Flying high into the future High into the future
Once the playthings of hobbyists, unmanned aerial vehicles — better known as drones — appear in the skies more frequently than ever, performing a range of commercial tasks, from documenting the construction of high-rise buildings to mapping large rural properties to detecting leaks in natural gas pipelines.
A Houston company is helping to lead businesses into the drone-assisted future. Founded five years ago, Professional Drone Services of Texas is flying drones for a roster of clients throughout Texas and parts of Louisiana. The company’s drones not only can capture aerial images from as high as 400 feet, but also collect massive volumes of data through sensors and sophisticated cameras.
Professional Drone Services was among the first wave of companies offering drone services in Texas, launching not long after the Federal Aviation Administration adopted rules that opened the skies to commercial drones in 2016. But unlike many early entrants into the market, PDS has stayed in business.
“The drone industry itself is kind of going through the growing pains of any young industry,” said Jared Janacek, founder and president of Dallas-based Texas Drone Co. “Just as fast as drone companies are popping up, they’re also fading away.”
Wayne Franks, the founder and CEO of Professional Drone Services, launched the company in 2017 with the help of his three sons, all of whom were involved in aviation or technology. Brent, the eldest, is a fixed-wing pilot and owner of East Texas Charter. Middle son Garrett, a Navy veteran with a nuclear background, helped develop the young company with logistics and technical support.
Hayden, the youngest of the three, is a certified by FAA to fly drones, He became Professional Drone Services’ first employee and drone pilot. He now
works for Amazon’s Prime Air drone delivery program.
Professional Drone Services, or PDS, got its start by offering basic aerial photography for residential and commercial clients. But with a background in technology gained from almost 20 years working at Nortel Networks, Franks also wanted to offer high-tech, drone-aided solutions.
“I wanted to push our product set, so we went into more complex aerial solutions, such as mapping and thermal imaging,” he said.
Franks admitted he first few years in business were difficult as the company tried to gain its footing. Potential clients, particularly those in the residential real estate market, still viewed drones with suspicion, because of the vehicles’ early reputation as flying peeping Toms, Franks said.
Perceptions, however, changed as companies began to see the versatility of drones and their cost savings compared to planes or helicopters.
“We’ve been in this business five years now, which kind of makes us a veteran,” Franks said. “We can leverage the experience we’ve had.”
Specialists vs. generalists
Janacek, whose company provides drone services to the mining, architecture and construction industries, said the drone business in Texas is becoming increasingly specialized.
Among the specialists are Houstonbased Trumble Unmanned, which services the oil and gas industry. Another drone service company based in Houston, Dimensional Geomatics. focused on the high-tech aspects of mapping.
Other companies, such as Professional Drone Services, tend to provide a broader range of services
Dawn Zoldi, a drone market expert, said companies such as Professional Drone Services often start out servicing one market segment before shifting attention to other faster-growing markets.
Zoldi, a lawyer, Air Force veteran and founder and CEO of P3 Tech Consulting, said the oil and gas industry presents one of the biggest opportunities for growth for Texas drone companies. Aerial mapping is another as government agencies increasingly use drones to create maps and data banks for disaster planning and other applications.
“There are definitely a lot of applications right now,” she said, “The industry’s starting to pick up, especially after COVID.”
Ready to soar
Before launching Professional Drone Services, Franks worked as a corporate executive and an entrepreneur. He began his career at Nortel, where he worked for 19 years, rising to the position of senior vice president. He then ran his own company, Outdoor Homescapes of Houston, building outdoor kitchens until he decided to sell and make another career change.
Franks’ sons encouraged him to get into the aviation industry. At the time, the buzz in aviation circles focused on the potential for explosive growth in commercial drone services as the FAA prepared to finalize its drone rules.
The idea of owning a technologydriven business appealed to Franks, who funded the startup himself. Although he declined to disclose financial details, he said the company is profitable, growing an average of 15 to 18 percent each year over the past five years.
“I run this company the same as I ran my division for a Fortune 500 company,” he said. “There’s just not as many zeros now.”
With its headquarters in north Houston, Professional Drone Services employs nine drone pilots in Texas: four in Houston, three in the Austin/San Antonio area, and two in Dallas.
PDS maintains a fleet of five drones, supplemented by some of its pilots’ own drones. All of the company’s drones are manufactured by Da-Jiang Innovations, the world’s largest drone maker, based in Shenzhen, China.
Security controversy
In recent years, the federal government has raised security concerns over the use of DJI drones. Their use by the Department of Defense and other federal agencies has been banned, except under special circumstances.
Recently, the Department of Homeland Security issued an industry alert to companies and government agencies, such as police and fire departments, warning of potential security risks from Chinese-manufactured drones.
Despite the controversy, Franks defends his company’s use of Da-Jiang Innovations drones.
“I’ve thought about it quite honestly over the last year or two and here’s my answer. I don’t do any Defense Department or government work. That’s No. 1,” Franks said. “No. 2, DJI is by far the best manufacturer out there.”
Drone applications
About 80 percent of Professional Drone Services’ business is related to real estate. Drones play an increasingly important role in the construction of apartment complexes and other commercial developments, and in mapping large tracts of land.
Commercial real estate accounts for about 60 percent of the company’s business. Professional Drone Services performs what is known as aerial asset documentation, in which the company flies a drone over a construction site once a month to document the changes. The builders use this data to demonstrate to investors the progress made on multi-million-dollar projects.
The company’s commercial real estate industry business also includes conducting flights over large tracts of undeveloped land, accounting for about 20 percent of revenues, Franks said. “Basically, we’re a surveyor in the sky,” he said.
Although not authorized to create surveys for legal records purposes, drone-enabled technology, such as highresolution cameras, can create sophisticated maps. For landowners, PDS mapping technology allows them to see what’s on their land and determine the best way to develop it, Franks said.
Much of the rest of the company’s business comes from the oil and gas industry. PDS flies drones equipped with thermal imaging, infrared sensors and other equipment to detect leaks and emissions from refineries and pipelines. Concern about methane — a powerful greenhouse gas that escapes into the atmosphere during the production, transportation and refining of oil and natural gas — is growing among energy companies and regulators.
Flying a drone along a stretch of pipeline is a faster, more efficient and less expensive than alternatives, such as satellite monitoring or using handheld devices that sniff out methane leaks.
“The old method is literally taking a four-wheeler, an ATV, and a handheld methane detection device and start driving the pipeline.” Franks said. “It’s not very efficient, especially if the EPA, the government, is on their tail.”
Expansion mode
Franks said the next step in his company’s evolution is expanding into cities across the nation.
“We’ve recreated what we do here, how we handle clients, the drones that we fly,” he said. “We’ve kind of standardized those processes and procedures and we’re able to duplicate that in other cities.”