Drone Footage and Licensing

RideOnTwo

RideOnTwo

Smart Ass
I have been thinking of using a Drone to get some footage for my channel. For those here in the US I have a few questions about the current and future laws that pertain to using a drone, would appreciate any advice on the subject.

1) US law for drone/ RC flight is limited to non commercial use and only under the safety instruction of a club. I understand this to mean you must belong to a club and only fly in their registered area. I know authorities may not enforce this in all areas but if true this basically eliminates me from using it for my channel. New law set to go on the books is you have to pass a FAA safety test, that is not yet online and active.

2) To use a drone for business or commercial purposes pilots are required to obtain a license, which would eliminate the concerns of #1 above. Does anyone have this license? Is this an easy thing to obtain?

I guess my biggest question is once you are registered they now know you have a drone! If I do not have a pilots license, or belong to a club I legally can not fly a drone. Does everyone have a license or not care until/unless they are caught and told they need one?

I have to say the laws for this are really strict and senseless, used to be able to build a model plane and fly anywhere you wanted.
 
No sure about the USA, but in the UK we had our second largest international airport with all planes grounded due to idiots illegally flying drones. Unfortunately legislation is implemented to protect the masses from the few idiots.
 
HippoDrone said:
No sure about the USA, but in the UK we had our second largest international airport with all planes grounded due to idiots illegally flying drones. Unfortunately legislation is implemented to protect the masses from the few idiots.
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I live in a small city, and our airport 5 mile radius makes it so I would have to go outside of town to fly. I bought a cheap drone on prime day but am thinking of returning it, I knew I had to register but after reading through the laws i am not sure I want to take my chances. The license is $150 for the test and classes are in the $300 range. That can buy a lot of motorcycle gear!
 
I’ve been getting into drones for about the past year with an eye on getting my certification, and to add to my motovlogging as well. My skills are still not where I want them to be, so I haven’t pulled the trigger on a Mavic (or possibly a Fimi X8 SE).

You don’t need to be part of a club to fly a drone. You do need to register your drone with the FAA ($5.00), mark your certification number on your drone, carry your certification with you and be aware of where you are flying. Essentially, if you are under 400 feet you really don’t have to check in with any higher authority, unless you are within 5 miles of an airport/heliport. If you are that close you technically have to remain below 100 feet, or at tree top levels. I live in an area where there are a lot of hospital helipads. This is a good app/site to check - B4UFly - https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/where_can_i_fly/b4ufly/

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- Wuf
 
You don't have to belong to a club. The FAA website says a recreational flyer

"Follow the safety guidelines of a community based organization."

Basically the FAA adopted many guidelines of recreational clubs when they came out with the drone rules.

If your channel gets monetized you will need to get the commercial license if you want to use new drone footage after the date of monetization.

Here is about the need to register/mark your drone...

Register the drone
 
I am registered but it is just so confusing because at one point in all the stuff they want you to read it says you have to be at fixed sites, then later it says in controlled airspace you must be at fixed sites. Just wanted to get someone's advice while I can still send back to Amazon which may happen anyway because the gps function is garbage and wont connect, that eliminates the features that I bought this model for. Follow, 360 etc
 
RideOnTwo said:
I am registered but it is just so confusing because at one point in all the stuff they want you to read it says you have to be at fixed sites, then later it says in controlled airspace you must be at fixed sites. Just wanted to get someone's advice while I can still send back to Amazon which may happen anyway because the gps function is garbage and wont connect, that eliminates the features that I bought this model for. Follow, 360 etc
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Which aircraft are you using? I have a DJI Spark and two of the original Phantoms.

Yeah, I saw the FAA may try to push everyone into getting a license. I am thinking of using a helium balloon, kite string, and a 360° camera hanging from it :p
 
I bought the Contixo F22 from Amazon, it is a cheaper drone with camera and GPS functions. With prime day and other savings I got it for half price. Problem with it is if the GPS will not connect then the follow, and other functions will not work. It is supposed to be able to make a 360 around your position while keeping the camera on you. I have seen YT videos of drone channels review this and they were able to get it all to work but I have had no success.

Most likely will send it back but I asked the question because I didn't want to spend the money on a better drone if i was not able to fly it legally.
 
Sounds like you may be getting interference from other sources. Are you flying in an open park, in your neighborhood, or someplace remote? I was flying my small drone in our town park when a dad and his young son came by with his RC truck. The moment the two began to play with it I lost flight control of my drone as it began to aggressively drift away.

-Wolf
 
scooterwuf said:
Sounds like you may be getting interference from other sources. Are you flying in an open park, in your neighborhood, or someplace remote? I was flying my small drone in our town park when a dad and his young son came by with his RC truck. The moment the two began to play with it I lost flight control of my drone as it began to aggressively drift away.

-Wolf
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The drone works but the GPS will not connect. I have tried in a few places close to home and out in the boonies, no GPS or weak signal.
 
Sorry to hear about that. I read up on your drone and it sounds pretty amazing. I'm tempted to purchase it myself, because I'd like to have one for my upcoming road trip. I decided to hold off because I wanted something with 4K quality, and good stabilization. From what I read the Drone seems calibrated for PAL video - 25 FPS, instead of NTSC 30 FPS, but I could be wrong.

I think someone else suggested you return the drone given its condition. I'm looking at this model as it's a good alternative to a Mavic, and less expensive.

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- Wolf
 
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