Aerial Images - History
Walt Ferar, studied photography and aviation in High School and College. After college, he pursued a successful career in the aerospace industry.
In 1989 a train crash in Cajon pass ruptured a gas pipe line causing an enormous fire and the area was evacuated including airplane traffic. The idea struck him to combine his hobby skills as a competition remote control helicopter pilot and amateur photographer. He designed a drone helicopter to document events like the train wreck by flying a camera where no other aircraft was allowed.
The helicopter named “Skyeye I” quickly found itself busy taking aerial photos for a friend that owned a Homes and Land magazine franchise. The commercial real-estate market got news of this new invention and the business grew rapidly.
With the cutbacks in aerospace in the 1990’s and the explosion of customers for “Skyeye I” low-level aerial photography, Walt left the aerospace industry to devote himself full-time to Aerial Images. For the next few years Walt and wife Sherry built the business taking jobs as far away as Utah and Hawaii.
Walt paired up with partners and the team designed a much larger helicopter named Pegasus that carried a motion picture Hollywood “film” camera to shoot special effects in situations where a full-size helicopter could not fly. This work took Walt as pilot to Canada, Buenos Aries, Chile, South Korea, Australia, shooting for the motion picture industry. The design and concept for the camera carrying drone helicopter earned the team a nomination for a Technical Achievement award at the Academy Awards.
Looking to further improve his customer base and provide additional services to his clients, Walt got his full-size helicopter pilot license 1997. Since then, he has been providing outstanding aerial imagery and consulting services all over the world, but specializing in Southern California.
In January 2012 Walt was asked to go to Changsha China to test pilot a 15 ft drone helicopter design to be used for power line patrol. This was a new design helicopter and the designer specifically requested Walt to be the one to prove it was airworthy. The request was an honor and challenge; the flight went fine with no issues.
Walt was instrumental in developing and setting up the Law Enforcement drone program in Southern California. As you can see, Aerial Images has been in the business longer than anyone in California and we have the experience needed to complete your next project on time and on budget.