P3A for commercial use, UK

King Luff · May 6, 2016

Is anyone using the Phantom 3 Advanced for commercial use. I have been sharing my photos on twitter and getting a lot of local interest, as my account has grown I have now had my 3rd request for commercial work for a local event (I have turned down the last 2 obviously) so seriously considering getting my PFAW.

My question is, if I get my PFAW, would working with the P3A even be possible? As I understand, once I have this I can then apply to the CAA for use commercially and have to wrote risk assessments amongst other things for each project. Does the phantom fail when it comes to safety around people? I'd be doing fairly low level work so don't see the need just yet to upgrade to an S1000 or something more modular. Do the CAA view quadcopters as a collective or as individual models? The last thing I want to do is complete the course to find out that my Phantom isn't accepted as a safe drone for work.

Thanks for any help!

jase888 · Jan 27, 2017

King Luff said:
Is anyone using the Phantom 3 Advanced for commercial use. I have been sharing my photos on twitter and getting a lot of local interest, as my account has grown I have now had my 3rd request for commercial work for a local event (I have turned down the last 2 obviously) so seriously considering getting my PFAW.

My question is, if I get my PFAW, would working with the P3A even be possible? As I understand, once I have this I can then apply to the CAA for use commercially and have to wrote risk assessments amongst other things for each project. Does the phantom fail when it comes to safety around people? I'd be doing fairly low level work so don't see the need just yet to upgrade to an S1000 or something more modular. Do the CAA view quadcopters as a collective or as individual models? The last thing I want to do is complete the course to find out that my Phantom isn't accepted as a safe drone for work.

Thanks for any help!

Hi - thinking about doing the same but with a P4P - did you ever get started off and was it worth it?

I'm like you dont want to pay for course & CAA then find out not a money maker.

SimonH78 · Jan 27, 2017

It is possible ! -

jase888 · Jan 27, 2017

SimonH78 said:
It is possible ! -

See you got a Aerial Photography business set up - do you find plenty of business for this Im looking at doing it part time but dont want to spend big on the course and CAA approval to find not much business.

I live up north near lakes so wouldnt be stilling business just looking for advise

spamnchips · Jan 27, 2017

Typical course fees in the U.K. are around £1000 with a CAA licence of about £112 for a Phantom and must be renewed annually so you will need to get quite a lot of work to be cost effective.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

jase888 · Jan 27, 2017

spamnchips said:
Typical course fees in the U.K. are around £1000 with a CAA licence of about £112 for a Phantom and must be renewed annually so you will need to get quite a lot of work to be cost effective.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

Yeah ive looked into them but as I understand it you only need to renew the CAA license itself which is around £112 and think if you renew its lower.

You dont actually have to do the £1000 course every year do you??

spamnchips · Jan 27, 2017

No, just a one time course.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

Malakai · Jan 27, 2017

I was working on this last year but a bad relationship got in the way. I found a way to get the PFAW for a lot less money, I think around £300. Totally legally and by following the CAA rules to the letter. I got stuck on the operators manual but then after seeing someone's manual who already has the PFAW helped loads, it's fairly easy to complete. I'll need to go back over my notes and update my old post on here. Hopefully this year I'll get it done and fill you all in on how to save a ton of money

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

Malakai · Jan 27, 2017

My original post:

Getting a UK PFAW without spending thousands. What i found out and I have a few questions.
http://www.phantompilots.com/index....-found-out-and-I-have-a-few-questions..70169/

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

SimonH78 · Jan 27, 2017

jase888 said:
See you got a Aerial Photography business set up - do you find plenty of business for this Im looking at doing it part time but dont want to spend big on the course and CAA approval to find not much business.

I live up north near lakes so wouldnt be stilling business just looking for advise

Lol no worries - there 's a lot of people doing this round me anyways

jase888 · Jan 27, 2017

Malakai said:
I was working on this last year but a bad relationship got in the way. I found a way to get the PFAW for a lot less money, I think around £300. Totally legally and by following the CAA rules to the letter. I got stuck on the operators manual but then after seeing someone's manual who already has the PFAW helped loads, it's fairly easy to complete. I'll need to go back over my notes and update my old post on here. Hopefully this year I'll get it done and fill you all in on how to save a ton of money

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

Ahh good to know - if you can ge tit that cheap would be very good its just the op manual as you say in other post - without seeing one wouldnt know where to start

Malakai · Jan 27, 2017

Keep an eye on my post, I'll update it as soon as I have more news.

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

embayweather · Jan 27, 2017

Just a thought from a retired professional photographer. It is a really hard business to make a living from, whether it be by DSLR or by drone. You will always be up against Uncle Jim who the client will tell you has the same camera/drone as you so why should they pay you so much do to the same job?
Don't get me wrong you will come across a great manga lovely folk, it's just the bad ones could easily take you to the cleaners.
So many other costs to consider along the way not just insurance and qualifications. Changing insurance on your car, and your house. Depreciation of your equipment and replacement of it. Running costs of the drone, buying a spare of everything. Then of course there are accounts to keep, tax man to pay, literature to print, records to keep, and so it goes on. Think very carefully if you want to go down this road and can find the customers to cover all of these costs and more.

Mike

jase888 · Jan 28, 2017

embayweather said:
Just a thought from a retired professional photographer. It is a really hard business to make a living from, whether it be by DSLR or by drone. You will always be up against Uncle Jim who the client will tell you has the same camera/drone as you so why should they pay you so much do to the same job?
Don't get me wrong you will come across a great manga lovely folk, it's just the bad ones could easily take you to the cleaners.
So many other costs to consider along the way not just insurance and qualifications. Changing insurance on your car, and your house. Depreciation of your equipment and replacement of it. Running costs of the drone, buying a spare of everything. Then of course there are accounts to keep, tax man to pay, literature to print, records to keep, and so it goes on. Think very carefully if you want to go down this road and can find the customers to cover all of these costs and more.

Mike

Very very good advise and didnt even think about the car & house insurance changes. For me its going to be part time so dont intend on making a living on it. Hoping to be able to buy spares of everything as start to make money. Theres no one around my area for atleast 40+ miles that does any aerial drone photography so hoping to sweep up most of business round here.

The thing thats put off is the whole tax, records side of things as not done anything like that before.

embayweather · Jan 28, 2017

The tax part is relatively easy so long as you have a complete knowledge of the tax system and its rules as whatever goes wrong is your fault.
On a more serious not though I would recommend keeping detailed records of everything, including the stamps you buy and the mileage you do in your car as well as every equipment purchase etc. If you are not earning a living from it and you balance things off well your 'profits' will be minimal and thus so will your tax. I am not advocating being dishonest, far from it, you should be squeaky clean and declare as much as you can. But the most important thing to remember is you must tell your tax authorities that you have started up in business three months of the start date. Ask them for help too and I am sure they will help you go through all the online stuff.
Whatever you do though enjoy it, the rest will sort itself out if you just keep an eye on things.

Mike