Photos for commercial use


Razzil

Member
With regards to aerial photography in Canada for commericial use, does this (SFOC - Special Flight Operation Certificate) have to be approved each time you fly for each particular job you do? or obtain it once and it expires after a year, with the possibility of letting them know where and when and why you fly each time?
 

omega20

New Member
With regards to aerial photography in Canada for commericial use, does this (SFOC - Special Flight Operation Certificate) have to be approved each time you fly for each particular job you do? or obtain it once and it expires after a year, with the possibility of letting them know where and when and why you fly each time?


As far as I understand you have to apply for one each and everytime you plane on flying for commercial purposes.
 

flitelab

Member
You need to apply for each job/set of flights, although they may give you a blanket SFOC for entended periods but the details are hazy as to when and if. The biggest requirement/cost is the insurance you are required to carry.
 


Dewster

Member
I've read on this subject for several months now and I'm certainly not an expert on the subject, but it's clear by the FAA's actions in the recent past that it they do not want UAS's in the air, doing AP work for hire. The guys that are doing AP work in the US and getting paid for it are clearly violating federal law. As a matter of fact, if you are building AP platforms and flight testing them to sell, you have to get a FAA Certificate of Authorization to fly the copters you are about to sell. This is what the FAA considers "market research".

Kloner included a link to the dvinfo.com forum that was started in 2009. There is an e-mail address on that forum that Wendell Adkins has set up if you want to be included on the class action lawsuit against the FAA. If you're impacted (which anyone doing this for hire is impacted), send your contact info to freedom4ap@gmail.com to be included on that initiative.

Until the law allows for UAS AP work for hire, everyone's grounded unless you're flying AP for recreation only.

I guess everyone will have to invest in balloons for commercial aerial photography. It's so much more fun flying a multicopter than floating a balloon. Do you need permits for launching weather balloons in space?? lol
 


Great thread guys.. How disappointing this thread was to read though, considering I want to do AP in Louisiana. I agree with you guys 100%.. I work in the offshore industry in the gulf of mexico, so I'm constantly having to follow rules/regulations made by people that have never spent a day in the industry, and it makes me sick. USA is suppose to be free and embrace innovation, but not anymore.. I'm still working on my hexa, and I still plan to do AP regardless of the laws, It should be allowed that's the way I see it.
 

Macsgrafs

Active Member
What really saddens me & I'm not even an American is that some great designs in flight controllers & frames have come out of the states, the recent competition on this forum has a sponsor from the states.....what would happen to these wonderfully creative firms? Thier research has also helped the full size UAV community, so without these people at the bottom of the pyramid, the top will fall.
 

Check out helivideo.com he is doing it and has been for awhile where you think all the shots for the sixflags commercials and movie shots come from guys like this and they are not stopping so I say GO! They do it for Hollywood Films, Outdoor Channel, History Channel just because your a big name does not exclude them!
 


DLien

Member
So…. Does anyone know what the downside of violating the existing prohibition here in the U.S. is? The only actions I have seen so far have been receiving a “cease and desist order”. What am I missing?
 

kloner

Aerial DP
I posted the fines in another similar thread,,, it was like 10k to 100k and up to 4 years in the pen,

but seriously, nobody is getting made an example,,, yet.

think the "law" there trying to enforce is operating a uas/uav in closed airspace..... theres no physical law that say's what we do is illegal, just that there is no law therefore unlawful...... lame is more like it
 

This is a topic I've followed for years and it's really a crazy no win for anyone....other than the government. Unfortunately I can't see anyway that the US will allow you folks to film or shoot for profit. There's too much for them to gain (money and fees for certification and the ability to track anyone that flies). What scares me more, is the thought that one day we'll all be forced to fly LOS at a local field only. Too much is being regulated but at the same time I see too many new pilot fools who have the cash to fly these fully autonomous machines over everything and anything. Not cool.
I may not be happy with the laws here in Canada, but I sure feel better off that we aren't following the US's policies. I truly feel bad for you folks as I've seen lots of exceptional and safe work from so many pilots.
 

Top