FEATURE | AER I AL SPEC I AL
ABOVE XM2 engineered use of Master Wheels into a Shotover gimbal system
committing to a time frame. The HFC that we’ve seen is about six kilos currently, and that’s after being stripped to bits and pieces; we need to get the weight down and the pack smaller. It might currently be viable for our big Titan drone with a smaller payload package and that’s something that we will be flight testing next month.” CARBON SWAPPING Apart from looking for alternative battery sources for his craft, Jeremy has recently announced his company’s stance on its carbon footprint, announcing that it will offset its carbon emissions with the help of award-winning partner, C Level. “For years, I’ve been conscious that the work we do in aerial filming is no friend to the environment. We decided it was time to do our part and to take action on carbon. But we wanted to do more, and that is why we have chosen C Level – we hope others will follow suit.” Daren Howarth, founder of Brighton- based C Level, whose team coined the phrases ‘carbon footprint’ and ‘carbon balanced’, explains. “For years I’ve been hearing from my friends who work in production how much waste is involved, from food through to the hard-earned footage that never gets used. So I was delighted when we received the call from HFS. They made it clear to me: this decision
Aidan. “That makes us incredibly efficient and comfortable to work with on set.” BATTERY ADVANCES The holy grail for all aerial companies is to be able to fly for longer. That ‘one more shot’ shout from directors when you’re running a drone is a fevered time, as you want to offer that. All companies are looking at what’s new in power management, and XM2 has a solution. “When we carry the Arri 435 camera we can get about 15 minutes flight time with our drone design; others are getting around four minutes. We have also just implemented a hydrogen cell battery system which is actually from a UK company. “It’s on a smaller drone though, but it can carry an Alexa Mini type payload. The battery system extends the flight time from 20 minutes to 50 minutes for a single flight which is quite incredible.” Jeremy Braben at HFS is also always looking at the advances of hydrogen fuel cell technology for batteries. “A colleague company of ours has just flown a craft powered with these fuel cells but just as a proof of concept,” he says. “It’s in place of a payload at the moment as the hydrogen fuel cells are still quite big and bulky. I’m excited by the scaling down of that technology to be something that we can ultimately use. It’s coming but none of the manufacturers are
to balance the company’s carbon emissions was being made for all the right reasons.” C Level’s aviation specialist was able to calculate the annual emissions of HFS’s crew, including trips made in aircraft the company doesn’t own. It then provided options to balance this carbon. The HFS team chose to support the CommuniTree project in Nicaragua; its goal is to create a native forest for the long term, with subsistence farmers planting five million trees, sequestering 700,000 tonnes of CO2 and providing 3500 jobs. It will also support the Hadza hunter- gatherers in Tanzania’s Yaeda Valley to
44 DEF I N I T ION | DECEMBER 20 1 9
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