So how do "they" know these were drone shots. I have a close friend who manages a large roofing firm. They do 200-300 roofs a year. They have been estimating roofing jobs off Google Earth for years. Frankly the thought that government might break into your home or office and seize information and require you to testify against the 5th amendment while tied to a torture chairs is not likely. I work with government planning officiates in construction quite a bit. Obtaining a permit to build does not turn you into a prisoner of the Gulag code inspector. They can only inspect when the inspection is called for and if it never gets done all they can do is expire the permit. Working for a living does not remove your rights. If I have a picture of a house or area from the air, screw them if they wanna know how I got it.
Realtor Using Owners Drone Pictures
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Let them. Let's not go nuts here. Competing contractors do this on code issues all the time too. They report that they saw a roofer on your house. Well, ****, I guess the code cops are going to arrest me. No way. Planning has a permit process. Pulling a permit allows them to manage their portion of a job and inspect upon your INVITATION. They can't just walk in the door and take a look at our wife in the shower. Possession of a picture does not provide evidence of anything unless it was ordered by a court. The inspectors are inspectors not IRS agents doing a shakedown. Now if one was to use such shots in mass and publicize they were drone shots and advertise that is somehow a better experience for the buyer there might be an issue. But I know a lot of roofers doing 200-300 roofs a year doing their biding off Google earth now days. Tattle tale owners can also get themselves a bad reputation with planning too. After the sixth nuisance call they quit listening. None of that is use able in court. Planning is loathe to actually get a court case as they don't have time for it. All they can do is expire the permit or halt work until there is one. I once had an electrical code jerk threaten to report me to the IRS for having six houses when I was actually working on my own residence. I asked him are you an IRS agent. Of course he replied no. Then I said so you won't mind my calling the IRS and explaining you were a local building inspector claiming to be authorized by them for investigations. Dead silence ....
This is a very interesting topic. I've been very interested in this hobby lately and I'm thinking about starting an LLC and doing *authorized* aerial photography. Lucky for me, I'm a pilot so I have that taken care of (used to fly commercially years ago) All I need is the 333 exemption and the COA.
Thing is though, how wide can get I get the COA? Can I get multiple counties? is it per airport? city? my articulation would be this business is utilized for aerial photography and cinematography used for real estate and structure inspections. If I were to travel within 2-3 hours of me, that covers several counties... and being in Florida, there is an airport just about everywhere.
Thing is though, how wide can get I get the COA? Can I get multiple counties? is it per airport? city? my articulation would be this business is utilized for aerial photography and cinematography used for real estate and structure inspections. If I were to travel within 2-3 hours of me, that covers several counties... and being in Florida, there is an airport just about everywhere.
I need some guidance on filing the 333 exemption. I'm not paying a lawyer 1500 dollars to do it.
If there is a will, there is a way. lol
If there is a will, there is a way. lol
I looked into this a bit while getting my $5 "liscence". I think I can clarify to a pilot how this works in a paragraph of two. The armature liscence is pretty much designed to insure you have been given a change to read the current rules. Some of these are only advisory not rules anyway. Also they want your registration number on the craft in a place which can be read without disassembly. Why? So they can come looking if your craft is found in an issue. They can't really bust you for going above 400 feet for instance. But if yo did and hit a plane ... well you get the idea.
The commercial use regulations continue on the same series of FAA web pages. They instruct that commercial use of unmanned craft be permitted on a case by case basis under a court ordered permit. They offer thousands of such existing permits. They are int he form of a letter to you as the pilot for a court. One collects his reason for needing the authorization and the time and place conditions for the craft use and the court turns it up or down. For instance a sheriff might seek a permit to fly in Woodsy County for rescue missing. He would likely get a permit allowing that in day light and qualified people in the department could all use it. However, he better not have an incident at his daughters birthday party becasue that is outside the special permissions he was given. Another guy might get a permit for flying in the wild lands doing nature photography. He might get a permit allowing that during daylight over areas not otherwise controlled by the USFS. So there are thousands of them. Read a few and get the idea of how they are phrasing their use and the response of the court. It seems tome they are quite liberal. But it is also obvious that if one applies it might be good to not ask for in home inspections while doing wildfire prevention. Nor would you apply to deliver pharmaceutical drug store products to old folks while doing border checks. I'm sure you get the idea.
So I would go to their pages on the issue and look up all the previously published permits and think it over. If what you are doing makes sense and is limited in obvious time, place and manner constraints you will likely be able to get a permit.
The commercial use regulations continue on the same series of FAA web pages. They instruct that commercial use of unmanned craft be permitted on a case by case basis under a court ordered permit. They offer thousands of such existing permits. They are int he form of a letter to you as the pilot for a court. One collects his reason for needing the authorization and the time and place conditions for the craft use and the court turns it up or down. For instance a sheriff might seek a permit to fly in Woodsy County for rescue missing. He would likely get a permit allowing that in day light and qualified people in the department could all use it. However, he better not have an incident at his daughters birthday party becasue that is outside the special permissions he was given. Another guy might get a permit for flying in the wild lands doing nature photography. He might get a permit allowing that during daylight over areas not otherwise controlled by the USFS. So there are thousands of them. Read a few and get the idea of how they are phrasing their use and the response of the court. It seems tome they are quite liberal. But it is also obvious that if one applies it might be good to not ask for in home inspections while doing wildfire prevention. Nor would you apply to deliver pharmaceutical drug store products to old folks while doing border checks. I'm sure you get the idea.
So I would go to their pages on the issue and look up all the previously published permits and think it over. If what you are doing makes sense and is limited in obvious time, place and manner constraints you will likely be able to get a permit.
It seems that the process really does take about 6 months. if there is supposed to be a resolution by 6/16, I could be wasting $1500 to get the exemption drafted by a lawn firm.
I found the petition grants issued by FAA, but I can't find any documentation that shows the format it was written etc for the petition. (nor do I know where to get the documents and flight manual for a P3 lol)
Seems like a serious headache, but if one can actually make 1500 a week off this gig, that doesn't sound too bad. (and that would just be on my days off on top of what I do now lol)
For $1,500 a week you can't or won't learn how to read their web page and locate the thousands of other such permits and copy one? Even if you hired Hillary Clinton (now there's a real lawyer) they wouldn't know what you wanted to do any better than you do anyway.
Don't worry brother, I'll figure it out. But I will ask for help. that's part of the process
I've been looking and can't find any petitions submitted. I will have to look more in detail on a day off.
You'll find it. You just need to mess around on a day off. as you say. I actually prefer this to directives from FAA. You get to actually read what others have already had passed. This way you can construct your plan to be inclusive. Be certain if you limit your plans they will keep you to those limits.Don't worry brother, I'll figure it out. But I will ask for help. that's part of the process
I've been looking and can't find any petitions submitted. I will have to look more in detail on a day off.
Oh! An important point abut the commercial usage permits: many of the existing permits cite other existing permits as a justification for granting you one. If several people have permits to photograph wild hogs in Arkansas then you have a good chance of getting one too.
According to the article I found, the flight was for commercial use. The sale of the home, so no issues there. It did pose the question, does a watermark on a YouTube video make it commercial, but that's not the case in this instances.
I lived in BC six years. Did graduate degree at UBC.
In Canada the government doesn't have drones they have probes.
In Canada the government doesn't have drones they have probes.
Again in the states the FAA liscence is issued for specific place, time and manner conditions and if you are outside those it is a violation of the liscence, which of course they granted you at your request. So if you said you were going to take a picture of your house and you took one of Joe's house you are in violation. Yet if you specified houses you're cool unless you are in the wrong town. Etc ....
That just threw me. You mean each 333 is only good for specified dates and locations? That's a different kettle of fish from what I thot it was.
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Not necessarily. But if you applied in a letter saying you are an employee of the Shasta County Planning office you may have some explaining to do if you crashed the craft into someones car on the freeway in Tuscon Arizona. If you read some of the the existing permits posted on the FAA site you may come up with some ideas that work for you. Wildlife photography may be one of them. But then why would you be doing wildlife photography if you crashed into a families window in LasVegas at 1:00 AM? If you were permitted to fly routes for fire prevention on BLM land in the northwest how come you crashed in Florida. If they see permits similar to yours they are inclined to grant it. After all that is fair play. But they do want some sort of information which will help them resolve a case where the applicant was just screwing around in LA traffic.
I hate to tell you that you're wrong. That's commercial use and would currently require a 333 exemption per the FAA regulations today. That you received no direct compensation for the use of your drone does not matter.
Straight from the FAA:
Section 333 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Correct. You can try to get creative in a description of making commercial work look to be hobby fun, but the FAA got wise to this early on. They "will" make an example out of you if caught.
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Want to share my experience concerning this topic. I do real estate photography & now have added aerial shots. I read article after article how difficult it was to get your Section 333 Exemption & how costly it can be, attorney fees $$$ were all over the place, more then I can afford. Filing it yourself is not really all that hard, believe me if I can do it so can you. There is a portal that shows you all the letters people have submitted requesting the exemption along with the FAA approval. Some of these filings are quite lengthy & should be depending on what you are doing so I get using an attorney, aerial videos, area mapping, bridge inspections, tower inspections, utility pole inspections, surveillance, the list is endless. I just want to take some aerial photos of property listings for the agents who hire me, plain & simple. I read through pages of approved letters getting an idea of how my request should be worded & found quite a few that was geared to my situation. DON'T COPY ANYONE'S REQUEST WORD FOR WORD! I didn't but just wanted to share that with you cause if they catch you doing this it will be rejected. I went to the FAA website & followed the instructions, my exemption request was 2 pages & you submit on line, cost was nothing. I know this appears to be pretty thin but it's the truth. I waited 5 months & received my exemption, no problems what so ever. My exemption states that the aircraft I submitted is approved for 2 yrs for aerial photography & collecting aerial data for the purpose of marketing real estate. I'm waiting for my N-Numbers, that's something you can't do on line, you need to get that form from the FAA & they will send you a few blank forms if you email them, you can call you local office as well. You are still able to fly as long as you have the pink copy in your possession when you fly along with your FAA approval letter that states you Exemption Number. Just recently I added a new aircraft, P3P, sent in my request to amend my exemption to add my P3P to the fleet. At present I fly the Blade Chroma, its ok but wanted to upgrade. Thinking of selling my Chroma but until I get some hrs in the air with the P3P & feel comfortable I'm gonna hang onto it. The other thing you have to do once you get your approval is to follow a monthly flight log that has to be submitting via email to the FAA. The information they want you to submit is mentioned in the approved exemption letter along with the email address. As for myself I created my own flight log when I purchased my first aircraft & maintained it methodically on my pc, it states times I flew, date, location, reason for flying, hrs spent, & description of the purpose of the flight whether it be practice time or real estate photos.
I don't know of any cases that a drone has caused an airplane accident but its coming, boy I hope not but that's a pipe dream, there are many irresponsible people showing off on youtube how high they are flying above the clouds. These people say it won't do anything to a plane, are they engineers? Big birds have broken cockpit windows on passenger planes, can you image what a 2.5lb quad might do? This will be a black eye to all of us, as soon as this happens the public will want to know what the FAA is going to do about drones. I predict they will start by reviewing who is conforming to the rules they put forth & anyone not conforming will have their approved exemption terminated or put on hold status. The FAA will show the public they are cracking down on individuals who don't comply with the regulations they put forth, but who will monitor these people, no one really, but it gets the monkey off their backs by saying we terminated their approval what they do is their business & we (FAA) can't be held responsible for lose of life, meaning don't sue us we didn't give them permission to fly. Bottom line here is you have to document what you are doing, fly safe, & follow the rules so you don't give anyone reason to terminate your exemption. This whole drone thing has taken the FAA by storm in recent years and is growing legs quickly. Its always easier to get something approved then to convince some one to give you another chance. It's just paperwork, the filing is free, the 27K fine is not.
I don't know of any cases that a drone has caused an airplane accident but its coming, boy I hope not but that's a pipe dream, there are many irresponsible people showing off on youtube how high they are flying above the clouds. These people say it won't do anything to a plane, are they engineers? Big birds have broken cockpit windows on passenger planes, can you image what a 2.5lb quad might do? This will be a black eye to all of us, as soon as this happens the public will want to know what the FAA is going to do about drones. I predict they will start by reviewing who is conforming to the rules they put forth & anyone not conforming will have their approved exemption terminated or put on hold status. The FAA will show the public they are cracking down on individuals who don't comply with the regulations they put forth, but who will monitor these people, no one really, but it gets the monkey off their backs by saying we terminated their approval what they do is their business & we (FAA) can't be held responsible for lose of life, meaning don't sue us we didn't give them permission to fly. Bottom line here is you have to document what you are doing, fly safe, & follow the rules so you don't give anyone reason to terminate your exemption. This whole drone thing has taken the FAA by storm in recent years and is growing legs quickly. Its always easier to get something approved then to convince some one to give you another chance. It's just paperwork, the filing is free, the 27K fine is not.
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