What will clear drones for takeoff?

Consumer drones never fail to attract a huge crowd at big trade events. At the Paris Air Show last month, I noticed that even the uniformed aviation officers were captivated by the toy drones flying in a choreographed dance routine set up by Parrot at the Salon du Bourget.

Showbiz aside, commercial drones are already demonstrating a number of compelling applications. They range from 3D-mapping, infrastructure (bridges, oil pipes, gas lines and roads) inspection and Hollywood movies to farming, aircraft fleet inspection, aerial photography for properties and search-and-rescue operations when disasters hit.

To have unmanned aerial vehicles fly over certain areas, gather intelligence and detect things that otherwise couldn’t be seen before – without huge investment – is simply exciting.

On the other hand, it's far too early to celebrate the success of non-military drones.

'High profile and niche'
Deloitte, in a recent report, called drones "high profile" and "niche." Deloitte predicts that in 2015 the "active base" of non-military drones costing $200 or more should exceed one million units for the first time.

Although that sounds like a lot of drones, looking at the sales of non-military drones in 2015 alone, Deloitte expects the number to be about 300,000 units. More importantly, a majority will be toy-like hobby devices bought by consumers.

Deloitte isn't impressed with the size of the [drone] industry, either. It predicts industry revenues at $200-$400 million in 2015, which the report said is “equivalent to the list price of a single, mid-sized passenger jet.”

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