Transcript
I love what I do, I really love my job because it’s filled with challenges.
We are in a completely innovative sector that is at the cutting edge of technology.
My name is Maude Pelletier. I am the President and Founder of the company MVT Géo-Solutions.
It’s a company specializing in the acquisition of geospatial data through drones, but also all geomatic processing.
We also do different types of analysis in our fields of expertise, such as forestry and geomorphology.
When I started my company MVT Géo-Solutions, my first goal was to put a LIDAR on the drone. The LIDAR by itself cost $150,000.
Everyone thought I was crazy. We agree, it was something very, very risky.
If we have good procedures, if we have good protocols, if we do things properly, and we really analyze all the risks and risk factors properly, you minimize the risk.
It is important to respect safety protocols. We agree that as an operator, as a company, you are responsible for the drones that you fly, that you operate.
At MVT Géo-Solutions, our safety procedures for field operations is to always, when we arrive, secure the location.
All our flights are made automatically. But of course, on the ground, we do a second analysis.
We make sure that all the elements are as we planned and that our flights are well calibrated, that we start at the right height, and then our environment and objects to make sure that there are no risks, as much for the citizens, as for the drone and the equipment and for the pilots, the operators who are on site.
There is no reason to think that drones are risky. If it is risky, that is because the protocols are not adequately implemented.
So it is extremely important to have good protocols, but also to respect what Transport Canada has issued.
It's a regulatory framework that helps all operators, that helps all companies to respect, to have good safety protocols so that all citizens feel safe.
I'm a person who likes challenges. Starting a drone company, with LIDARs in a totally new environment, it had its challenges, but it was something that motivated me and I have no regrets. And in fact, I'm always on to the next challenge.
I have no problem with that.