Interview: Mahmood Hussein (Global Drone Solutions) - part 1

There is so much interest in drones of late I decided to find a company that specialised in the training of pilots to see what was involved. This then evolved into a much bigger story, so I have broken it into a 3 part series.

My investigations led me to the CEO of Global Drone Solutions, Mahmood Hussein, and I asked him about how he started the company (and why), what it did, and for who, plus his thoughts on the current and future status of the drone industry.

Creative Content: When did Global Drone Solutions start and what was the catalyst for its formation?

Mahmood Hussein: I was born in Pakistan and my parents moved to the UK where I later qualified as a mechanical engineer. Moving to Australia, I established Global Drone Solutions in 2016 when the drone industry was in its infancy. The use of drone technology had been pioneered in the military; however, I identified the rapid adoption of drone technology in a wide variety of industries and determined that the technology was driving new industry methodologies.

Drones could be used in the collection and analysis of big data – communicating the insights from this data significantly improves profitability for companies by reducing costs and risks whilst improving operational efficiency and safety. I realised that as more industries and sectors sought to take advantage of drone technology, there would be a strong and increasing demand for qualified, well trained drone pilots, and that the sector would not develop without skilled operators.

Creative Content: Who are the majority of your clients? What industries are they in?

Mahmood Hussein: Clients include state government departments, local government authorities, emergency services, and mining and oil and gas companies.

Since establishing the drone pilot training academy my team has trained over 3000 pilots, and in the process, we have built a reputation for delivering exceptional training. This is demonstrated by the rapid growth of the business, the extensive number of positive student reviews and the loyal customers who have been with GDS since inception. Currently GDS employs 15 full-time equivalent staff at its head office in Technology Park Bentley and has another 15 contractors located around Australia.

Creative Content: How is the training delivered?

Mahmood Hussein: When GDS commenced trading, all training was delivered face-to-face. I later took a leap of faith and took the decision to develop online training courses. This would provide an opportunity for trainees to study the theory component, which usually takes five days face-to-face, in their own time. This is a huge advantage for those living in a remote location, or who cannot make the time commitment to the full five-day training course in person. Developing the online material consumed considerable time and finances, with no assurance that it would be accepted by CASA or the market. However, the risk paid off and it has been highly successful, even allowing GDS to double its turnover during the initial impact of the COVID pandemic.

Creative Content: What services do you offer?

Mahmood Hussein: Global Drone Solutions offer a wide range of online and classroom drone courses to cater for a variety of applications, whether you are a recreational user, drone business start-up, commercial organisation or an advanced operator. These include the basic RePL (Remote Pilot’s Licence) and RePL with Aeronautical Radio Operator certificate and Remote Operators certificate, plus Advanced Drone Courses aimed at specialist applications.

Creative Content: Why is it important to get trained, registered and licenced?

Mahmood Hussein: Apart from the obvious gaining of skill sets necessary for flying drones, especially in difficult circumstances, if you wish to pursue drone flying as a business, it is highly unlikely anyone would hire you if you were NOT registered and licenced. There is also the area of insurance to deal with as I can confidently suggest that if you have no insurance, your services certainly wouldn’t be used by other businesses. And you cannot get that insurance without being licenced and registered.

Creative Content: Is it important that users of consumer drones also get registered?

Mahmood Hussein: Whilst it is not mandatory in this country as yet, unless your drone is over 2Kg in weight, apart from any training, I’d always advise recreational users get registered with the regulatory authority CASA. There are a number of benefits including;

It makes you aware of the safety rules and keeps you up to date with any changes. The rules that are in place are there for very good reason – despite a small cohort of recreational users choosing to ignore them.
If you do lose your drone, then being registered means that if someone else finds it, they can pass the serial number to CASA who can then trace you.
It gives you credibility if you can show official registration if any the general public question your motives when flying. Or indeed people in authority on occasion.
Importantly, if your drone is under 2Kg it allows you to monetise your investment by selling photographs or video etc, as long as you stay within the regulatory boundaries of course.

To further elaborate on point one, whilst nothing thankfully untoward did happen, there is footage around of a recreational user flying over the MCG Stadium in Melbourne when the Ed Sheeran concert was in full swing last week. If that drone had lost a propeller or otherwise failed, apart from the obvious danger to people in the crowd below, the costs to the operator would have been catastrophic from a legal point of view. A defence was put up that the promoter also had drones up and filming, but these would have had fail safe systems AND insurance.

I’ll post part 2 next week when we go into depth on the various courses available and what each then lets you do. For example, what certification do you need to go beyond the “line of sight” ruling and 120 metre ceiling. Or to fly at night.

You can contact Global Drone Solutions on 1300 437 663 (1300Drones) or via their website at www.gdronesolutions.com