Ongoing Saga Of Aerial Photography For Commercial Use
Back in January, I wrote a blog about my first experience with quad-copter photography. One of the comments stated that "industry folks are still cautioning us that FAA rules are yet to be written that will tell us what we can and cannot do...". I did hear about a fine that the FAA levied on a commercial operator for $10,000. Well that is nothing to sneeze at!
So my husband who is enjoying this hobby, did some research. He has 55 hours as a student pilot, studied commercial flight and airport management for two years as well as ran operations for UPS out of the west coast air hub in Ontario California. He finished out his career as a liason to the FAA agents who dealt with Dangerous Goods shipments.
Here is the disclosure we are using on my website. I have 2 additional videos posted and will incorporate some of the video into the virtual tours we use. More videos will be coming soon.
You can see the new videos at this link: aerial photography
These videos were made for your enjoyment. No other expectations were assumed during the making of the videos. This is a hobby (recreation) designed to showcase the Sedona landscape and real estate of the area. FAA guidance says that model aircraft flights should be kept below 400 ft. above ground level. The operators of our model aircraft (quad-coptor technology) follow FAA Guidance. Safety comes first and is our utmost concern. There is no commercial remuneration for these aerial videos.
This hobby quad-copter we are using works ok for our purpose. Commerical Videographers will have a camera set up on a gimbel and would probably need a little bigger craft with more battery power to get the video they need. Hollywood and Indie film makers are using these in their productions because the cost is so much cheaper than using a helicopter!
I have found that you do get some pitch and roll on the video but if you edit small snippets of film it is less noticeable.
Good News
As stated in the title, an NTSB judge ruled that commercial drones are legal. The fine on the drone operatot will not stand. The judge believes that the FAA does not have any enforceable rule or regulation that applies to the usage of model aircraft. You can see the story here. I don't think we have seen the end of this story and as more commercial endeavors start up, there may be new regulations imposed.
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