BCBusiness

14 BCBusiness JANUARY 2016 to 1,672 in 2014. The changes are coming so fast that federal regulators are struggling to keep pace with appropriate rules and enforcement. Drone operators are draw- ing flak for a growing number of mishaps. This summer, a rogue drone forced the ground- ing of firefighting planes and helicopters in the province's Southern Interior. Pilots and airport officials report a series of near-misses with planes close to Vancouver International Airport. Transport Canada investigated just three drone-related inci- dents nationwide in 2012 but 39 in 2014; in B.C., those numbers went from one to seven over the same period. AerialX is one of roughly 800 members of Unmanned Systems Canada ( U.S.C.), an industry association pushing for more federal regulation—a position somewhat unusual for private industry. Kenig says both users and manufacturers need stricter guidance—and there needs to be enforcement. "Right now, a lot of companies are making their own autopilots and parts—it's like the Wild West there." U.S.C. has been talking with Transport Canada about rule changes that would take effect sometime in 2016 and could include training and licensing requirements for operators, as well as registration of aircraft. Current rules (set in place in 1996 but modified significantly over the years) allow recre- ational users of drones lighter than 35 kilograms to fly without permits so long as they don't breach Canadian Aviation Regulations (such as staying nine kilometres away from an airport). Commercial operators need to apply for SFOCs from Transport Canada for each mis- sion, with restrictions made on a case-by-case basis. Organiza- tions with safe flying records can get a certificate good for multiple missions. F or those who want to see the expression "time is money" in action, consider Shirt. Shirt—code name for the new Power Rangers movie—was one of 269 productions shooting in the province as of October 2015. From the time Shirt's producers started thinking about filming in B.C. to the point when they made the call, over a million dollars was saved—not because the company tightened its bud- get, but because it was spending in U.S. dollars. These are heady days for B.C.'s industry, with direct spending on film and television production totalling more than $2 billion in 2014—up from $943 million in 2007. Over $1.6 billion of that activity is what's known as foreign location and service pro- ductions ( FLS)—which, like Shirt, are feature movies and television programs filmed in Canada by non-Canadian producers. And these days, FLS productions are benefiting mightily from a slumping Canadian dollar—down to $0.75 by late November from a high of $1.06 in 2011. "Clearly a huge portion of our business is export to the U.S. marketplace," says Peter Leitch, chair of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C. "By making it easier for our clients to do business here, it's a net positive." And he says everyone benefits, from multimillion-dollar movies to small independents. Leitch adds that the low dol- lar is just part of the story—that even when the loonie was at Coldstream-based Valhalla Environmental Consulting Inc. is one B.C. company that relies heavily on drone technology. It has been flying a SenseFly Swinglet Cam fixed-wing drone since 2012 to collect imagery and data for mining, agriculture and engi- neering projects. Valhalla part- ner and senior environmental scientist Matt Davidson says he was blown away when his drone supplier showed him what the machine could do. "We invested and figured out the regulatory side and the technological side as we went—which is not the way I would recommend doing it." Davidson says commercial operators need to be prepared for the impending regulatory changes before buying a drone because where, how and what you fly all affect where you fit under the rules. "We happen to have a very light plane, and we fly mostly in rural areas," he says. "So we have fairly unrestricted use because we're not near people, we're not near airports, and our plane is relatively safe even if it bumps into something." Vancouver realtor Jordan Macnab, who uses a DJI Phantom quadcopter to shoot videos of high-end properties through- out the Lower Mainland, flies in tighter quarters. When his agency, the Macnabs, started flying a drone in 2012, the HD footage gained a lot of press— though it was tough sledding on the regulatory side. Macnab says Transport Canada was still sorting out what guidelines were needed in an urban environ- ment, and SFOCs would take weeks to get issued, costing him business from some clients. Nowadays Macnab has a blan- ket SFOC, and he knows where he can fly and where he should stick to more conventional cam- era work. "You can't fly drones everywhere," he says. "So it's been good for business, but to be honest, we can't use it on every one of our listings." • Air AmAzon While Canada's drone industry has been push- ing for more regulation, U.S. firms have been looking north of the border to escape the heavy hand of the law. Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon .com inc. chose to test its fleet of delivery drones at a secret B.C. location in 2015 instead of on more restrictive U.S. turf, where a virtual ban on commercial and research flights is only expected to be loosened this year or next Amazon wants to have its packages delivered in 30 minutes or less by drone Go Ahead... Shoot Me B.C.'s film industry benefits from a lower Canadian dollar, but there's more to the story by Mary Beach F i l m SOURCE: AMAzON SUBMISSION TO THE FEdERAL AvIATION AdMINISTRATION, 2015 of Amazon packages weigh less than 2.3 kg—the maximum size it wants to deliver by drone the drones' expected flight speed: 80 km/h 86% 30m 80

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