Drone offers views of Cedar Rapids to take the breath away

CEDAR RAPIDS - You can only see so much from the seat of a bass boat.

So Caleb Howard set aside his fishing pole, sold his boat and has used the cash to help finance his flowering new fascination - high-definition aerial photography from the controls of a radio-controlled drone.

Maybe you've seen his work.

The Cedar Rapids native has captured spectacular views of the downtown Cedar Rapids skyline to rival any ever seen before.

Sufficiently dazzled were Cedar Rapids city officials that they asked and obtained permission from Howard to use one of his drone photographs that showcases the city's new McGrath Amphitheatre with the Cedar River and downtown skyline behind it. The city put the image on postcards and handed them out to donors to the amphitheater project.

During recent heavy rains and flash flooding, the Friends of Cedar Lake asked Howard to quickly set up and help capture what happens to the lake near downtown as the flooding Cedar River and the city's storm sewer system both flow into it.

Cedar Lake, in the industrial area next to a shuttered Alliant Energy power plant and the Quaker and Cargill plants, never looked better.

At 35, Howard doesn't seem to qualify as the likeliest of drone aficionados. He's not ex-military. He's not a computer nerd. He's not an extreme tech geek.

Instead, he has worked nine years as a union carpenter and the last seven as an appraiser in the Linn County Assessor's Office. Now he is combining a knack for 'fixing stuff” with unfulfilled dreams of piloting an airplane and taking photographs into a possible new business not imagined when he first started pounding nails as a carpenter 16 years ago.

Howard said the urge started about two years ago during an appraisal seminar when someone at the event brought out a drone.

'I started buying parts and selling boats,” he said.

In the Iowa tradition of tinkerers in barns, garages and basements, Howard learned most of what he knows about building drones and aerial photography and videography by reading, studying and building.

Today, he and an emerging nationwide community of budding drone business owners find themselves stuck in a murky gray area - somewhere between the brilliant blue skies of one of Howard's aerial shots of downtown Cedar Rapids and the gathering dark clouds in another of his shots as a storm closed in a couple weeks ago.

Tony Molinaro, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Kansas City, provided the FAA's latest statement on civil unmanned aircraft, which states that flying drones or other civil unmanned aircraft does not need FAA approval if done for hobby or recreational purposes.

However, the use of drones for commercial uses such as photography or videography needs 'some level of FAA approval,” the agency said.

To date, the FAA has approved two commercial enterprises, both in Alaska.

The agency said that Congress passed legislation in 2012 calling for the FAA to provide rules for the safe integration of civil unmanned aircraft by Sept. 15, 2015. That rule-making procedure is underway, but some entities, such as real estate companies, are testing the legal terrain and putting small drones such as Howard's - defined as weighing fewer than 55 pounds that stay within 400 feet of the ground - into commercial use now.

Todd Davis, president of the Cedar Rapids SkyHawks radio-controlled model airplane club, said the 70 members of his club 'cringe” at the word 'drone” because of the legislation and rule-making both nationally and at the state and local level that could hurt long-standing aerial hobby clubs such as the SkyHawks.

In Iowa, for example, state law prohibits flying a drone with a camera over private property without the property owner's consent, Davis said. The law also restricts the use of drones in criminal investigations.

In addition, the city of Iowa City has passed a city ordinance banning the city's use of drones unless a police officer is on the scene.

Davis, a manager of technical support at Rockwell Collins, said a typical 'quad copter” drone with four arms and rotors - which can be purchased for a few hundred dollars - is really just another radio-controlled aircraft. It enters the world of FAA civil drone regulation if it is used for commercial purposes or flies away from the operator's ability to see it, he said.

Davis said the SkyHawks fly scale-model aircraft that requires an understanding of aerodynamics and flying while the drone typically has a gyroscope to keep them level and a GPS system to return them to the spot from where they took off.

Howard said he has invested about $12,000 in his two drones, one with six arms and rotors and a larger one with eight of each. Davis said the investment likely gives Howard two of the bigger drones in the area.

To date, Howard has put in about 40 to 50 hours of flight time, which is a lot of flights when the batteries powering his drones last between eight to 10 minutes before they need to be changed, he said.

He can't fly them in windy conditions, but once the evening wind was down to about 12 mph on Tuesday, he demonstrated the paces he goes through to launch a drone, fly it and gracefully return it via GPS to the spot from where it started.

As the drone flies, he watches in a monitor to position the machine, which he had programmed to take photos every five seconds. Most of the picture-taking is at 150 feet above ground or lower, he said.

This doesn't shoot selfies like a camera phone, but it can do 'dronies” of the drone operator.

Howard said the commercial applications of drone photography are promising, particularly so in the agricultural sector as farmers study fields, for example, to see which spots may need more water or more chemicals.

He also said drones will help out on search and rescue, aid firefighters to determine where a fire is its hottest and, as is already happening in some spots, assist real estate agents who want to market property.

Kyle Skogman, president of Skogman Homes in Cedar Rapids, said his agency isn't looking at drones right now, and he said he's not sure if drones would bring more negative reaction than positive results.

Meanwhile, Greg Buelow, spokesman for the Cedar Rapids Fire Department, said the department one day may look to use a drone over a large fire or the scene of a hazardous materials spill.

As for Howard, said he isn't quitting his day job as a county appraiser.

For now, he takes his two drones up two or three days a week to refine his skills, then he leaves them on his dining room table as he waits for the FAA to finalize its rules on drones.

'I don't have too many people over for dinner,” he said.

Some of his aerial photographs can be found on his Calcam AP Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Calcam-Ap. The AP is short for aerial productions.