Drones Drive Efficiency in Insurance Industry

July 4, 2019

Drone Strategic Partners, as a drone brokerage serving the entire geography of the U.S., Hawaii and Alaska included, is part of an exclusive club. New figures just released by the FAA project that by the year 2022 there will be 2.85 million small drones flying U.S. skies. Of those nearly 3 million drones, about 15% will be used for commercial purposes. That figure alone shows how industries such as insurance, real estate and construction are evolving toward a significant reliance on drone inspections by professional pilots delivering high quality aerial footage and data.

One of the results of this evolution is a new efficiency in the inspection process. Laird Rixford, an insurance company CEO, says that drones are effecting the insurance business by making property inspections more efficient in both the pre loss and post loss phases. Underwriters can quickly and accurately inspect a roof and abutting property and land before the underwriting of the policy. Loss adjuster can employ drones for birds-eye perspectives of a post loss happening. The efficiency is achieved through the speed and quality of the inspection, and the cost is dramatically reduced by using a piloted drone - in juxtoposition to having one or more insurance staff come in. Or having to use helicopters or planes for aerial footage.

Currently, the FAA permits small drones to fly in line of sight of the pilot, not over the horizon where the pilot can no longer see the drone. That means the pilot needs to be on the site of the property in the aftermath of a disaster or event. Rixford and others are anticipating that the improved intelligence of drones will lead to the FAA will allow drones to go beyond line of site the of the pilot (who, of course, is seeing what the drone is seeing and can pilot accordingly).