William ‘Bill’ Groom IV
My family moved up to Alaska over 20-years ago in late 1997, where I finished my High School education at Chugiak HS in 2001. After high school, I went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Physical Geology from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2007. I then went into service working for the State of Alaska travelling to Juneau and eventually Fairbanks conducting reviews of various projects for consistency with State Statutes and Regulations.
My current full-time job is working as a Geologist for the Mining Section of the State of Alaska to help in overseeing the various large mine and exploration projects occurring in Alaska. As a part of these jobs, I have been presented an opportunity to travel all across Alaska and become familiar with the different terrains and remoteness of the state. I earned my FAA Part 107 Certification on my own to help with deploying small UAS in my job with the State, however am eager to bring those skills independently. I see a lot of applications for these small drones in helping out with day to day tasks and businesses, such as real estate photos, 2D orthoimagery, aerial video of sport activities and helping in improving safety and site security.
Droney McDroneface:
The primary airframe for Borealis Drone Services is a DJI Phantom 4 Pro. Droney is an approximately 3.2 lb airframe with a max flight time of 20 minutes per a battery (safe flight time) and max speed of 35 MPH. The service rating is 20,000 feet above sea level, however FAA regulations limit Droney to a mac flight altitude of 400 feet above the ground (or less depending on how close to an airport). Droney has 3 total battery cells to allow for a safe flight time of 1-hour with battery swaps between. Imagery from droney is captured in 4k 30fps video and 4k photo courtesy of a 20 megapixel camera. Additionally, to improve image quality, Droney has both Polarized Filters and a series of Neutral Density Filters.