Ep 5: Taking Flight with Total Reach Drone Solutions

(upbeat music) Hop on with us as we dive into the latest topics, share some laughs and bring you insightful conversations in and around the ramble valve. From down home wisdom to cutting edge tech, we've got what you need to feel your curiosity. So tune in, relax, and let's kick back. On the tailgate presented by Weight Incorporated. (upbeat music) - All right, welcome back everybody to another episode on the tailgate. I'm your host, Cade Moody. Got a co-host, Gaston Line. Who's actually a subject matter expert on the day's episode. And our producer, Riggs Ware. And then we've got our other subject matter expert, Hagen Ware, no relation. And director and telepharmist, Johnny Marshall. Gonna help talk to us a little bit today about total reach drone solutions. So Johnny Gaston, I'm gonna let you all kind of just give us the background on total reach. What is it? When did it start? And how do we get here? - Johnny's gonna have to start 'cause I went here. (laughing) - Yeah, that's true. Well, we started selling drones back in early 2024. We started partnership with Best Way Ag out of Hopskenville, Kentucky, and selling DJI drones. And as we started getting into selling the drones Wade came up to him one day and said, "Johnny, you think that might be a business that we might need to look at getting into since early on?" And we sat down, looked at some numbers, and said, "Hey, yeah, I think we should pursue this." So that's exactly what we did. We started looking into it. We said we'd need to find the right person. And next thing you know, here comes Gaston, here comes. - Yeah. - Which we referenced that text message on the last, on the who were we episode? - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, so I guess we've talked about our background a little bit on some other episodes, but quick snippet, I've been in the Ag Retail industry for eight years, or what was for eight years, when I came on board here, did some little bit of tech in that job, but definitely not as much as I'm surrounded by now. So when they came calling about this drone opportunity, didn't know much about drones, but was ready to figure it out and learn as everyone here I think is. And it's been neat to figure out and understand there's a lot that goes into it. A lot that goes into it, which we'll talk about here during this time, but yeah, we're still learning and trying to get this thing going. It's we're operating now, trying to get some more traction and get the word out there to everybody, but yeah, it's starting, starting to happen. - You know, one of the things that anybody's ever looking to get in this business, the first thing you have to do, and I know it's a later topic, you have to hire the pilots first and buy your drone first. So, you know, that's the first step you start and doing anything. So like I said, when we brought gas on board, we started the long lengthy process to start the business. And so, you know, that was challenging in itself. - Yeah, and like I said, we're gonna dive into the weeds, but you being a private pilot still had to take an additional test or something to fly these things, correct? - Yeah, but it happened on the first day I came on board here. So, what in a whole lot too? - So, yeah. So, there's a little bit of a jump start there. I mean, I guess we can go ahead and go into the licensing process. - Well, let me go back, I won't hang in to give us a, I won't go back around on how you ended up here. - So, I actually interned with a telephone for two years. I liked it so much the first summer. I spent most of the first summer doing boundaries, driving around fields in the gator. - It's been a lot of time stuck, most times stuck. - Yes, well aware. - We were well aware. - Oh, and then I decided I liked it so much, I decided to come back. And that internship looked a lot different. We did the demo form, that was a lot of fun. I got to learn a lot. And I think that when I really decided, I wanted to come back full time at some point, but I was on the fence going to grad school and coming back. And I think it just worked out. About the time mid-summer, Mr. John came to me and was sitting there talking to us and he mentioned the drone thing. And I would always interested in the drones. And that's something that I had taken the part one or seven class at Mississippi State. It's already having a politics license, and I was interested in it. And it kinda turned into one thing led to another and then they hired you on full time. And I was kinda wrapping up my internship. And it was like, this is something I really wanted to do. And it turned into one of those things, like write-doors open, round doors closed. And the next thing you know, I'm coming on full time with tell-to-reach. And I've loved it ever since. I'm still, I feel like I'm part of the until-a-former most days. But I hadn't got to stop. (laughing) - I think I remember the exact conversation we're gassed and talked you out of it. - I'm not gonna take credit for that, though. - It was a joint effort. - We needed somebody, and it was the right time. We needed somebody. - Yeah, it's not as much of the right door open and wrong door closes. - More like we just shut the doors. - A lot of things had to be figured out on the front end pretty quick. For instance, we talk about, and we will, and the licensing and having to buy a drone and all that. Things happened before I got here. Johnny had to make decision to buy a drone, had to buy a trailer. Maybe didn't anticipate the other person having to come on. And there's where Hagen was just the timing all worked. - At the time you had to have a visual observer. - Right. - And we hired him as the visual observer. - It's a rapid changing picture. - And now we're exempt from that. - Yes. (laughing) - So, we don't need you. (laughing) - Back to school, buddy. - It did definitely help the start now. I did have my part 107, because I think that was like, "Hey, by the way, I do have my policies." - And that was a part of your curriculum at Mississippi State. - Yes. - That's what I would like for him to talk about. I have had since I came on board here, multiple people, whether it be parents or students or kids that are interested in this. And what Mississippi State is doing in the, just autonomy realm. Obviously, drones are part of that. What they are doing that can prepare someone to come work for us, for an telephone, for what's coming down the road, and how that benefited you in what you're doing now. - I mean, with, so before I think I introduced Dr. Paz, got me introduced to Cade, and then I got with Tussle Johnny and back and forth, and that internship. But for the most part, like a lot of the, which was funny, 'cause I told you the Philbounders, my first summer, we just worked on-- - In class, you know, emergency. - We had a lab where we had to go walk around the entire campus and mark with the GPS, marked trash cans with the GPS. I'm like, "Why are we walking around doing this?" And I had no way to identify how this actually helps. Well, then I came into the Philbounders, and it's like, "Okay, this makes sense now. Now I'm doing interior boundaries or Philbounders, and now I'm off schools or stuff like that." And you're like, "Okay, this is starting to make sense." And then I think for that class, the second phase of that class was the UAS class. And 'cause it was like a first was remote sensing, and you had to take it before you could go and take your pilot's license, or the class for your pilot's license, and that kind of got me into drones. I was like, "This is really cool." And at the time, I don't think Mississippi was legal, you couldn't fly. You couldn't apply at the time. So there wasn't a lot of people doing it, and you didn't really see anything. And you would see like, maybe the Midwest. And I was like, "This is really cool. This is something I wanted to get into, but there was nobody around here doing it." And then. - But to clarify, you were getting your part one of seven, which is to fly. - Yeah, just like a small portion. - I have part one of seven. - Yeah, I have to have it, like commercial. You got to have it. - We took the whole class, and it was from start to finish. It was like three, three and a half months, like a whole semester, and it was. You went from everything from learning the basics to your air spaces, to where you can't know where you can't fly, to be in. - It's hard. Yes. - Knowing I would read the maps. - The maps, all that. - Sectional. - Yeah. - Well, we. - You know how to read a sectional. - I do. - You look at the table that gives you pretty much every answer you need. - Drome. (laughing) - Come on, Johnny. - Now it's reading the meat to our, that I will have to go back and relearn it. - All right, so good backgrounds. Both of y'all got here very different ways. But talk about what Total Reach had to do to be able to apply and to do some of the jobs you'll do today. - Yeah, so it's sort of hard to talk about without having something visual. - Maybe Ray Skin throws something up there. (laughing) - We throw it up there. - Right here. - Right here. - We don't know yet, but we'll put it there. But you've got kind of two, you've got your pilot and your business side. And then you've got federal and state. So on the federal side, which is what we've been talking about is the part 107. And there's a few different avenues on how you can obtain that. I think Hagen's method is a great way to do it. because of the people who have contacted me about possibly getting into this industry, get it while you're in college. That's pretty neat way to learn. There you take a test, you go to around here, be Delta State and you go and you study up and you're talking airspace, weather, those kind of things. So and it is, it's not something you can just walk in there and take. You've got to go through some sort of training and reading. So that's your basis. Now if the other little way to get it is if you had your private pilot's license or a pilot's license in general, commercial private, fixed wing is what most people have, then it's an add-on. So you can just go online, watch some PowerPoint and I think I had it-- - It's a two hour deal. - It's a two hour deal. So when I first came, I mean anybody on the first day of the job, I don't know exactly what you're doing. I just sat here in this room and got it within two hours. I was like, we're good to go, you know. - I was so good. - Little did you know. - I was like if you didn't say that you're-- - So yeah, I just took my part one of seven and I'm like, I had to go through-- - Right, so semester. - That goes back to with what Cade, I don't know, when you mentioned having the private pilot's license, which I have, it definitely was a jumpstart. I mean, I had been through some of that stuff and there's a lot of stuff that's not relatable on both sides, but anyway, we can talk about that more later. So what we used to have to have and it's not as-- We're getting exempt from that now is in some cases as a class three medical. So you have to have a medical right now unless you request an exemption. On the business side, so you have to start with an in number registration. These drones are treated just like airplanes and every airplane has an in number. To start your in number registration, you have to have a serial number. By the way, you had only way to receive a serial number. There's two parts of the drone. So that is a kicker there that kind of keeps some people from getting into it because it's an investment up front and then legally you're not able to fly until you complete all these steps. After you receive your in number, you apply usually with a lawyer for exemptions from different laws and regulations that are set by the FAA. So we, I think in ours is no visual observer swarming overweight. So the overweight's really what, that's your main basis for your exemption because these drones are 112 pounds or something. - Yeah, legally it's what, 55 pounds, 55 pounds. - So on day one, you get the drone in hand, you're not legal to take it off the ground because it's overweight per FAA. So that's their main line of sight as well. - Line of sight, yeah, that's right. So, and then that has expanded since the time I'm wearing Facebook groups and drone Facebook groups and they are talking about a new exemption that they're requesting. So I think people are just kind of trying out everything and a lot of it's getting approved. - The one good thing about it is once they approve somebody with a waiver, everybody's open, you do have to reapply for that waiver, but whatever somebody gets approved for, you're open for the next time you apply. - Right, right. - So really what you're seeing is that the technology's advanced and faster than the law. - Correct, that's what, that's the problem. And it's happened on the federal side and the state side. And so they are all wanting to get them out there and be legal, but they said, well, you just got to fall in this category now. And then as we have more time and we have more studies on it and people request different things and make sense of their request, which is what you do when you request an exemption, they're approving them. And so we're seeing a lot of that now. And so after you receive those exemptions back, you receive your certificate from the FAA and you then work with the, it's the FAA and the state, but it's a part 137, which is what all of our crop dusters have to have. And that is the ability to dispense substances from an aircraft. So that is your final step on the business side. During this time after you work with the state and in Mississippi, and this will be in most states, you have to have a commercial applicator's license. They actually, because they're drones and airplanes, you have to do commercial aerial application license. And then any categories that you would work in. So I'm thinking agricultural, what was it? Agricultural plant, I think is what's called. Then you've got, that's the most common. That's what all the ag pilots are getting. That covers all your insects and stuff and, and row crops. Right away is aquatics, ornamental trees. Or metal and turf. And then forestry I think is what we have our licenses in. So, and that's based on the pilot. So each pilot will have to go take those exams to renew those every year you either go back and take the exam or you go to, in our case, is the Mississippi Ag Aviation Association meeting every year and you attend it and you get renewed on those. Then after you've got those license, you've gotten everything from the FAA, you just provide the state with proof of insurance and submit an application for an applicator's license. And that's like a day turn around or something. So, I know the biggest question is, you mentioned it on our sheet here is that how long does that take? Well, that is, it took us nine months almost. And we hit it at the worst time that you could in the entire state. We fell into a pool of just somebody from North Dakota. They were, they restructured the, in May of 2024, they restructured the process and that really delayed it for the next six months getting into the loop. Got caught in the bottle of the pile. Never knew where you stood. Couldn't get any answers and this is in a shot. I mean, I understand it was, it's a lot of unknowns in this industry right now, but it's, it was challenging. You just didn't know where you were and how long it would take. I think it's going to improve. I think we have already seen improvements at different stages now. It doesn't mean that one stage and I going to take way longer, you know, I don't know. But there's also companies that have, you know, it is tough, I think, on some people, individuals, if they go out and have to make an investment in a drone. And you can't do anything for, and you can't over have it here. Legally, and then by the time they get it, they've had to sail and move on. And so there's some businesses that are not renewing, I would say, you know, I've had a comment from the state that mentioned that, that they've gotten signed up for. And then they haven't done it the next year. So, you know, I, like I said, that it goes back to be hit at the wrong time. So I don't, I don't think you can judge how long it takes based off of ours. But I think that it can be sped up. So we've had a couple of customers just like you mentioned that bought the drone last year and the registration process and waivers and all that. They finally decided it's taking too long. I'm just going to sell it. And so some of the ones that we've sold have come across that path. - And so another is a listener that is wanting to purchase a drone or has purchases drone. I get this question a lot. There is a difference between a private applicator license and a commercial applicator license. This is not a hard step to do in the process, but I have had it because the, when I come from private applicator was very important to purchase, restricted use pesticides and to apply them. And I have the question that the farmer, if he buys a drone, can he just use his private applicator on his, that he already has to operate the drone? And that's not the case. And the reason being is that you go into the aerial category with these drones. So you have to go and get your commercial aerial applicator license through the state. Not a hard test, you know, but it is a difference between the private and the commercial side. So there's just one question and that goes back to, if you're just gonna do it on your own backyard or on your own farm that's out in the middle of nowhere and no one's gonna ever see you, it doesn't matter. This, they treat this just like an airplane and you have got to follow every single one of these steps. Today, what happens tomorrow? I don't know, but it hopefully will loosen up a little bit and give some people the ability to buy one in all season and be able to operate it in season, hopefully one day. - There for like a second, I thought you were about to give some very poor advice. (laughing) - I was like, we're definitely gonna be cutting that. - No, you know, if you're just gonna be flying your backyard, your farming on the middle, just do it. (laughing) - That's why I was expected to get that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. - And we're trying to do our part here. We have becouse of the time that it has taken to become legal for our custom application business. We have assisted our sales guys and customers in purchasing these drones and so we have tried to relay that information and it's only so much we can do. We want to put it in front of them and tell them these steps and then hopefully they follow through. - Yeah, and I wanna clarify 'cause I know there's a lot of misconception. Weight incorporated. is the dealer for drones. Waiting corporated currently, Johnny Kramer, we're all aware of dealer for DJI and XHG. - That's correct. - Okay. Total reach is a custom application service, utilizing drones. They are not selling the drones, but like Gaston just mentioned, since it's taking them a while to get legal, he's been kind of working as a consultant for Wade and corporate salesman to help pick out what drone you need, how to get set up, stuff like that. So that's just, that's something I know there's a lot of confusion around here. - Waiting corporated rights are checks. - So we put it on our off days. - Put it bluntly. - Yeah, on our off days, we've got to help us. - Yeah, and when you can, you steal wheels. - Right. - It's just, yeah. As times I mean, we're in peak season right now and when it's not raining or windy, but when you can, you'll still help. - Right. - The waiting corporated is the drone dealer. - That's right. - So what are some jobs that y'all have done? Some jobs you can do, just kind of go down a list, which just gives people an idea of what y'all have done. - Yeah, well, Johnny, when y'all got started, what were some of the ideas that came, you know, I know we've built on that, but what did y'all. - When we first started looking at it, you know, we wanted to build a business and not focus on agriculture. Cause number one, there are a lot of good aerial applicators in the business and we're not trying to compete with them. We're really not. - And you can't. - And we can't. - I mean, so you look at airplane and run 160 mile an hour and here we are with the drone with this can hold 10 gallons. It's not gonna compete with airplane, I'm sorry. So, you know, we want to get areas where the airplane couldn't reach well. So in those tight finger pockets, somewhere it might be some wind turbines or something like that. But we were looking at the primary services being in places like solar panels, hunting camps, right away spraying and just, you think about it, the aquaculture. So spraying lakes, trying to kill off weeds and lakes and stuff like that. That's the areas that we thought there was a need that's not out there today. - Yeah, I mean, golf courses. He may have said that. - He land management, I know the. We hadn't talked a whole bunch about forestry. I know you mentioned it as one of those. - Yeah, I think, you know, forestry could be something that we've got to get in touch with some of those guys because some of the people that we learn from have come in here and then are associated with best way are doing some forestry stuff. That's really neat. So hopefully there's some opportunities there. - But Johnny, back to your point, talking about not, well, I mean, these drones are, they're not, I mean, they're big for a guy that knows what a regular drone looks like, but you're talking about not being able to compete with Agpilot, so it's kind of funny. So one of the gas and I was best friends here in town is Agpilot and we invited him to the drone day that we had in Tunica. And he's like, yeah, I just want to see it, you know, I'm interested. He walked into that gym and that little thing was laying on the table and he goes, that's it. (laughing) - I'm about to turn around and walk out. - Now they're huge. - I mean, because we think of drones now that can land in your hands. - They're 12 foot spread out, but when I first saw one, when they came in here and unfolded a couple of years ago, I was blown away, it's the biggest, you know, it's huge. So I guess if you're used to flying 802 all day long and you're holding, what, 801 gallon, it's 1200 gallons or whatever, that ain't cut. The little drone's not cut, but. - But you get back to what we hope to do. I think it's not just the types, but it's also areas where we have the potential to shine. And rice is a big one that we hope to get involved with this year that I have from my past job and have seen where there's times where the plane just won't fly in some of these spots because of the risk of drift. And look, you don't eliminate drift with the drone. We are dealing with that every day that we go out. We've done some jobs and it's been, we've had to be very cautious. We are flying it sometimes based off what our buddy told me, the other day, the same height that they fly, which is crazy to me, I respect them and what they do every day. But we've got to be cautious of that and it's just that the drift is reduced some. And so we hope that we can get into some of those fields that maybe that plane that's going so fast can maybe not control where some of the chemicals going. So on that, if you're going to get a little more control over, 'cause obviously you're running, what speed are you all up on with the current setup? - It's the ones we're running today, or DJI Agress T50s and we'll talk more about them in a minute. But 22 miles an hour is the max speed. - So on the applications, if I'm trying to get as much of that field as possible, get up against the trees and stuff, that's another area where you're, like Johnny mentioned pocket fields. I mean, if I'm in 802, I'm probably going to ease away from that tree line. - Well, you can't get up in there good on some of those. Depending on how it's laid out. So that's where I think us being at that height, which our normal height will be 10 to 12 feet above the ground or the canopy, well, we can be that height all the way through that field, whereas the plane is having to pull it out. Maybe not get down as low as he wants to get and then having to pull right back out. So yeah, and there's all different things. Factors change when you're flying at those different heights. What kind of, I'm thinking of like your prop wash and your rotor wash and getting it down into the plant. What's changing when you're not able to get down to the height that you normally fly. So we should be able to stay at that height and do that whole field where, maybe it's a pocket field as well that a ground rig doesn't do good in. - That's one of those stays wet. - Our boons are, I mean the longest boons I've ever seen, you know. (laughing) - Which I know next to Levy over here in Gravel, you know, fields are wet if you didn't get them already planted and there's a bunch of fields from seapater. So you'll never get a machine back in this field. - Not for a while. - Yeah. - Yep. - So rice is what comes to mind. I think fungicide and insecticide work, specifically fungicide and there's some companies in other areas, other states that make their entire year in fungicide work. And they're a big operation. I mean, they've got a bunch of drones and they're covering our whole bunch of acres in like a six week span. Similar what people think about on the corn run for what these ag pilots have done before. So. - Cover crops. - Yeah. - Cover crops are neat one. You know, I think it's also times when we're busy in all other things. You know, cover crops can sometimes be planted right behind the combine. So where's the farmers focus when they're in harvest? You know, it's getting that crop out of the ground. So let us come behind there and do some of that kind of stuff. So yeah, defoliation, and those are row crop stuff. You know, the opportunities are endless and what we can do. Hopefully we can, we can get the word out there and get people to realize that there's a place for these things. And I think people are. And so. - Yeah. And we're gonna talk about if they got an idea or want you to quote something or we'll talk about that later on, but so you mentioned DJI T50s. DJI, Agress T50s. What else do y'all have in the fleet? And what's y'all set up? Just want me to set up. - Yeah, so when we first started, so going back to Wade became a dealer for DJI drones. And when you think drones, you think DJI. - The phantom. - No matter what time. - Magic, yeah. - This guy, this is a marketing guy. He's running DJI over here. - I love DJI, everything I got is DJI. - It's simple. It's just easy to use and they, you just wouldn't believe that somebody that's not involved in Ag at all has mastered the Ag spraying drone. I mean, it just, it's mind blowing what they've done. So very user friendly system. So we started with those. That's what Johnny went with because we were the dealer and that we were running DJI Agress T50s. And that is the biggest, newest drone that is approved in the United States for DJI, from DJI. - And that's how many gallons. - So it was, we don't have to get in the weeds and all this, but it was created as a 50 liter tank, which would be like 13 and a half gallons, I think, somewhere there. But the FAA did not allow that and they made 'em come down to a 40 liter tank. So your T40 model and your T50 model - Same capacity. - Same currency on the hood. So since then, since the time that we came on board and started this company, things have happened across our world. - Terrace. - Terrace as of late. Terrace as of late, but it goes back before that too. I mean, some things just started happening with getting the drones into the country. There's some things with our government and China's government that they are but heads on. And so some people stopped them from coming in. - Yeah, DJI was stopped at customs would let them come in the country at all. All the containers were held at the port. - They weren't illegal. They're not illegal to operate. it just somebody found a way. way to stop them from getting here. And so that just created challenges for us because we have a lot of customers that have called and asking, you know, you have a great conversation with 'em. Well, I won't want, you know, so we got to have something to sell. And so just in the last couple months, best way they decided to add another manufacturer to their lineup and that is XAG. And XAG is an ad company, actually. And so they're a really neat background. And they've been in the drones for a little while, but then their most recent model, the XAG P150 is really impressive. It's probably not been biased here by any means 'cause we have one out in the shop. But of all the approved drones in the United States, I think it's one of the highest-approved max-take-off weight for the lower, there's some out there in like a thousand pounds. Like those are big testing models. They're not to the everyday consumer. And then it's capacity, it's speed. I think it's one of the top ones on the marker right now. So. - Oh, waver, it limits the speed of the XAG. They could fly a lot faster than what the waver actually allows. - Or just drones in general. I think our waver is, and I think it'll be fixed soon. - 30 mile an hour. - Yeah. So if you-- - So waver. - It goes back to what we were saying earlier about the laws to struggle. - So our waver that we get certificate of authorization, I think is what it's called from the FAA. And that's when you request your exemptions and everything. - It comes back and it's not catered to what type of drone you have. So you have to send your serial numbers in and all that. But when you get it back, you're approved to fly all of them. - You approved the list. - Yeah. If it's on this list, that you got it. - Yeah. - And then it can be added after what if, you know, it just says if you just check this list, whatever's on there, you're good to fly. So. - So then you can go, then you can go by and by and around and just fly it. - That goes back to, if you start with one drone and you think you'll add more down the road or different models or whatever, you're way ahead. - You know, we started with T-50s. And so we're all 100% legal with the T-50s. We have two XAGs right now. We're way down registration. So since we already have our waiver and our part 137, when that comes in, correct me, gas, we just, you know, we turn that into the state board and allows us to add more insurance, then we're ready to fly them. But so the longest part we have to wait on right now is the registration to get the end number for those drones. - You're just kind of alerting. I think after that, you just update your exemptions. And that's a, I'm not sure if you have to wait on a response or it's just-- - I don't think that's required on the exception, but you know-- - We're learning. - Yes, we're learning. - We're learning, but so yeah, it's an impressive drone. We hope to implement those pretty quickly after we receive our end numbers back. They have the capabilities to go 40 miles an hour. That is almost twice the speed of what we are operating the T-50s at now. - You know, we, like you said, they don't have a registration number yet. So we can't fly them. There's DJI does, we're approved for swarming through our waiver process through a DJI right now. You're using two remotes. We've noticed with the XAG that you can have two aircraft on the same remote. So we're very interested. - Police monitoring. - Right, so until we're legal, we can't fly you to test it out. - No, that could potentially cover some ground. - Yeah, I think so. And we've got to do some of our own testing. Our best way is already working on some things that we've got to learn from them. 'Cause everything in this industry is like you, our Facebook groups and whatnot, you get people commenting or giving their feedback on kind of baseline things. I've used it a bunch for some of the things that we've gone out and sprayed. And you've got to do your own swat test and just all kinds of different little tests that you do. But you've got some people out there that are doing it and trying to figure it out. And we try to use some of that feedback to do our jobs. But yeah, I hope we can get on those XAG soon because it has the potential to really increase our efficiency. - You go for time. - What? - You have a 10 gallon tank on it or a T50s to a 18 gallon tank as well. - 18 and a half, I think. - I know, that's a pretty good minute to increase. - In the speed level. - That's a good job, Rick. - Almost. - It's a good job, Rick. We can always count on you for the hard numbers. (laughing) - That's the same thing I said about the speed. 22 to 40, almost double. - So, what are you doing in your field? - Well, they're not done talking about the setup. - I wanna hear about the tri-lips. - We'll talk about the tri-lips. Also with XAG and all drones, I think people think about the obstacle avoidance. That is the biggest thing because you're not flying these manually all day long. You've got to let this thing go and do its thing that you've set up beforehand and gotten it's ready. Opschool avoidance is what's continually improving on all drones that come out no matter the manufacturer. So, and it has to when speed increases, you know, it has to. So, we're seeing some improvements there in that technology from every company that is helping with less crashes, I would say, you know. So, in the battery has to increase as your capacity increases, you know, and that has been done with XAG. We've got some more. I can't remember what it's named, kill a lot hours. I've never been able to say what it is. - Something that works. - It doesn't matter. - It doesn't matter. - It lasts longer. - Yeah, so you're talking about the different twin XAG and DJI, DJI has that one battery. - Yeah. - And XAG is running two batteries now. - That's, I mean, in the day it's new. - Yeah, everybody just tries to put their own little twist on things and also wears the battery technology. I don't know, you know, so like they're making do with what they have. - Yeah, you talk about another industry. - Yeah. - In itself, it's evolving constantly. - Yeah. - We're running a DT1. - DT1. - DT1, best way offers, through us, DT1, DT2, and then some other attacks. - DTX. - DTX. - What's the brand? - Top notch. - Top notch. - You know, when we first started looking at these, of course, you know, best way off of it. So that's, you know, we said where best way is going to off, we're going to buy one of those. But from what I've, you know, you look on the marketplace, nobody has what they call is the XAG. That's what they call is the overall best drone trailer on the market, all of them are good. But depends on, if you're going to be flying open field, versus tight pockets, you know, some people just, throw a little water tank in the back of the truck because they're going, you know, where they're going. - Little fields of the time. - Every job almost needs a different set up of a trailer to get to it. - You have to evaluate your operation. - Yes. - Simple as that. And that's for buying drones, however many want to buy. Maybe even, you know, there's, there's T10s, T20s, 30s and 40s and 50s on DJI side. You may not need a T50 for your own operation. - A T50 is the only drone, on the market drone, on the market that's, that has an application purpose that you do not have to have an exemption for. With water, it's max take off load is less than 55 pounds. So. - But you're talking to T10, T10, T10, T10. - The T25 steps over the limit. - Yeah, gotcha. - And, you know, you mentioned, you know, best way, we even have the option to sell the United States made helio through best way, if that's where we're just, you know, if a customer wanted to go that route. - Yeah, I think with all this chaos in the drone world - It's because it's new to the future. - Yeah. - But they have opened it up and they said, you know, when they, when they took on XAG, they said, look, we've got to explore other manufacturers as well. So, yes, they're heavy XAG, but there's avenues to get other kinds through them as well. So. But yeah, our trailer, you know, it's, it's got some pros and cons. I mean, it's just like you said, you had to get, you got a trailer before we started all this stuff. You didn't know, you know, what we'd be doing. - Well, we looked at this one. I like this one because I had a drop down door in the back and made it easy to roll things up with, but the bad side of by that, it puts so much load, the tank and all that was on the front. So, that's on the truck. - We've got a capacity of about 375, I think, gallons, 3A, you're whatever on the front of the tongue. So, that hagginess, spending that. - It's good for you. - Your DTX two, it would be flip. So, your box would be on the front and then you have to pick it up and go out the side. You would have a drop down. - It was a smaller storage area. We were about taking up our whole storage area. - But it gave you more area in the rear where your tank would be right over the rear tire. So, you know, to dispense the load a little bit. - I see a lot of them that don't have a covered portion. Yeah, of course you got a lot of room, but security reasons. I mean, I know y'all stuff stays locked up into that thing and it's a, you go eat lunch somewhere, you stay in somewhere overnight. It's good to have that peace of mind. - Yes. - It's a lot of money tied up. - A lot of people are rigging up their own, you know, and flatbed trailers that they've had sitting out in the weeds and pulling those out and then going the best way and getting them plumbed up, you know, for where they want their tanks have seen some of those. But yeah, you've got to find what fit. your setup and I think we'll explore some other types down the road when we add to our team so yeah but it gets a job done I mean that's the main thing it's we can keep everything in one place when we don't go and pull it all out in the shop back there and I know y'all know I know y'all don't fly off of the top you don't yeah you cool it I guess it's not a ton of room you don't land it on the top but y'all do have a platform up there to observe yep yep we so we made the decision that it probably wasn't best to land on top of this trailer even though I think it may have been created to do that and you still could if you bought one but we ended up putting rails on the back end of it and it's sort of an observation deck I would say and we've used it a few times and it yeah I mean you could land up there but it's just getting around it you gotta get the hose up there gotta get the battery yeah it would be a one drone yeah yeah so if you're flying too you'd have to get your hose up and down so and I can only do so much climbing I know he's not climbing so we gotta get him we gotta get him a welder under brother so he'll be sitting underneath the shade a little fan yeah I mean you'll realize I went and watched gassing and then fly the day and haggens out there working sweating I'm like where's gas buddy it was in the AC it was no AC running with the door that's not a locked open a little bit so he can observe where the drone I wasn't like oh my goodness what did that a window yeah you definitely the window in a colder AC what is complaints work okay so let's let's get back on track here let's get back on track there was no AC running there was no AC running everything was open but with I did not do as much as I can did I had the controller in my hand and I was all over the place watching you as the pilot and command exactly I was a pilot and command and there was a lot of stress involved and it was not only if the drone was going to crash or what it was only if it was doing a good job I mean on the swath it speed connection points like coming back home you're trying to keep it from running into a tree it's not going to run into a tree most of the time but trying to be as efficient as possible so and also if you can keep that connection there's different relays and things we don't have to get in all the weeds on that but making sure that I was able to continue see the drone on my remote and make sure that when it emptied out it was not going to stop somewhere behind a tree where I couldn't see it and then I don't know that it's it can continue on you get a different settings you turn on and off but that it would get back home it's pretty much what I was guessing just just quickly if if a commercial applicator is listening to us today an aerial applicator and he's worried about this drone being in his airspace can you talk about that just for a second because I know that's one of the biggest fears you're talking about a drone is this over you know ours DJI's 227 take off pounds fully loaded and you know you start talking about that thing in the air a lot of people are worried about that sure it's large I mean you you do not want to hit it I mean we don't want any type of collision with anything so FAA to start part of our certificate of authorization is that we're required to file notums when we fly these things we have gotten that process down hey and I both have done notums and so we've gotten it figured out next we're we're trying to take an extra step that's after that it's really what is your max height that you fly on when you fly on this girl that's a good question so 200 feet AGL above ground level is what our max is for these spray drones just as of note for your other types of drones camera 400 feet is what they are allowed to go up to how often are you at 200 feet never really never we we have gone up to 100 I did something so when I was getting over the trees at this job of the day I think I was about 65 70 above AGL but that was just to give over the trees so we're not at those heights very long like I said earlier we're flying most of the time at like a 8 to 12 feet above the canopy or the ground so we're we're always low our fairy in height we're running two drones we'll probably run one a little higher and also you'll run your fairy your they call it connection height but depending on if you're running two you may want to come in at two different levels or something like that's a high therapy 35 feet yeah 30 yeah you don't want to take it up any higher than that that's way down the battery especially if you're running the low GPAs you're running out of your liquid in your tank and your battery around the same time so you want to make sure that that thing it it knows that it's gonna it's gonna leave the field when it knows I've got enough to get home so you don't have much time if it gets stuck behind something you know you've got to get it out of that spot so on top of the notums is which I understand that's not everybody's not looking at notums in our ag world and it would be a lot to take in if they were so but we are trying to take an extra step and work with the M-triple A and and get let them know where we're operating when we operate when we think it's in an open you know open field and yeah we won't do that for little pockets and things like that but we we're trying to to do our best and you know help them understand that we are staying trying to stay out of their way I think that down the road we could see some sort of communication happening okay so also would be communication with our local pilots and that's what I'm trying to get with the M-triple A Miss Vicki Morgan I've already reached out to her and said that we will try to as best we can give her a schedule for what we do in a week and she will alert either the pilots in that area or everybody just to say some drone operations are happening in this area but on top of that I have already done this when we have gone to somewhere that I'm familiar with the pilots around that area that I'll reach out to myself you know and say hey we're over here just letting you know don't laugh at us how slow we're going compared to they are you know and they've been cool about it and and it's even been in close proximity I would say to where they are but they say hey we see where you are we're turning out this way we we should not become in 10 feet over that field even when we come in land you know they're you know we just have to evaluate just communicate just communicate that's all this and then the more open the communication lanes are the better everybody's gonna feel I know I'm sure I went out with Hagen one day when he was mapping and like I said we were right across the street from the airport and it was interesting seeing on the remote you could actually watch the airplane as it was approaching the runway to land so you know we were seeing them on our so we're getting some of that data in I think some kinks have still have to be worked out with all of it but and I think it's being advocated for across the country but we are getting alerts from aircrafts that have ADSB out and we essentially have ADSB in and we are seeing those and and our mapping drone our spray drone is telling us there's something of vicinity showing it to you and then saying maybe make plans to land you know get down so that's that's already happening I'm sure it's just gonna improve on that and down the road all right so talk about the setup talk about what y'all can do walk me through a workday walk me through going to the field using your job you use a road crop job I don't care but what do y'all what's the setup look like and how do you get rolling I think you could talk about this for a long time maybe whole episode because there's so many ways that you can set up a job there's there's what's being done a lot now is going in mapping kind of pre mapping an area with RTK which a lot of our customers are familiar with on the tractor side and what we're doing in road crop but that's being done doesn't have to be done we don't we we may do some here and there but that can happen sometime before then you start boundering out your your field on your remote that can be done before day before week before or it can be done when you pull in the field that are also can be mapping done by the spray drone out in the field that we have dowled in just a little bit so lots of different ways to set up the controller you know and I know that's doesn't seem like a lot when I hadn't got to the trailer portion and what's all in the trailer but I mean that that setup beforehand is what can eliminate some of that downtime you want to be able to pull into a field or an area position yourself in the in the most effective place and efficient place to not have a lot of fairy time and get to a whole different a lot of different angles or however you know kind of setting up the middle of a spot as best you can and be able to pull your equipment out and hit go pretty much and that's what you have to try to master so we pull up Hagen and I we hopefully have gotten all that stuff. up beforehand and pulling out the drones, the generators, and probably getting the generators going and start charging. I have this job we just did, actually put a battery in there with nothing in the tank and I went and flew and found that some trees that were in that field that we did not pre-map this place so we didn't have an RTK map and I went and flew over that tree and dropped a point and then it kind of marked a few different corners of the field as well because drawing it based off the Google maps is just not going to be the most accurate. So it kind of went and it was cleaning up my area in a way and that's kind of while he's still maybe pulling some parts out, there's different things to relay we used, helped our signal go further so you got to get those things set up. So once again what I'm hearing is that you're kind of playing with the toys and pagans over there. Look, I'm swapping out, I don't care, we walked away from that field buddy and I was mentally drained. I will say this, the job that he's referring to, it got to a point where he was having to walk around the field and watch the drone and make sure when he got done spray and then it was coming back to avoid the trees and stuff, it got to a point where you laughing me I'm over there filling it up, moving batteries and it looks like I had the easy part at home, he did, I will give him this, do not take credit for that. Well, I will say this, once I get in a groove doing what I'm doing and he keeps the drone coming back to me, one drone, two drones, now if it's two drones I don't have a lot of free time. I'm moving at all times but at that point I was filling it up, changing the battery out and I mentioned on my batteries making sure everything's charged and ready, we were cleaning off the sensors on the drone, did some just extra spray because we were running four nozzles. That's the kind of thing, that's what, so we structured this is our teams today and down the road have a pilot and an application specialist and that's essentially what an application specialist is doing is making sure the drone is airworthy in a sense and it's full of chemical and battery, you know, every time. So when it lands, if there's stuff on those cameras that are, I've told him that are hurting our terrain following, then he's wiping the cameras off, you know, he's loading the chemical and he's figuring out a way to master that, you know, he's maybe putting the nozzle in the tank while he's changing out the batteries, you know, and at some point you're hot load or we call our injector tank is going to run out of chemicals. So getting it going and then mixing a new hot load for us, you know, and keeping track of all that. A lot goes into that, we're still trying to, both of us learn some things on the mixing side, you know, we have not dealt with a whole lot of the tough chemicals, some out there and I'm not saying hazardous necessarily, I'm talking about mixing, some, there's some chemicals out there that don't like others and so I have been involved in that business in that industry and have a little knowledge there, but a lot of the stuff I was dealing with was in the chemical, in the ag retail warehouse, it wasn't out on the farm, you know. So you're saying he was like a spaceman on that PPE equipment? Yeah, exactly, exactly, and he's learning it, which feels good, right, it's all breathable and it's 100 degrees and I have to, it has to peel it off of me afterwards. Yeah, I mean, there's, and we're laughing about it, but it's part of what's required on our farms, by our ground applicators, by our air services, I mean, they've, they've work with protection standards stuff that the plant board enforces, that we've got to follow and do our job and do our part on being safe out there in the field. So different chemicals call for different PPE, you know, so you've got to have it all for what we do, because you don't know what you're going to be doing sometimes. But yeah, I mean, he's, Hagen's learned a lot on that side, it's rates, you know, what, how many gallons we're putting our injector load and how many times we're going to do that over this area, you know, it's, it's, it's a lot to keep up with there. So that's the point in having a team of two, and we plan to have two drones, two people, and you know, having different tasks for each person, you know, we try to work together on getting stuff out, unloaded and loaded back up. But then when it comes down to fly, there's, there's different things you have to be aware of. And I don't, we joke about it, but I'm telling you, there's a lot to be watching on those remote. And especially right now with DJI, the ones we're running that do not swarm essentially, and I don't know if swarm is the right word, we're, we're legal to swarm. It's like more than one drone up to three, so you can have those in the same field. That's swarming, but what people, when they are mentioned swarming is having it on the same remote and that they're talking each other. And that's easy. That's, that's what some companies have done. We think XAG has gotten a little bit of that that helps it. You're seeing it all in one place. If you're, we're running two DJI's, we got two different remotes out there, but you got two, you're setting up two jobs. Right. And so even if they were both on the same remote and they were working in two different fields, that's technically not swarming. Swarming exemption that we have is that they're legally able to operate in the same field. We're in the same area. In the same field. Same problem. Yeah. Across the turn row, I don't think that's swarming, but either way, that's, so yeah, that's kind of what we, that's, that's kind of what we, we do, we've done. I think down the road that we would have some setups that are a pickup, maybe, you know, some sort of mobile, a more mobile setup that you could, we might have one on a flatbed pickup. Yeah. They were the 1200 gallon tank instead of 300 stuff. Right. Right. So you could, you could have a pull behind trailer and take one drone out and follow and pilot could ride in the truck, maybe by one of the, you fly, it's just a lot of options. It depends on the types of jobs that you would, yeah, not everybody needs 400 gallons of water. Right. So I mean, sometimes you're putting out fertilizer or seed. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, that's a different, it's a whole different setup. Um, I think the food plots are doing food plots or something. Yeah. That's a whole different type of spaces. I got to be able to maneuver. Hey, I was trailer. You can take that tank off. Right. Yeah, you could just a little bit of place, just a hassle, I guess you could plumbing done. But, yeah, we didn't mention, we haven't mentioned much about the fertilizer and the, and the seeding. We did mention some cover crop stuff. And I think that's going to be a great opportunity because we see a lot of cover crops now. If you don't put wheat in there, uh, that is a low rate. So we can, we definitely have a place for that fertilizer. I think it's almost smaller scale, uh, but there's a need for it. I mean, you look at food plots and how we could have the potential to be turn key type jobs and, and we can do, we could come, uh, spray it, spread the seed and fertilizer. I mean, all in, in some short period of time. And so that's where I think fertilizer plays a little bit more, uh, on those smaller acres can still go a high rate, uh, but we just in the, today's world and where we are, we don't put out, uh, very low rates of fertilizer. It's, it's heavy on most everything. So the drones that we're running, uh, can either hold 100 pounds or 150 pounds and going over one acre in, in a flight is, it's kind of time, I could say. Um, and, and lastly, y'all are, y'all are a, uh, was it, was the formal designated service center? Yeah. I don't know if it's formally done, but we, we, we've hanging and I went to Kentucky a while back to best ways, headquarters and we learned, uh, we took a drone, our T 50 down to its landing gear. So just two bars, two bars is all it does and put it all back together. So, uh, we, we have seen the ins and outs of these things and, uh, they're not very complicated. Uh, we've seen that the XAG is less complicated, uh, from his experience, from someone, some of these, the ones that customers have bought. It has been a lot easier to look and make it like, yeah, you can, you definitely needed like region instructions, washer videos, but it is a lot easier to put together and it seems like a lot easier to troubleshoot something's wrong. It doesn't seem to have as many components that can mess up or if it does mess up, it's very visually clear. It's, you know, which one, you know, which one is, that all is broke. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we've got a lot to learn on it, but I get what he's saying is that sometimes on these alerts that we get on our DJI could be a, a, a handful of different things. And so we, uh, sometimes I have to chase it to figure out what it is, but, uh, yeah, we hope it, it's a little bit easier. So, but we, we, we're set up, we, we, if somebody has an issue, uh, we've got parts, uh, we can do the work for you, uh, get it to us. And, and I'm, I'm sure we can get these things back flying. They've, they've, uh, our, our other buddy works in the aviation insurance in, industry. And I hear some stats and feedback from him on these drones and that at first when they were writing these policies that, uh, a lot of them would, you, you obviously get whole coverage, H-U-L-L, whole coverage, and then, uh, liability, which the main thing is liability. You have to have that to legally operate in the state, but he said people would crash and call them immediately, be like, like, crash my drone, freaking out. within like a day or two they call back and say one it may have been covered under warranty and not cost him anything because of what happened. And then two, they get a quote on the parts and realize it's maybe a couple thousand dollars or less to get it put back together and they do it themselves. I mean, they're deductible on that thing would may have been that. So it's. And I've heard from a lot of folks, these things are a lot tougher than I look. They are. I would say. But it looks like a, you think about an aircraft, you think about a, you know, a fragile as far as hitting the ground in the wrong way, but really, I mean, could be a couple of arms, maybe some, of course, the rotors will be the first thing to take care of. And I think that when we first got them, we were very careful with them and we were told that you got to be don't any nicks and can change the fight. And I don't disagree with that, but it can do a lot more than what you think. And since when we've landed in the middle of a, I don't know, a bunch of ryegrass or we've even landed next to some old soy beans in the field and it's slapping those beans around and you see it all over the propellers and we spent a week later you'll ever buy. Yeah, I was about to say, I know a bunch of sales still weed eaters if y'all need one. I'm sure we could probably work something out, but I mean, we've wiped them off and kept on going. Now, if we get some sort of crack in there or chip, then we're gonna, yeah. They said the carbon fiber, just the slightest chip and it, it's not a matter, it's, we can't just go in there and I've seen a video, she goes down too. Yeah, I've seen a video of these things with the, where the, I guess it was somebody that ran it past a little nick and that thing, what, what delaminates that air, which I think that DJ guys can fly without that. Look, they have two rotors on every arm and they can fly without one of them. I would want to, but, you know, so they can do it. So they say, all right, so somebody's listening, they're interested. They got a pasture, they got a field, they're in a hunt camp and they always struggle to get food plus because nobody has time to go do it. How do they reach you? Yeah, so, so my phone number, I'm sure Rick's can put that up here, but my name's Gaston Lyne, 662, 299, 777, 69. You need these other guys in here? Call weight and corporate. Call weight. Somebody, we've, we've had enough meetings with ourselves guys and even just company as a whole, they know about this business and so they are helping getting the word out. So talk to yourselves guys. We're on our, on the Wade website now, tweaking a few things there, but we're there. That, that'll allow, you can actually put in like a little inquiry there, right? Yeah, it's a little form, a little submission form that's got just a few questions just to, to get us talking, you know, and then you tell us what your needs are and I can email you back. I can call you back, one of us will or something, so we're on social media, underneath Wade and corporate his name. So we've, we've made a post there and going to make some more here soon, but yeah, just give us a shout and let's talk and see if we have our fit for what you need, you know, we can, we can look at it on the computer and see what kind of job it is and get you a quote back and, and then, you know, just weather permitting and looking at wind and rain and all that, then we'll, we'll get out there and knock it out. So, good deal. All right. Well, cool stuff going on, total reach, had a good conversation today. If y'all got any questions, want to hear more about it or, or want to reach out to them, of course, you got Gaston's phone number. His email is g-line, L-Y-O-N, at Wadeink.com, and of course, you can always reach us at on the tailgate at Wadeink.com. So, Johnny Hagen, Gaston, you're here always, I've been really count, but, uh, appreciate y'all's time and we'll catch y'all next time on the tailgate.