There are numerous ways to earn money with your drone; let’s look at some of the main sectors that utilize drones today and some of the entertaining drone jobs available.
Agricultural drone employment
Farming is more than a job; it is a way of life. It is just as critical to protect your crops, your herd, as it is to keep them healthy. When we discuss agricultural drones, we are referring to machines equipped with sprayers and powerful cameras that are used to inspect and spot-spray your crops. If you need to monitor your herd or inspect the fence line for potential egress points, practically any inspection drone will suffice.
Crop inspection can be accomplished with nearly any camera drone if you sift through the footage and make your own determinations, but did you know that there are AI-driven analysis tools available that can flag specific aspects of your crop to warn you to potential issues? When a smart drone is combined with a smart sprayer, it is possible to save thousands of dollars on spray and labor to deliver it to the field. We all like watching a skilled crop dusting pilot in action, but even the finest pilot is inefficient in comparison to the precision of a sophisticated drone that can spray each plant individually if necessary.
Construct and repair drones
Today, we’re going to discuss ways to earn money with your drone, but don’t forget that there is money to be made in creating and repairing drones. You may not be in a position to establish your own business, but in all of the jobs covered in this article, it is possible to work as a fleet manager. Your responsibility would be to inspect each drone following each flight for evidence of damage or wear.
You’ll need to document any work performed on each machine, as well as battery charging information.
Perhaps you’re not interested in fleet management; perhaps you’d rather sit at a workbench switching out damaged parts on crashed drones. That is a significant task.
Drone construction jobs
Drone tasks on a jobsite are becoming more popularity. While drones cannot yet secure a beam in place while a crew bolts it to a structure, they may send one end of a rope to the roof. These are small use cases; the majority of drones deployed on construction sites are for inspection and workplace surveillance. It’s entertaining to see a timelapse of a structure being constructed; these animations are typically made using scheduled overview photos and video that the crew and management use everyday to assess progress and detect potential difficulties.
Drone jobs with the government
Drone missions for the government can take on a wide variety of forms. While some governments utilize drones for spying, the majority of government drones are likely used by fire personnel and law police. While police aircraft are too expensive to operate, a drone is significantly less expensive and accessible. Each has its uses, but a drone can be in the air in minutes, providing immediate life-saving information before a helicopter’s blades can even fire up.
On the firefighting front, situational awareness is critical. Defining the fire’s perimeter or identifying barriers during a search and rescue effort. Thermal cameras are useful in this situation, either to locate a body or to locate dangerous hot areas in a fire.
Aerial imaging complements government surveys and environmental efforts in a positive way. I am confident that a number of my city’s absurd interchanges and crossroads might have been avoided if employees had a top-down view of the region in which they were working.
To be honest, any of the other positions on this list can be classified as government jobs, but you must first work for the government.
Insurance drone employment
Insurance firms face the disadvantage of being forced to react to events, frequently without seeing the assets and factors at stake. It’s one thing to view a bruised bumper on a car; inspecting hail damage to the top of your home is quite another. Instead of a human risking his or her life to ascend, a drone may just pop up and shoot some images and video. Make no mistake, photographs and video will never completely replace the efforts of a professional human, but a few drone images can assist a human in navigating to the correct location or avoiding an unanticipated hazard.
Several law enforcement agencies have begun employing drones to photograph and reconstruct accidents. Additionally, this imagery can assist insurance companies in comprehending an incident, which is beneficial for you if you are required to show your innocence.
Drone jobs in real estate
This is purely recreational. We’ve all gone house hunting; isn’t it cool to see aerial photographs of a property rather than some random up-close shots taken with a real estate agent’s phone? Do not assume that the only work available is aerial photography; sometimes a realistic 3D model of a structure is required. 3D mapping is a sophisticated subject that requires specialized software and typically some extremely exact flying, but this is typically only necessary for commercial real estate; your normal family house merely requires some attractive photographs to tempt potential buyers.
Drone employment in the energy sector
The energy sector is comprised of numerous components. The most common drone duty will be infrastructure inspection. At times, you’ll survey the tops of power poles; at others, you’ll fly along 100 miles of wires looking for damage or obstructions.
Following a number of big forest fires in California and Oregon in 2020, a slew of drone manufacturers aggressively promoted their drones and services for identifying locations where electricity lines intersect with vegetation. It is not uncommon for the electrical grid to generate some sparks; it is preferable if there are no trees nearby to be struck by those sparks.
Drone inspection jobs
If you haven’t noticed before, a good portion of the other occupations mentioned on this page are inspection-related. Inspecting objects with your drone is an excellent usage for a flying camera. You can inspect virtually anything, from a field of grass to a single bolt atop a radio tower, and everything in between. The best inspection drones are equipped with various cameras, including a revolving RGB camera with a zoom lens that acts as your eyes in the sky, as well as a thermal camera.
Thermal cameras are significantly underutilized as inspection equipment. They make sense in the energy sector, where overheated pipes and wires are a concern. Did you know that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police employs infrared imaging to detect overweight delivery trucks in Canada? That is correct; at the very least, they check the temperature of the vehicle’s tires. Not only are red hot tires dangerous, but they also indicate an overloaded truck. In any case, thermal cameras are critical for assessing overheating infrastructure, accurately counting the number of people in a crowd, and a variety of other activities.
Military drone employment
The military classifies UAVs in a variety of ways, most commonly based on their size. The smallest drones are built for local situational awareness; as the list progresses, extended range observation and finally weaponry are added. Please see our list of military drones for additional information. In summary, if you’re willing to join the military, there are some interesting things you can accomplish with drones.
Drone mining jobs
Technically speaking, mining drone jobs are among the most challenging available. Have you ever taken a flight with a DJI drone? Isn’t that simple? That is because DJI’s drones have an excellent GPS navigation system and are capable of maintaining a stable hover, but what happens when they lose GPS connection? While the majority have visual sensors, this is not how they are designed to fly. Subterranean travel is a GPS-restricted habitat with limited flight space. Your piloting abilities will be put to the ultimate test!
Low light conditions exacerbate the problem. Are you able to fly blind or with the aid of radar? Digital Aereolous has a drone solution for you, but they are one of the few companies designing for these challenging conditions.
When it comes to open mines, things get more straightforward; you’re essentially back at a building site performing inspection work.
Drone photography jobs
Have you noticed that the majority of drone jobs include simply capturing images from the air? Utilizing aerial images for inspection and archiving purposes is one thing; but, you may have come here as an artist, and there is money to be made capturing aerial photographs. Every photographer who has attempted to capture a group shot is familiar with the problem of fitting everyone inside the frame. While they were at it, there’s a decent likelihood they attempted to raise the camera as high as possible. This is an excellent application for a flying camera.
When taken from the air, environment photography takes on a whole new dimension. We’ve all seen photographs of farms, forests, lakes, and mountains; they take on a new life when taken from a higher vantage point.
Drone positions in public safety (Search & Rescue)
While public safety encompasses a wide range of activities, search and rescue is a primary application for drones. Nothing exactly conveys the concept of “safety” as effectively as literally saving a life. If you’re interested in being engaged in public safety drone work, particularly search and rescue, please contact a local agency immediately. They will not have time to integrate you into the team if there is a large fire or a missing person involved.
Drone security jobs
As I stroll through my area, I see an increasing number of doorbell cameras on houses. These are straightforward security gadgets designed to assist homeowners in the event of a bad actor attempting to recruit a new victim. What if the camera could fly around the home instead of being attached to the front? While we are a long way from that becoming commonplace, there are numerous businesses that may benefit from using a drone to fly a parameter fence or parking lot.
Elevated cameras are also extremely beneficial when confronted with a throng. Flying above people takes special permissions, but I’m sure you can envision the applications.
A security drone job is essentially a video surveillance job.
Racing and amusement
Finally, you may earn money simply by flying. While there is no hourly income, the purse for a major drone racing competition can be rather substantial.
In a rare instance, you can get work as a pilot testing new drones. This occurs frequently in the aerospace and automotive industries, where the test driver and test pilot simply turn up to put a machine through its paces. They must understand what the machine must do and be capable of doing those tasks throughout the test, but they are essentially paid to fly a machine.
However, it is more probable that you will get a piloting position in an advertising capacity. You’ve seen airplanes hauling banners and balloons and blimps connected to a car dealership; drones are rapidly developing to the point where they can perform some of these duties, albeit on a lesser scale.
Dronerush.com is the source.
