Commercial License for Real Estate?

I was planning on recording aerial views for realtors to use on their listings when selling houses. Is it illegal for me to charge for my service? If so, how can I get a commercial drone license?
Good luck. Heard it is an arduous process getting that FAA exemption! And yes it is illegal to use the drone for commercial purpose (making money). I'd say just do it under the table and don't quit your day job. I got my drone for this purpose but I am flying our own commercial properties and am not getting paid for it.
 
Heard it is an arduous process getting that FAA exemption!
It's not too bad. The arduous process will be getting your pilot license in order to use your exemption.
 
Good luck. Heard it is an arduous process getting that FAA exemption! And yes it is illegal to use the drone for commercial purpose (making money). I'd say just do it under the table and don't quit your day job. I got my drone for this purpose but I am flying our own commercial properties and am not getting paid for it.
Personally, I don't care how you use your UAS but just because you worded it that way doesn't make it legal. Be careful.
 
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Personally, I don't care how you use your UAS but just because you worded it that way doesn't make it legal. Be careful.
Yep -- definitely not legal.
 
Give the video away for free (if you're not charging it's legal right?) ... Now that you have a friend because you gave them some great aerial video free of charge, no strings attached, charge them a nominal fee for custom video editing, voice overs, sound tracks, and that expensive blank DVD you're gonna put it on for them.
(ok, go ahead... I'm guessing there will be dissension among the troops for my comment).
 
Yep -- definitely not legal.

Are there any laws on the books yet or cases of the FAA winning in court when they tried to enforce commercial use fines based on their broad interpretation of current regulations?

I'm honestly curious. My understanding is that it's perfectly legal to fly safely in Class G airspace and their overbroad interpretation of commercial activity, as it applies to UAV photography, is not likely to hold up to legal challenge (thus, like your average patent troll, they may try to bully you with threats, but they're avoiding escalation to a court decision if you stand up to them).
 
Are there any laws on the books yet or cases of the FAA winning in court when they tried to enforce commercial use fines based on their broad interpretation of current regulations?

I'm honestly curious. My understanding is that it's perfectly legal to fly safely in Class G airspace and their overbroad interpretation of commercial activity, as it applies to UAV photography, is not likely to hold up to legal challenge (thus, like your average patent troll, they may try to bully you with threats, but they're avoiding escalation to a court decision if you stand up to them).

I read a story about a photographer in CA being shut down for this.
 
Just to clarify because there seems to be some misinterpreted info here.

There is no LAW on the books saying you can't. The exemption is not required by LAW. You'll get busted for operating without a local business lisence before you do flying for a fee.

That being said. Do what others may or may not be doing.

Fly for free. And charge for post processing. If I "hypothetically" flew for real estate. Which I definitely don't do! I would hypothetically charge a couple hundred bucks for the 1gb USB stick that may or may not contain pictures of some random flight that I happen to snap pics of that magically showed up on the doorstep of some guy who claims to be a real estate agent.


**the info here and within this post is not legal advice and I'm not under retainer nor am I a legal representative of the justice system. It is merely hypotheticals. If you have questions. Better call saul**
 
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Fly for free. And charge for post processing. If I "hypothetically" flew for real estate. Which I definitely don't do! I would hypothetically charge a couple hundred bucks for the 1gb USB stick
This is definitely not legal (so says the FAA). If you're going to do this, then you should just charge for flying too.
 
There is no LAW on the books saying you can't. The exemption is not required by LAW.
There is actually a law -- 49 USC§ 44711.

"A person may not serve in any capacity as an airman with respect to a civil aircraft, aircraft engine, propeller, or appliance used, or intended for use, in air commerce without an airman certificate authorizing the airman to serve in the capacity for which the certificate was issued."

Since the FAA issues certificates, they can also make you follow all of their regulations. And, you'll need an exemption in order to be able to follow those regulations.
 
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Your saying the faa says I can't sell a USB stick on Craigslist that may have some left over files on it? Lol I think your giving the faa too much power.

If your scared than simply don't do it.
 
"Air commerce"

Exactly. Don't transport mail, passengers, goods, or fly over seas or interfere with foreign air commerce.
 
Your saying the faa says I can't sell a USB stick on Craigslist that may have some left over files on it?
That business would definitely not scale :D
 
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There is actually a law -- 49 USC§ 44711.

"A person may not serve in any capacity as an airman with respect to a civil aircraft, aircraft engine, propeller, or appliance used, or intended for use, in air commerce without an airman certificate authorizing the airman to serve in the capacity for which the certificate was issued."

Since the FAA issues certificates, they can also make you follow all of their regulations. And, you'll need an exemption in order to be able to follow those regulations.

There should be a lot of openings at the FAA soon. They're going to have their hands full cracking down on these criminal master minds Haha.
 
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There is actually a law -- 49 USC§ 44711.

"A person may not serve in any capacity as an airman with respect to a civil aircraft, aircraft engine, propeller, or appliance used, or intended for use, in air commerce without an airman certificate authorizing the airman to serve in the capacity for which the certificate was issued."

I believe this is the regulation that basically every attorney expects them not to be able to successfully enforce against UAV operators.

Several years ago, this law was passed, largely with UAVs in mind:

A new federal law, signed by the president on Tuesday, compels the Federal Aviation Administration to allow drones to be used for all sorts of commercial endeavors — from selling real estate and dusting crops, to monitoring oil spills and wildlife, even shooting Hollywood films.

At some point this year (I don't have a link handy), I remember also seeing a statement that they aren't even bothering with that gigantic backlog of 333 exemptions until after the new regulations are solidified.

I don't have any desire to fly commercially myself. I just do it for personal enjoyment. It bugs me to see misinformation based on conventional wisdom floating around on all of the drone-related boards I've joined since buying my Phantom though.

If I did decide to start selling media from my Phantom flights, I wouldn't hesitate to do that safely and responsibly in Class G airspace until new regulations or a judge told me otherwise.
 

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