control of the craft. In the end, the objective is to find out where additional training is required, or find out where technology can be improved or substituted to remove this anxiety. So I think this column really helps to make future flights safer and safer.

I intend to make similar apps for maintenance activities on aircraft and a separate 'crash analysis book'. The objective is to demonstrate that aircraft are subject to regular maintenance and that crashes are taken seriously and need to be analysed in great detail to take measures that prevent them in the future. I think those 3 books should be enough for crafts and operations this small (subject to above constraints). In comparison, full-scale aviation has at least 5 logbooks to keep and I do not see any value in complying with those bureaucratic demands.

The idea is to demonstrate commitment to safety when operating the technology at somewhat larger scales. The logbooks aren't necessarily legal or approved, but they're certainly better than nothing or statements like "well, we never had an issue in about 200 flights we executed". Also, when people start flying for you, you want to have insight into what makes people nervous, what the frequency of maintenance is, what they find there, which components need replacement often, do we need to switch suppliers and so on. So also from a financial and general operation perspective, it makes sense to start tracking what goes on in the outfit.

Comments are welcome.