Business Showcase : FlyRyte Drone Academy

By @SimonCocking

Describe the company – the elevator pitch …

The FlyRyte Drone Academy is the centre of excellence for unmanned aviation training in Ireland. We have the most experienced drone instructors in Ireland, each one with a background of instruction in the Irish Air Corps. We are dedicated to designing and delivering the most comprehensive drone training programmes and we are committed to providing unparalleled support to our students as they embark on their career, or hobby, in unmanned aviation.

How are you different?

There are two key elements of the FlyRyte team that differentiates us from everybody else. Our Instructors have a combined experience of over 66 years in military aviation. They all have a background in instruction on various aircraft types. Our love of all things aviation is infectious and definitely rubs off on our students.
The second thing that stands out about FlyRyte is our commitment to providing support to our students beyond their course of training. We are part of the Drone community and we want to see the industry reach its potential. For an example of this just compare our feedback and useful links to the other providers, see our airspace planner here for example.

Why does the company do well?
The success of every company depends on two things; the product it provides and the people who provide it.
Our product is the most comprehensive drone training programme in Ireland, and beyond, delivered by the most experienced instructors. Our people are the most dedicated, professional, enthusiastic and enjoyable group you could ever hope to have on your team. It’s is these two ingredients that makes me confident of FlyRyte’s success.

Where are you based?

We are based in West Dublin primarily. We do cater for groups around the country, such as the Civil Defence, Fire Services and local authorities.

When was the company launched?

FlyRyte launched at the start of 2017. We are building on previous successes we have had in the drone sector and FlyRyte aims to expand and grow on our previous experience.

What have been your biggest wins to date?

Myself and my co-founder Oisin proposed and helped to successfully implement the privatisation of drone pilot testing in Ireland. This saves pilots approx €400 and allows them to complete their test with experienced drone examiners. We also just launched Ireland’s first Drone Airspace Software available at www.flyryte.com/airspace. It’s incredibly easy, and free for all to use, we update it regularly too so we are pretty proud of that. We also completed Ireland’s first Drone Parcel delivery which was great. We love to push the boundaries, and figure out how to do it safely.

What type of people (market segment) are you trying to attract to your product?

The drone industry is a cross section of society, young, old, tech savvy and not so tech savvy, photographers, videographers, scientists, producers and the list goes on. Our training caters for this diverse group and each of our courses is a melting pot of really interesting creative people. Next month we launch our 3hour online course. It includes all the ‘essentials’, where you can and can’t fly, how to operate legally and safely etc. It will be €50 and targets anyone who wants to dip their toe into the industry.

Tell us about your team?

Our team has Ireland’s most experienced Unmanned Aviation instructors. All instructors are qualified military and civilian flight instructors for manned aircraft and have been teaching commercial drone operators for years. These instructors are experts at distilling complex ideas into logical concepts that are targeted toward pilots who operate in the real world!

Our feedback consistently shows that our instructors balance fun and learning, keeping the training focused and drawing on years of drone operations and best practices from the world of aviation. Our instructors have trained hundreds of commercial operators including bodies such as the Irish Civil Defence, Irish Air Corps, Dublin/ Limerick/ Galway Fire Services, Cork City Council, Environmental Protection Agency, ESB, among others.

Students will access several instructors during the course and can draw on their experiences for the rest of their careers as our door is always open and our phones are always on! We are here to support you throughout your career!

What are you long term plans for your product / company?

We in FlyRyte are an ambitious bunch, but we’re grounded in reality. Our plan, in 5 years, is to provide an Internationally recognised course, teaching EASA standard material to operators of unmanned aircraft of all sizes.

What are your favourite tech gadgets?

Well apart from the obvious?! Smart homes are pretty exciting and offer great value. Smart watches are also great but the notifications get a little difficult to deal with. I think we are living in a very exciting time!

What tech gadgets do you wish you could use to help you?

We are waiting for the driverless car. It is going to revolutionise everything! Cities will blend to countryside as people will be happy to travel in their comfortable WiFi enabled car!

Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked?

We love for people to get in touch with ideas and suggestions. We love drones, so if you think we can help reach out and let’s drive this industry forward together!

How do people get in touch with you?

See our contact us form.

We’re also on Facebook, Twitter and you can email us at info@flyryte.com
or just text us at 087-7114878

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie or on Twitter: @SimonCocking