Drones And Public Safety – Ryan English, FLYMOTION

How are drones used in the public safety sector?

If you asked today’s guest, he would say drones provide a cost-effective solution to other costly equipment and that they can provide great ROI to local public agencies. Ryan English is President and Co-Founder of FLYMOTION Unmanned Systems, a full service UAS company headquartered in Tampa, Florida that delivers a range of UAS solutions, one of which is focused on the public safety industry.  In addition to his military service and civilian special operations background, Ryan has over a decade of successful entrepreneurship to the FlyMotion team. In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Ryan talks about FLYMOTION, how drones are used in hazardous public safety situations, the value of drones to public safety organizations and the challenges and rewards of starting a public safety drones based business.

In This Episode

• Introduction. Ryan English is CEO and Co-founder of FLYMOTION Unmanned Systems, a full-service drone company.
• Drones in the Public Safety Sector. Ryan discusses some of the ways in which drones can be used to support public safety agencies, including in hazardous materials incidents, fighting fires, major accidents and hostage situations.  Some agencies come to FLYMOTION with their needs already figured out, but most need some counseling and education on how UAVs can provide value.  That’s where Ryan/Dave’s public safety sector background comes into play, particularly when talking to other safety professionals.
• Complete UAV Solutions. A sound drone program includes the right technology for the application, the proper training, maintenance and the right organizational framework to ensure a seamless and integrated solution within the organization.  Ryan talks about how UAV programs are developed and rolled out into a public safety organization.
• Public Outreach and Education. One of the services that FLYMOTION provides is outreach or education to the public safety community to help them understand the benefits of using a drone.
• Key Agency Questions. Based on the feedback that FLYMOTION receives, the top agency questions they get from the command staff are (a) how much will it cost, (b) the FAA rules and regulations and (c) how can drones tie back to the incident command center or if the feeds can be viewed in the command center.
• Origin of the Company. Ryan and his partner, David Stratchko, were former public safety responders and were involved in several situations where they felt a drone could help.  They decided to leave their respective agencies to help make public safety agencies safer and more efficient by using drones.
• Challenges. Every new company has ups and downs. Ryan talks about the challenges that the team went through in starting FLYMOTION, including that fact that they were self-funded, which although provided a huge benefit, it meant the staff had to work longer hours and continually within constraints.  Secondly, the company couldn’t scale the business and hire new people, without the added revenues to cover the added costs.
• Command Vehicles. FLYMOTION creates custom command and control vehicles for public safety organizations.  The vehicles are designed to interface with a variety of tools, data collection systems and communication feeds to provide a central integrated mobile command and control center. Ryan talks about the vehicles and the potential uses by public safety agencies.
• Consulting Services. FLYMOTION provides a wide range of consulting services and can assist agencies in introducing the latest technology, training and support into their operations.  The goal is to help agencies optimize personnel and resources, attract new customers and clients, and stay within their allotted budget.
• Closing.

Mentioned Links

• FLYMOTION Unmanned Systems (www.flymotionus.com)