GrahamAir Consulting

Drones flying in Icing (and not the sugary kind). Hairy, right? UAV operators in Alpine and Nordic countries, plus the Canadian Arctic to name a couple of regions, have to face this daily, especially in Winter (ie. ....often us!). That's why we are so looking forward to hearing from you, the Austrian Institute for Icing Sciences, at the EUROPEAN DRONE FORUM next week! Currently operators have internet weather planning but often very little onboard sensing capability. How will drone manufacturers build icing management into their systems? How do we future-proof icing risk while making the best of often tough conditions? Having operated UAS extensively in and around icing conditions, it nearly always severely hinders mission output. Especially when operating longer distances, transit time is significant. How this translates to a commercial environment in Europe, especially the Alpine Winter, it will be interesting to hear the insights and perspectives. As the regulations evolve to allow wider scope of operations, commercial UAV operators will have to contend with these risks. See you there! PS. Here is a photo for a recent alpine destination we visited! Jamie Fitzpatrick Tom G.

We are thrilled to attend the EUROPEAN DRONE FORUM and XPONENTIAL Europe next week in Dusseldorf. We look forward to meeting present and future colleagues and friends to discuss the latest trends in the industry. So many attendees and exhibitors that we are looking forward to meet. In particular, NextVision Stabilized Systems Ltd., BAE Systems, RigiTech, Septentrio, TEKEVER to name a few, we are interested to have a chat with. If anyone would like to connect in advance, or contact us while we are there, please direct message us or email us at go@grahamair.com to arrange. UAV Talent Tom G.

Is your 2025 flying by? Ours is. 2024 was a great year. We want to (belatedly!) acknowledge that. - Most proud achievement? Delivering complex pioneering training packages over three continents: Australia, North America and Europe. (In Europe: Switzerland and U.K. were our major focuses). - And the type of training? Professional BVLOS training, regulator-approved training, large UAV platform training. - Who for? Platform-specific UAV operators for large defence organisations and commercial customers. Invariably individuals come in to operate larger platforms with some sort of aerospace experience, such as PPLs, gliding, or other similar background, and gain robust world-class experience via our training. - The future of this space? The requirement for training is expanding as the regulations evolve. And operators and their companies seek ever more complex operations to remain relevant and profitable. Who knows - you could be on one of our courses soon?! If you are a business who would like help setting up your training package or building your UAV project, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We deliver world class consultancy, including training design and delivery from our unparalleled experience. Tom G. UAV Talent Riot Aerospace

Travelling through a flooded U.K. last week to visit some GrahamAir partners, we noticed a drone in the sky that appeared to be doing some aerial surveying. Oh the irony. On the one hand, drones are used by UK housing agencies to set progress and draw up plans for the construction industry (we completed some ourselves a few years ago), and on the other hand (like in the above example) they’re used by environmental agencies to pick up the mess left by these vast concrete jungles. Wouldn’t it be nice to see the data shared much more often from our industry in a way that ultimately prevents such natural disasters? Only a short time ago, no data was available at all, or it took months of survey work to get to a solution even close to what can be achieved today by a few short drone flights. Now the decision-maker doesn’t even need to leave the office to have actionable data that can be real-time compared with previous data, in a few short hours. Other areas of the world seem to take advantage of this, with drone operators and data harvesters being encouraged to share their data with national bodies. But it appears that the U.K. and Europe don’t seem to use this so robustly as in North America for example, where there are so many examples of drone data being used so publicly to man’s advantage. Look at the case studies in Canada from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (University of Alaska Fairbanks), where university researchers and staff helped the US coastguard (US Coast Guard Academy) for Typhoon Merbok in September 2022. On top of that, no satellite passes were available so the only real source of possible data was effectively from drones. A second example is for farms in the far north of Alaska - drones using Lidar and Multispectral sensors are deployed in a 5-year initiative to determine the effects of thawing permafrost in the sub-Arctic. This can really help humans there work with the land to its best advantage for minimal negative effect. This doesn’t take away from the fact that in our UK case study, this is a human geography not a physical geography phenomenon, unlike in Alaska. The British government’s decision to build on green and brownfield sites is deemed to be largely responsible for these increasing flood waters and isn’t probably going to stop (not wishing to get into politics here!). What this DOES mean is that the requirement for these UAS solutions is sure to be at an all-time high. _________________________ I am Tom G. and I am an expert on complex and large UAS, plus a commercial pilot. I am passionate about this industry and have founded a few companies in this space. Follow me to follow the discussion about this topic and industry, I would love to connect. GrahamAir is a specialist global consultancy with over 15 years’ complex UAS expertise working in the harshest and most varied conditions on all ranges of aircraft. Follow us for more conversation about or world of pioneering aerospace. UAV Talent

What a week. 3h 10 to drive 6.7km home from the airfield. Oh how we take quick journeys for granted. Never mind how it affects unmanned aircraft. Have you ever experienced this too? On multiple occasions in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America, we have faced seriously icy conditions while working on UAS, from Winter at low altitude, to prolonged stratospheric flying. We've experienced first hand how it severely inhibits safe operation of (unmanned) aircraft on both trials and mission operations. (Uh oh.) This teaches us in UAS to have a back up plan. (Here, for our painful car journey situation in Switzerland, people use winter tyres: ie. we have a contingency plan.) In this business we need even more prep: a strong simulation environment, with combined hardware and software testing, or better still ensuring that testing and flying is completed before these winter months set in. But it’s not always that easy and/or carried out as the UAS industry grows and pioneering aircraft are developed and fielded. De/anti icing systems are often too heavy and cumbersome for most small to medium UAS and so planning to avoid these conditions is imperative to ensure time (and money) is well spent and goals are achieved. We would love to hear your experiences or anecdotes of these conditions… ——————————————— GrahamAir is a specialist global consultancy with over 15 years complex UAS expertise working in the harshest and most varied conditions on all ranges of unmanned aircraft. Follow us for more conversation about our world of pioneering aerospace. Tom G. UAV Talent

We’re in Punjab with an aerospace customer. It’s clear that India’s UAV industry is making remarkable strides. The workforce for one. Even with the seasonal smog from crop burning, the job gets done. Inspiring professionalism and passion matched with warmth and hospitality. But there’s concerted investment too. For example, the state of Andhra Pradesh has approved a new drone policy aiming to attract ₹1,000 crore (approx. $120 million USD) in investments over the next five years. The policy includes forming a ‘State Drone Corporation’ to promote drone use and to enhance emergency services. Chief Minister Naidu has laid out ambitious plans to establish a drone manufacturing hub in Orvakal, Kurnool district. Plus the city of Amaravati will be developed as the drone capital of India. This will all further solidify India’s commitment to becoming a leader in this space. India is positioning itself as a key player in the global aerospace ecosystem. With its community of engineers and innovators, it’s full of potential and progress. Anand Vikram Pethia Rawee B UAV Talent #aerospace #india #indianaviation

For the Network: I'm seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified UAV External Pilots (Fixed Wing). Please contact me if you are UK based, and have extensive experienced operating fixed-wing UAVs in "Manual" mode. Please contact me on hello@uavtalent.com Have a great weekend everyone. #uavpilotjobs #uav #RPAS

The #1 learning from Procter & Gamble CBD college was "you have two ears and one mouth" - so listen and learn twice as much as you speak. Inspiring conversation with Tom from GrahamAir - I am excited to see how DroneControl can implement just some of the features we discussed in the future to improve incident response. #firstresponders #dronesforgood #drones #djienterprise