Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles as they are often known as, have followed the natural progression of technology and evolved since the days of their origin.

Today, they can be controlled by an app on a smartphone or tablet, go under water, automatically follow you, and some special racing drones can reach speeds of up to 160 MPH. There are even drones that you can control the camera of by just moving your head! The technology is advancing folks, and it's advancing at a flyby rate.

Hank Price, spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration, says that, "The small, model, unmanned aerial system fleet is forecast[ed] to more than double in size from 1.1 million vehicles in 2017 to 2.4 million units in 2022." He relates, "The average annual growth rate over the 5-year forecast period is 16.9 percent."
How a Drone Could Help Contractors

For certain circumstances, having a drone in your fleet could save time and money. For instance, if you are doing work on a large swath of land, say one square mile, it could be faster to visit different locations on that site with a drone rather than in person. Doing this would save money, if a car would have been used otherwise, and time, if walking was the method.

Krochman relates, "There are many laws and regulations surrounding the drone industry and as remote pilots we need to abide by those."

He provides these general guidelines for flying drones in the U.S.:
• Fly below 400 feet
• Fly 5 miles away from any airport
• Never fly over people
• Always fly within line of sight
• Never fly under the influence
• Respect privacy

The Federal Aviation Administration has many more guidlines on their website, faa.gov, including the option to register your unmanned aerial vehicle and a test to receive your remote pilot certification.

Trends
Several trends surrounding the use of drones have begun to take off in the past five years or so. Of them, data collection seems to be the most prominent. This can consist of crop inspections, disaster surveillance and land mapping.
Security is another trend popping up in the industry around drones. Sunflower-labs, a home protection company, offers a home protection system that consists of placing a movement-sensing light somewhere near your house and when it detects something is near you receive an alert on your phone and can remotely send a drone to see what tipped of the alarm.
The last trend that professionals in the industry are seeing is the use of drones for delivery packages and even people. Amazon has already run a few test deliveries of their service they call "Prime Air," which is just as you'd imagine - a drone delivers your package right to your doorstep.

Conclusion
While a drone might not be for everyone out there, they have undoubtedly risen in both altitude and popularity in the recent years.

As Krochman concludes the interview, "For a drone to be successfully used in landscaping there needs to be a licensed pilot, the right permissions and safety, a quality drone and a company that can adhere all those things."