Questions on how to make $$ with drone

[KMF294]

Well it looks like retirement from police work is in the very near future. It has been a good career but it is time. Now I am, looking for what is next. Seeing that the UAS Industry seems to be growing rapidly I am thinking that this may be a good fit. I am going to spend the winter taking some on line UAS classes and studying for the part 107 exam. My question to everyone is what is a good place to start when I have the education component and license in place? I have read some things on here about drone base and it seems 50/50 on what people think. Are there other such sites? I am ultimately looking for something that will give me something to do that I enjoy and I can make a little money at.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

Do you currently fly a drone /quadcopter?

If not, I'd spend a good deal of time learning to fly.

If yes I would pursue what interests you, then see what commercial aspects there are. If it's not going to be fun, it will turn into just another job

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Well it looks like retirement from police work is in the very near future. It has been a good career but it is time. Now I am, looking for what is next. Seeing that the UAS Industry seems to be growing rapidly I am thinking that this may be a good fit. I am going to spend the winter taking some on line UAS classes and studying for the part 107 exam. My question to everyone is what is a good place to start when I have the education component and license in place? I have read some things on here about drone base and it seems 50/50 on what people think. Are there other such sites? I am ultimately looking for something that will give me something to do that I enjoy and I can make a little money at.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Feedback on what I seen in the past dronebase works well,,depending on where you are based and are able to travel to location you might get lot of work or you might get nothing (no jobs due to area,that's why got to travel,,have not used just reply on what I read in past,some posts are bad but I think that break down in talking,,depend what customers want and are happy with what you submit, you make $$$?????? How much I don't know,,depends how many buy what you submit to drone base,,,,I so hope I word that ok, and or close to correctly, if not fill us in I been drinking

 

[Joanie]

What is this Drone Base you are all referring to?

 

[msinger]

Professional Drone Services | DroneBase

 

[KMF294]

Do you currently fly a drone /quadcopter?

If not, I'd spend a good deal of time learning to fly.

If yes I would pursue what interests you, then see what commercial aspects there are. If it's not going to be fun, it will turn into just another job

I have been flying a P3P and a spark for a couple years now. I’m basically looking for info on how to get started and break into some of the fields.

 

[TerryFC]

Well it looks like retirement from police work is in the very near future. It has been a good career but it is time. Now I am, looking for what is next. Seeing that the UAS Industry seems to be growing rapidly I am thinking that this may be a good fit. I am going to spend the winter taking some on line UAS classes and studying for the part 107 exam. My question to everyone is what is a good place to start when I have the education component and license in place? I have read some things on here about drone base and it seems 50/50 on what people think. Are there other such sites? I am ultimately looking for something that will give me something to do that I enjoy and I can make a little money at.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Feedback on what I seen in the past dronebase works well,,depending on where you are based and are able to travel to location you might get lot of work or you might get nothing (no jobs due to area,that's why got to travel,,have not used just reply on what I read in past,some posts are bad but I think that break down in talking,,depend what customers want and are happy with what you submit, you make $$$?????? How much I don't know,,depends how many buy what you submit to drone base,,,,I so hope I word that ok, and or close to correctly, if not fill us in I been drinking

 

[TerryFC]

You can knock yourself out making stock pix and video and sell nothing there are literally millions of pieces out there and most is free some costs .75 or maybe !.00 find some segment that fits you. Just be careful not to select the wrong bird for your application. Once you got it its yours. Made that mistake myself in 2016 when i got my UAS lic. Bought the wrong bird just spent another 3 grand on a new bird.

 

[Meta4]

My question to everyone is what is a good place to start when I have the education component and license in place? I have read some things on here about drone base and it seems 50/50 on what people think. Are there other such sites? I am ultimately looking for something that will give me something to do that I enjoy and I can make a little money at.

There are way too many people hoping to make money out of their drones and not enough clients that need your product.
The barrier to entry is very low, many potential clients now buy their own drone and create their own images or you'll find you're competing with some who will work for peanuts.
In that situation, to win a job, you lose.
In my part of the world, real estate provided an income stream ... for a while.
But I haven't had a call from any agents for the last two years.
They all do their own now or their interior photographers have added a drone to their kit.

There are businesses that find the work and let it out to their stable of hopefuls (Drone Base etc).
They take a healthy cut but none of the effort and risk and you are still competing for low value jobs.
Here are some threads on DroneBase that might give some ideas.
Search results for query: "drone base"

There are specialised areas like construction and mapping but they require higher skill levels and industry experience to be able to break in.

 

[cheddarman]

Here in the UK, some years ago, pre drone, a lot of people who flew copters made a living aerial photographing people's houses/estates from the air, printing and framing them. Many pubs and restaurants also liked the idea. I fly my drone (PH3) for the fun of it but if someone asked me for a picture of their house could I legally do it for a small cost or would that make me a commercial enterprise for which I'd need a licence?

 

[Dallas Drone Guy]

Well it looks like retirement from police work is in the very near future. It has been a good career but it is time. Now I am, looking for what is next. Seeing that the UAS Industry seems to be growing rapidly I am thinking that this may be a good fit. I am going to spend the winter taking some on line UAS classes and studying for the part 107 exam. My question to everyone is what is a good place to start when I have the education component and license in place? I have read some things on here about drone base and it seems 50/50 on what people think. Are there other such sites? I am ultimately looking for something that will give me something to do that I enjoy and I can make a little money at.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

What if you use your knowledge and connections within law enforcement to be their 1099 go-to drone man? Search/ rescue, crime scene capture, automobile accidents... seems like a drone could add value, right?
Fire departments are using them as well with IR equipped birds.

 

[BigAl07]

What if you use your knowledge and connections within law enforcement to be their 1099 go-to drone man? Search/ rescue, crime scene capture, automobile accidents... seems like a drone could add value, right?
Fire departments are using them as well with IR equipped birds.

It's great to offer your services to help Emergency Services etc but Public Safety is not a good business model to pursue. I can tell you first hand it's much more likely that once they see your services in use they will simply add sUAS to their dept inventory internally. They need someone that is available, experienced, trained, and current 24/7 365.

Flying for Public Safety is not easy and the intensity of flying On-Scene as well as the risk to your equipment just doesn't add up. There is a HUGE difference flying during an incident than taking pretty architectural pictures of homes and land. Night and Day!!

 

[Dallas Drone Guy]

So then do they just train up a few guys as the drone team? Just seems too complicated for an inexperienced drone pilot to pull off, while also only doing it part time. I don't doubt your experience, just wondering how they pull it off in- house.

 

[BigAl07]

So then do they just train up a few guys as the drone team? Just seems too complicated for an inexperienced drone pilot to pull off, while also only doing it part time. I don't doubt your experience, just wondering how they pull it off in- house.

Yes that's exactly how they (we) do it. I actually travel around the southeastern US training Emergency Services (Law, Fire, EM etc) to do exactly this.

First level is Part 107 for the intended pilots and then once the Dept has their sUAS program up and running they submit for a COA which "can" allow for flights over people, flights in restricted airspace, and BVLOS operations.

 

[skymonkey]

So then do they just train up a few guys as the drone team? Just seems too complicated for an inexperienced drone pilot to pull off, while also only doing it part time. I don't doubt your experience, just wondering how they pull it off in- house.

A firefighter’s guide to UAS certification

 

[BigAl07]

A firefighter’s guide to UAS certification

That's a good link but it has one SIGNIFICANT flaw...

In the section titled "
Section 333 – Detailed waivers for certified remote pilots"

Section 333 Exemptions in and of themselves require the applicant to have a min of a Sport Pilots License.... (as in MANNED aviation) or they get denied! I don't think the author of the article has a full grasp on what the Section 333 Exemption is and what it requires and allows.

 

[roosta]

Some of these answers people are giving should be highly dependent on location. At least, I can state that from an understand in my own country.

I know for a fact in Australia, charging for the same type of job (lets say, a 40min flight, video editing and returning the product in the form of a 2min video) and getting hired for the work depends on where you are based. Aerial mapping and surveying (for not just real estate, but farms - and even for larger companies overseeing mining sites, construction sites, sporting events etc) can really depend where you are based or can travel to. I know of pilots who offer the same type of experience/service that may charge the same; but in 1 state there's far more competition and key coastal areas are flooded with commercial drone pilots so it's extremely difficult to get work that supports you. However (and this is just 1 direct comparison), the other side of Australia in WA around Perth; there are fewer approved/experienced operators to say Brisbane, where it a little easier to pick up work. Sure, it will be a lot harder for those starting from scratch...but a good portfolio of work and a strong website is what you need to get going...and where you're based will have a strong indicator of your liklihood to succeed early.

I would not investigate time or effort looking into the support of emergency services; your product or experience needs to add something unique or special that separates you from the pack and the rest of the comp. If you only plan to compete on pricing; it's a horrible strategy and will eventually lead you to changing industries again or looking for supportive work on the side.

RoOSTA

 

[officialdrdrone]

There are a lot of drone business opportunities in the commercial sector. Two of the fastest growing sectors would be construction and agriculture. I would say a good place to start is getting familiar with the drone and choosing one of the sectors that most interests you. Specializing in software like mapping and modeling would also be highly beneficial.

*Edited to remove links by Moderator*

 

[Firehawk]

Good thread. In my market, it's flooded with people doing cheap drone work and cheap video work in general. The majority fly drones illegally including my biggest competitor. Clients don't seem to care. Real estate companies often have their own bird and also fly illegally with no license and furthermore claiming that as long as they are under 200ft they are ok, which is baloney since my entire city is in a class D airspace

 

[Dallas Drone Guy]

If the FAA doesn't treat the violations seriously, why should the realtors? I was happy that the test was difficult and costs $150 because it meant that there would be fewer people that go through the hassle and therefore less competition for us 'legit' pilots. But instead people just say F the rules, fly anyway (commercially), and face no consequences.