Needing expert advice

[Benbo5]

Any help is appreciated,
Here's the deal, I own a cemetery and meet families on a daily basis regarding funerals, etc. I had this idea of buying a drone for presentation purposes when I meet with them. I have no clue about how drones work but my intentions are to purchase drone to go up and take video or pictures of my cemetery sections. The purpose would be being able to show how the section looks (depending on where their lots are)and maybe zooming down on a specific area of the section. This will give them a general idea of where there spaces are.

I have a big television in my conference room and would be neat (I think) to be able to pull it up on screen for people. Now what would be the best way of achieving this, would taking a video of area and zooming in and out and pausing or is there away to take a still and zooming in? I don't know anything about how zooming works on drones that's why I need your advice before I purchase it.

Of course I can hire a guy for $1500 to come and do it for me. Thanks again for any help

 

[Fly Dawg]

You will need a Part 107 License first for any commercial use. Start There.

 

[Benbo5]

Where do you obtain that?

After I have that, Any advice?

 

[Fly Dawg]

There are many posts on Part 107. IMHO if you have no knowledge of actual aircraft aeronautics, flight characteristics, and other in depth aircraft knowledge, it may be difficult to obtain. As far as the Drone goes, if you want one with a zoom, it is way past the $1500 mark you mentioned. Phantoms do not have a zoom function on any of them.

 

[jason]

Where do you obtain that?

After I have that, Any advice?

the question should be do you live in the US. If not then Part 107 would do you no good as it is only good for commercial work in the states. You'd be better off paying someone to do the aerial work for you since you haven't clue in how to go about this yourself.

 

[Benbo5]

There are many posts on Part 107. IMHO if you have no knowledge of actual aircraft aeronautics, flight characteristics, and other in depth aircraft knowledge, it may be difficult to obtain. As far as the Drone goes, if you want one with a zoom, it is way past the $1500 mark you mentioned. Phantoms do not have a zoom function on any of them.

Thanks for the info on the zoom, so you pretty much have to fly to the area of interest, Gotcha. No sorry I wasn't in the Air Force , just trying to get advice on the best way to handle my situation.

 

[Benbo5]

the question should be do you live in the US. If not then Part 107 would do you no good as it is only good for commercial work in the states. You'd be better off paying someone to do the aerial work for you since you haven't clue in how to go about this yourself.

I'm not that dumb sir, are you be any chance in or were in the Air Force? If not you had to start somewhere and had no clue yourself

 

[RW-1]

I disagree here.

you have to define a Commercial operation, or the holding out" for a commercial operation.

If the OP is using his own drone, for his own footage for his own presentation, at his own Cemetery/Company, then it is not a "Commercial" operation, such as it would be if he took the footage and then "Sold" it to the Cemetery.

There could be an argument made as to a family purchasing a plot after watching the presentation, however if no $$$ passes directly to it's being filmed, then I believe he is ok in that respect. (A family watching is not going to ask how it was shot, etc.)

I can agree to disagree if someone wishes to bring up opposing points, but I'm going on what was learned for commercial flying before I earned the rating.

 

[MapMaker53]

I disagree here.
If the OP is using his own drone, for his own footage for his own presentation, at his own Cemetery/Company, then it is not a "Commercial" operation, such as it would be if he took the footage and then "Sold" it to the Cemetery.

Unfortunately, that is totally incorrect. If someone owns their own company and use their personally owned drone and their drone flight benefits their own company in any way, the drone is being commercially operated under FAA regulations. It is clearly being used for marketing purposes. btw.. You can't even do this for a non-profit organization with no money being exchanged -- because it is being used for a business and that is commercial in the eyes of the FAA. In this case, I believe it would be better to hire a licensed commercial drone operator to do any filming for you.

I highly recommend this recorded FAA webinar which explains every aspect of the Part 107 Regulations, including what is considered commercial operations. Registration is free and just requires name and email address. At exactly 23m00s into the webinar, the speaker addresses this same type of situation.

 

[Mr. Salty]

No sorry I wasn't in the Air Force , just trying to get advice on the best way to handle my situation.

None of this has anything at all to do with being in the Air Force.

MapMaker53 is correct that you would need a Part 107 license. This requires studying for and taking a test from the FAA. It's a bit of work and the test costs $150.

If this is going to be a one-time thing, as in photographing your cemetery once and keeping those photos on file, then yes, you're probably better off hiring it done rather than buying a drone, learning how to fly it, studying for and passing a complicated $150 test, then learning how to be a photographer.

 

[Benbo5]

I disagree here.

you have to define a Commercial operation, or the holding out" for a commercial operation.

If the OP is using his own drone, for his own footage for his own presentation, at his own Cemetery/Company, then it is not a "Commercial" operation, such as it would be if he took the footage and then "Sold" it to the Cemetery.

There could be an argument made as to a family purchasing a plot after watching the presentation, however if no $$$ passes directly to it's being filmed, then I believe he is ok in that respect. (A family watching is not going to ask how it was shot, etc.)

I can agree to disagree if someone wishes to bring up opposing points, but I'm going on what was learned for commercial flying before I earned the rating.

Correct, I'm using it to take footage of my cemetery owned by my family. There are certain areas I would like to go over that are not yet developed. How is this commercial if I'm just showing people what the cemetery looks like?

 

[Benbo5]

Oh Jesus, screw the **** drone! I should have just bought it and not come on this dang forum, made it to **** complicated.

 

[joet]

Unfortunately, that is totally incorrect. If someone owns their own company and use their personally owned drone and their drone flight benefits their own company in any way, the drone is being commercially operated under FAA regulations. It is clearly being used for marketing purposes. btw.. You can't even do this for a non-profit organization with no money being exchanged -- because it is being used for a business and that is commercial in the eyes of the FAA. In this case, I believe it would be better to hire a licensed commercial drone operator to do any filming for you.

I 100% concur. There are two types of flight in the US: "Recreational" and "other". Recreational cannot be used to further one's business, and "other" requires a Part 107 license.

From the FAA (https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/model_aircraft_spec_rule.pdf):

The statute requires model aircraft to be flown strictly for hobby or recreational purposes. Because the statute and its legislative history do not elaborate on the intended meaning of “hobby or recreational purposes,” we look to their ordinary meaning and also the FAA’s previous interpretations to understand the direction provided by Congress. A definition of “hobby” is a “pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, available at www.merriam-webster.com (last accessed June 9, 2014). A definition of recreation is “refreshment of strength and spirits after work; a means of refreshment or diversion.” These uses are consistent with the FAA’s 2007 policy on model aircraft in which the Agency stated model aircraft operating guidelines did not apply to “persons or companies for business purposes.”

Any operation not conducted strictly for hobby or recreation purposes could not be operated under the special rule for model aircraft. Clearly, commercial operations would not be hobby or recreation flights. Likewise, flights that are in furtherance of a business, or incidental to a person’s business, would not be a hobby or recreation flight.​

14 CFR 101: eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations

§101.41 Applicability.
This subpart prescribes rules governing the operation of a model aircraft (or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft) that meets all of the following conditions as set forth in section 336 of Public Law 112-95:

(a) The aircraft is flown strictly for hobby or recreational use;

(b) The aircraft is operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization;

(c) The aircraft is limited to not more than 55 pounds unless otherwise certified through a design, construction, inspection, flight test, and operational safety program administered by a community-based organization;

(d) The aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned aircraft; and

(e) When flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the aircraft provides the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the airport) with prior notice of the operation.​

 

[Mr. Salty]

Correct, I'm using it to take footage of my cemetery owned by my family. There are certain areas I would like to go over that are not yet developed. How is this commercial if I'm just showing people what the cemetery looks like?

The cemetery is a business, period. It's the same reason real estate agents need to have a commercial license to photograph properties they're trying to sell.

 

[MapMaker53]

Oh Jesus, screw the **** drone! I should have just bought it and not come on this dang forum, made it to **** complicated.

Yeah.. Sometimes we learn more in a day than we thought we were going to. I hate when that happens.

 

[kirk2579]

Oh Jesus, screw the **** drone! I should have just bought it and not come on this dang forum, made it to **** complicated.

if you had your 107 the simple way do do this would be to overfly with video on 2.7 or 4k
many things can be done now from the sd recordings , its up to your wants and skills etc.
simple thing is to use screen grab of the video showing your points of interest.
those can be viewed in a photo viewer and zoomed , cropped, etc etc.

pretty much how I got some stuff of my place etc.

good luck and have fun flying!

 

[Kirby Johnson]

Oh Jesus, screw the **** drone! I should have just bought it and not come on this dang forum, made it to **** complicated.

Don't get discouraged listening to these blowhards here. This place is crawling with people who bought themselves a remote toy and now think they are piloting the space shuttle

If you see anyone who is wearing David Clarks in their avatar they probably are worth listening to. Same with the fellows who have a tail number.

Look at the big picture. Over your property with your flying camera for your own personal use. You are allowed at least 400 feet, but in your case it will be more like under 200. Nobody in his right mind is going to bother you. Listening to some of these, you would do better with a helum balloon, some string and an instamatic.

 

[Richard R]

Don't get discouraged listening to these blowhards here. This place is crawling with people who bought themselves a remote toy and now think they are piloting the space shuttle

If you see anyone who is wearing David Clarks in their avatar they probably are worth listening to. Same with the fellows who have a tail number.

Look at the big picture. Over your property with your flying camera for your own personal use. You are allowed at least 400 feet, but in your case it will be more like under 200. Nobody in his right mind is going to bother you. Listening to some of these, you would do better with a helum balloon, some string and an instamatic.

Problem as he freely admits is that the proposed pictures are not for 'personal use', he wants to use them to promote his cemetery business. Strictly commercial and requires Part 107 and a registered aircraft. Part 107 here with the tail number on my bird "N1639Z". Went through the process, studied the regs and along with the others here who have made the same types of comments, know how the system is set up. The OP can do what he wants, but the FAA is serious about this and fine can be horrendous.

 

[Mr. Salty]

Don't get discouraged listening to these blowhards here. This place is crawling with people who bought themselves a remote toy and now think they are piloting the space shuttle

Listen, buttercup, it doesn't much matter what we think. What matters is what the FAA regs say. And if you know what David Clarks are, you know that.

You're right, he could probably buy himself a drone and not get caught. If he does the fines only start at, what, $2,500?

But buying a $1,200 drone that he doesn't have the first clue how to fly, then learning to fly it, doesn't seem like a good use of time and money if he can pay somebody a couple hundred dollars to shoot the photos for him and be done with it.

 

[AlecW]

Listen, buttercup, it doesn't much matter what we think. What matters is what the FAA regs say. And if you know what David Clarks are, you know that.

You're right, he could probably buy himself a drone and not get caught. If he does the fines only start at, what, $2,500?

But buying a $1,200 drone that he doesn't have the first clue how to fly, then learning to fly it, doesn't seem like a good use of time and money if he can pay somebody a couple hundred dollars to shoot the photos for him and be done with it.

OP mentioned he got a quote for $1500 which would be cheapest way to go unless he wanted the drone for other things.