News & Specials

HOBART — It took two decades, but technology has caught up with an idea Doug Heim had in the 1980s — aerial video and still photography by remote-control helicopter.

Heim has gone public with Angelcopter after 18 months of putting together the business.

Angelcopter operates a pair of scaled-down helicopters specializing in aerial still photos, video, panoramic imaging and time-lapse photography.

He said Angelcopter — named after the support given by his wife while forming the business — fits a niche that hasn't been tapped.

"This is now a level of video and picture production that wasn't there before … and there's no competition out there," Heim said. "There are a handful of RC pilots attaching cameras for hire, but they're not a full-time businesses like this is."

The mobile and relatively compact nature of the airframes means they can operate from a host of locations.

Heim points out areas where unmanned aircraft offer an alternative to using 1:1 scale aircraft, including the ability to fly lower in rural and urban areas.

"The pictures you can get at 200 and 300 feet are a whole different view that hasn't been there before," said Heim, who operates the aircraft as if it were full-scale. "I devoted a lot of my time on the safety end … I always have the power to say it's 'no fly.' It could be wind or kids in the area or pets."

Pre- and post-flight checks also are part of normal operating procedures, he said.

Heim said he's identified several areas as potential markets for his services, ranging from building portraits, to land developers, real-estate agents, news organizations and highway project progress.

Other areas may be crop survey, accident investigation and power line inspection.

Longtime friend Al Gutowski has worked with Heim to start the business.

He's also adept at remotely operating cameras while Heim operates the aircraft.

"Doug has always been a entrepreneur, and when he says he's going to do something, even though it may sound a little crazy at first, he has the wherewithal to get out and get it done," he said.

With optics, the price tag of the choppers comes in somewhere around the cost of a "nice new car."

The helicopter frame is from Germany, avionics and computer systems were put together by builders in Alabama with the camera mount and transmitting equipment coming from other suppliers.

"You can't just go out and buy one of these good to go," Heim said. "If you want to get into this, you better know how to put a lot of things together yourself to make this work.

"I probably invested six months just putting together the rigging — the antennas to receive and the transmitters on board the helicopters to send the video back and forth," he said.

Twenty years ago, video equipment was too big to be mounted on a scaled-down airframe, and still cameras used film.

In the digital age, Heim can see still and video images as they are beamed back to a monitor and can quickly process those images for customers.

Heim has worked in video production since the early 1970s, a career that has spawned several businesses. He was also on the front end of the mobile DJ business.

"People laughed at me for the idea of playing records at a wedding, it wasn't heard of," he said. "This has been the opposite of that. Everyone that finds out I'm doing this, it turns their head."

Heim said like the mobile deejay business in the 1970s, part of his job with Angelcopter is educating people about his service.

"Five or 10 years from now, I think there will be more businesses like Angelcopter," he said.