Welcome Inspire Pilots!
Join our free DJI Inspire community today!
Sign up

USA Help with quote

Joined
Jan 5, 2017
Messages
69
Reaction score
44
Location
West Jordan, Utah
Website
www.skywardimaging.com
I am trying to find out how long it would take for a sUAS crew of 2 people to inspect 10 transect miles of rocky mountainous terrain. This would be 25 feet or so off the ground and a team of about 10 others we will be assisting by doing this inspection. Also, what would you charge extra per day for the use of a DJI Matrice 600 Pro with both the XT thermal camera and the z30 zoom camera?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Advexure
Inspection for what purpose? Civil survey, orthomosaics? The mountainous terrain is the tricky part as most autonomous flight will be no good. What will you be using the thermal imaging for? Are you inspecting above ground pipelines? You've got an interesting one on your hands for sure.
 
Inspection for what purpose? Civil survey, orthomosaics? The mountainous terrain is the tricky part as most autonomous flight will be no good. What will you be using the thermal imaging for? Are you inspecting above ground pipelines? You've got an interesting one on your hands for sure.
I can't release details but I will do the best I can. I will be looking for objects (Large and Small), archeological structures, and indigenous animals above ground. The bid is for way more than 10 Transect miles but I just need to get an idea of how long it is going to take me. I also need to see if buying the z30 and XT is going to be justifiable. They want the option of multispectral imaging along with the inspection.
 
It would partially depend on what resolution is requested, did they give you a pixels per cm / inch requirement?
 
It would partially depend on what resolution is requested, did they give you a pixels per cm / inch requirement?

No, the only requirements are:
  • Aerial survey video must have enough resolution to identify potential:
  • items laying on the surface within the survey area as small as 1'x1'
  • threatened and endangered species
  • biological features
  • archaeological features
  • Deliver geodetically referenced aerial survey video and optional multi-spectral imagery

 
To give you a better idea I stripped the info that I can't share from this pic so you can get an understanding of what I am tasked with.
Tranasect-Map.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: BennG
Does the entire area need photographed or just the perimeter x's a specific width?
I believe all of it needs to be photographed and/or recorded. I'm waiting for them to answer that question and to see if they will be providing data storage or if I need to include that in the quote. I have till Tuesday to send the quote over to them.
 
One of the other missing pieces of info would be how high you will need to fly to capture everything above tree tops, how much overlap per photo you need. If you need video and photos the time almost doubles, you will obviously be able to capture video faster than photos. I would plan on about 10-12mph max for flight speed too.
 
One of the other missing pieces of info would be how high you will need to fly to capture everything above tree tops, how much overlap per photo you need. If you need video and photos the time almost doubles, you will obviously be able to capture video faster than photos. I would plan on about 10-12mph max for flight speed too.
I've actually got it mostly figured out. I am just curious now how long the job will last. 9000 acres could take years to complete. I know I will be about 20-25 feet off the ground. It's mostly brush and cactus in this area.
 
I was thinking about 50 acres per battery at 10 flights per day =180 days just for photographs. Probably another 140 to 150 days for video.
 
Without details, what they are doing is a little more extensive and I have used a few of their previous jobs to judge the speed of how much I can cover and I am thinking in the years not days. I will be doing photo's and video with the z30 and photos and video with a full spectrum camera as well. Taking into account batteries and charging time, I will be out there for quite some time. Good thing I can drive to there from my house easily. When something is found there is a lot of work to do so that adds time as well.
 
I have but it was for small ticket stuff like lenses. A deposit or retainer isn't unheard of either. If you feel uncomfortable about it you may just work with what you have until after your first billing and build it into the quote. Or have it be a reimbursable expense in your first bill.
 
I have but it was for small ticket stuff like lenses. A deposit or retainer isn't unheard of either. If you feel uncomfortable about it you may just work with what you have until after your first billing and build it into the quote. Or have it be a reimbursable expense in your first bill.

The setup they say I need is about $40k but the bid is way more than that. These guys get $100M+ bids all the time. I don't think it would be too far off asking for it.
 
That's mountainous terrain. It seems like a daunting task to me. If you're flying in mountainous area, there are other factors to consider as well. Like what percentage of the time is the weather conducive to flying in the area? That could easily turn 150 days in to 450 days because of weather delays.

Also, wind conditions may preclude you from flying that close to the ground in certain areas. And flying 25 ft AGL will put your bird beyond line of site in no time. I'm not talking about the VLOS rule (because it's in the middle of no where I don't think it applies), but flying that low to the ground may put trees or rising terrain in your flight path in no time, so I'd be a little worried about flying out of site.

Sounds like a great project though if you get it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Skyward Imaging
That's mountainous terrain. It seems like a daunting task to me. If you're flying in mountainous area, there are other factors to consider as well. Like what percentage of the time is the weather conducive to flying in the area? That could easily turn 150 days in to 450 days because of weather delays.

Also, wind conditions may preclude you from flying that close to the ground in certain areas. And flying 25 ft AGL will put your bird beyond line of site in no time. I'm not talking about the VLOS rule (because it's in the middle of no where I don't think it applies), but flying that low to the ground may put trees or rising terrain in your flight path in no time, so I'd be a little worried about flying out of site.

Sounds like a great project though if you get it.
If 150 days turn into 450 that will be fine with me as I am bidding it out on a per day basis. Days that weather or other circumstances stop or limit our workflow we will still get paid. 25 foot AGL will be the standard but with the Z30 camera, I will be able to go up to the 400 ft AGL mark and zoom in just like I am 25ft off the ground. Just to clarify, the VLOS applies anytime you fly commercially, especially on a military compound. It's always best practice to follow the rules no matter where you are, then you don't need to worry if you will get caught.
 
Agreed with VLOS, I thought I read somewhere that if you in a 'no population' area FAA wasn't concerned about the VLOS. I'm probably wrong. Plus if you're in a MOA, then yea, you have to be LOS so you can take evasive actions if necessary.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
22,277
Messages
210,656
Members
34,329
Latest member
defenderschool