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Comment by ajju | Hacker News Reader

Congratulations. Just yesterday I told a friend about Terravion but I thought you guys were using drones.

Are there any drone platforms with >1 hr flight time and >1 mile range available for non-defense use?

By the way, the TechCrunch article mentions a per-pass price for other services, but doesn't clarify whether Terravion's price is per-pass, so it actually makes it sound like you are more expensive by comparison.

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Something like the Insitu ScanEagle is probably the drone closest to being effective for our application: http://www.insitu.com/systems/scaneagle/capabilities

However, they're still quite expensive and not really cheaper to operate than a Cessna, and then there are the legal issues. I personally think that once of the things that will drive the cost of drones down quite a bit will be when an autopilot maker comes out with a way to retrofit Cessnas and other proven, GA airframes into OPVs (optionally piloted vehicles).

"Each ScanEagle system costs US$3.2 million (2006)" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Insitu_ScanEagle)

Indeed!

There are loads, but they wouldn't be cost effective (or legal) in the US for this.

Random example: http://www.uavfactory.com/product/46

Interesting! Looks it costs around $50,000: http://droneswatch.org/2012/07/12/not-just-for-military-use-...

They actually have a quote builder on that page; you too can build your dream drone!

Although you'll need to budget an additional ~$20k depending on autopilot system.

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