1ST PILOT JOB - SUCCESSFULLY ACQUIRED

[DJI Ferrari]

It seems that you are completely unaware of the rules for commercial flying and haven't worked it out from the things that have been said already.
So here it is in plain language for you.
You need to have commercial registration to do commercial flights.
Commercial registration is very different from what you have suggested.
Before you do anything else, take some time to read this and think about it:
Fact Sheet – Small Unmanned Aircraft Regulations (Part 107)

Then, you don't have the drone, haven't flown it and haven't done any commercial work before.
You don't know what the client wants done and have no idea about mapping (which is probably what's needed for the job)>
Yesterday you were asking for people to give you the most basic information straight from the specs: My complete question List

It really seems that you are way, way out of your depth on this and don't even know how little you know.
What could possibly go wrong?


It sounds like he hasn't a clue.

this is a just a job from a friend, this is not a commercial job, its more like a personal request and he is going to pay me in cash. It's not like I am working for any type of real estate company.

Look, stop fussing at me I know what I said as I wrote it. Now, yes I asked many questions because I am new to this, drone, I am not new to dji piloting, and after watching countless videos about the mavics operation, its not much different from what I am used to and that is the way I fly the spark Not the exact same no, but similar. But I know watching videos doesn't account for flight exp, I am not stupid. But I was already told because I called just a few moments ago, and he wants to know what the ground and tarrain in like because he will be bringing heavy equipment in to bulldoze it down and flatten it out. But its easier if he knows what to expect.

Bottom line he is going to pay me to low fly over the trees in rows, back and forth starting from the front to the back, he wont pay me if i miss an area or if the video is unusable.

It is simple, I will not be in sport mode I will be in normal mode with the camera down fly a row move to the side back up recording the next row then the next and so on. But it has to be good enough to where he can see the terrain, meaning the ground.

But all this won't happen if it turns out I find the controls are more different than I expect and if in any way I feel like I require more exp he has agreed to put it off till Monday. That will give me much more time to get familiar with the Mavic.

Now before some say, "Well you just said you didn't know what he wanted" Speaking about it so much here, people who reply to me don'y know what to go on because I hadn't informed them on what I was going to be doing because I didn't know, so I called him just a moment ago and he told me what I am now posting above so any who are like , "You don't even know what he wants you to do"
Now you know as well as me.

Look you all have more exp than me with the mavic so your advice carries weight with me, if you all think I should tell him no, then I will, at least until I know I am sure about my exp with this Mavic, because above all other things, I value being responsible more than making a quick couple hundred dollars

I also don't want to make any enemies on here or confuse anyone so, yea.

 

[swooshdave]

I knew the 107 people would come out to play. Meh, if this is someone you know and since you don't have a business license there's no chance of getting caught even if someone here turned you in.

My only concern is the amount of time you anticipate to get the drone set up. Just battery charging alone is a couple hours. Then count on firmware updates. Then testing.

Personally I'd tell the guy wait a day. Maybe it works out for you or maybe we get a crash video out of it.

 

[Meta4]

this is a just a job from a friend, this is not a commercial job, its more like a personal request and he is going to pay me in cash. It's not like I am working for any type of real estate company.

Whatever happened to ...

Wait, wait, wait, wait, what do you mean braking the law because I do not want to brake any laws because that's not responsible. Please do explain, because I am like, really new to this drone job thing and don't want to be any where near irresponsible. Now my Mavic will be registered with the FAA and will have the FAA registration sticker on the side of the drone before I fly, But i figured I could do this one job without the commercial license because 1, i am doing this for a friend, not a company and 2, he will be paying me in cash, but if this is in anyway illegal, then I will call it off.

??? You changed your mind about that very quickly.
Sorry to burst your bubble but what you are proposing is commercial work

I am not new to dji piloting, and after watching countless videos about the mavics operation, its not much different from what I am used to and that is the way I fly the spark Not the exact same no, but similar. But I know watching videos doesn't account for flight exp, I am not stupid. But I was already told because I called just a few moments ago, and he wants to know what the ground and tarrain in like because he will be bringing heavy equipment in to bulldoze it down and flatten it out. But its easier if he knows what to expect.

But you have no idea about how to provide the kind of product that would be useful to your client.
A video of you flying over a forested site isn't going to be much use.
How would anyone know where any important features are?
Are they even going to be able to see the important details?
Here's an example of a mapping job for a 120 acre forested site:

Something like that is 100 times more useful that a bit of video.
But it takes effort and practice to be able to do. That example required 380 individual photos to create.
Forest cover can be difficult for stitching software and mapping a 500 acre site is a big task.

 

[DJI Ferrari]

I knew the 107 people would come out to play. Meh, if this is someone you know and since you don't have a business license there's no chance of getting caught even if someone here turned you in.

My only concern is the amount of time you anticipate to get the drone set up. Just battery charging alone is a couple hours. Then count on firmware updates. Then testing.

Personally I'd tell the guy wait a day. Maybe it works out for you or maybe we get a crash video out of it.

He is a family friend that I have known since i was a baby as his wife used to babysit me, he is an older man age 69. I know as I looked up the charge times and so on, bottom line, I have to do all of this. I will have to charge the batts, install firmware, even after I get the Mavic, I will call him, but he knows I have to set it up because i made that clear when I talked to him a few moments ago and he just said call him when I am ready. So whatever time it comes in, I will wait at least 3 to 4 hours after because each batt will take at least 50 min to an hour and I have three batts but one charger, Id say another hour for firmware and 1st set up, just to be comfortable.

 

[DJI Ferrari]

Whatever happened to ...
???
Sorry to burst your bubble but what you are proposing is commercial work



But you have no idea about how to provide the kind of product that would be useful to your client.
A video of you flying over a forested site isn't going to be much use.
How would anyone know where any important features are?
Are they even going to be able to see the important details?
Here's an example of a mapping job for a 120 acre forested site:

Something like that is 100 times more useful that a bit of video.
But it takes effort and practice to be able to do. That example required 380 individual photos to create.
Forest cover can be difficult for stitching software and mapping a 500 acre site is a big task.

the forest trees on the land he purchased are no where near that close together, its not really bunched up, its like like an area you'd take an air boat, there are tons and tons of trees but their kinda spaced out a little so it wont be like in your photo. The photo he showed me is a google earth screenshot he took with his phone and sent me and the trees are spaced out, your photo looks as thick with trees as my head is of hair lol.

Here, this is a pic i got off google, but this is what he said his purchased, property is kinda like. I have been in that area many times, just a lot further down, but the trees are all the same all the way down until you hit the river then it gets super thick.

I never said this wasn't officially commercial work, I just said I don't consider it that as he is not associated with any commercial business, this is his personal land he purchased with his personal money that he wants to build rent houses on and by rent houses I mean trailers, but honestly I think its crazy to turn a swamp into usable land, I'm sure its possible but idk, he has the money but anyway.

Again, the photo is just a representation of what he said it was like, its not actually a photo of his property as his property is not that wet, its just a ton of mud and many little flooded areas but not water like in the photo. Ill call him and ask him to send me a pic if he has one of his property.

 

[DJI Ferrari]

I agree with much of what many have said here, I have exp but the Mavic is a new line of drone with a new line of doors opening that even with the exp i have will be alien to the doors that will open due to the Mavic. I acknowledge that, and is why I am on here to get this sorted out and put all the advice I get from here together and create an image in my mind of how I will fly and the methods, procedures and laws that come with it.

All advice here carries a lot of weight with me and I want to personally thank all who were nice enough to reply and provide me with their thoughts, experience and ideas. I thank you and and wish you all a very merry Christmas : )

 

[Mossiback]

...All advice here carries a lot of weight with me and I want to personally thank all who were nice enough to reply and provide me with their thoughts, experience and ideas. I thank you and and wish you all a very merry Christmas : )

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

 

[DJI Ferrari]

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

You too : )

 

[neggy]

what you are going to end up with is a lot of pictures and maybe some video that you will spend hours trying to make useful

Unless you can work wonders with stitching software, you are going to up end with hundreds of pictures and some video that us going to be of little use.

Personally I'd go to the local airport, find a pilot to take you on a sight seeing flight and make that property the site you want to see, then take really good pictures with a DSLR.

Once you get those pictures, and identify what needs to be inspected closer, then go in with the drone.

The picture below is approx 1 acre of land at about 250' up.

Granted you could zoom in for detail, or print it pretty good size ( I think I have this 20 by 24 on my desk right now) but trying to combine any number of these pictures into something that could be printed or viewed on a monitor is a waste of time IMHO. when you can use Google Earth to get the same product in seconds.



Even if you made a mistake and got this picture ( and it was not intentional I set the height wrong) you still don't get something that is of great use

 

[DJI Ferrari]

I am really really good with Photoshop, chrome key (Green screen) and am really good at video editing, but I have already re-called him and told him I can't do it, mainly because I just want to make sure I have proper Mavic skill but mapping land wouldn't be that hard for me, because I do have more than 6000 hours exp with dji flying and go4 app, but I am new to mavic and want to make sure of my skill with it before I do anything this serious. I think maybe I let my excitement override my sense of responsibility. And my first responsibility should be attaining skill with this new line of drone.

 

[PixelRanchSteve]

Hey, Ferrari -

For mapping, I honestly would recommend signing up with Drone Deploy for a month. They have an amazing mapping tool, do all the stitching for you, and can even supply you with elevation maps, NDVI to determine vegetation health, etc... I just use ‘em when I have a paying gig for mapping and they’re top notch.

Just a thought for future reference. Look ‘em up at DroneDeploy.com.

Steve

 

[DJI Ferrari]

Hey, Ferrari -

For mapping, I honestly would recommend signing up with Drone Deploy for a month. They have an amazing mapping tool, do all the stitching for you, and can even supply you with elevation maps, NDVI to determine vegetation health, etc... I just use ‘em when I have a paying gig for mapping and they’re top notch.

Just a thought for future reference. Look ‘em up at DroneDeploy.com.

Steve

I thank you very much for your advice and when I am ready I will look them up, but from what I learned by the comments here, I sadly, don't think I am ready for commercial piloting yet as there is just far too much I don't understand as far as the process and qualifications to do so. I mean I probably have the flight skill, but the complex knowledge of actual mapping procedures and stuff I am just too new to the job of mapping and commercial piloting so for a while, I think I will just stick to privet piloting, but again, thank you so much and merry Christmas.

 

[PropSpin]

...
I never said this wasn't officially commercial work, I just said I don't consider it that as he is not associated with any commercial business, this is his personal land he purchased with his personal money that he wants to build rent houses on and by rent houses I mean trailers, but honestly I think its crazy to turn a swamp into usable land, I'm sure its possible but idk, he has the money but anyway.
...

You're kinda saying two different things. Technically, if you're making money with your drone, that's commercial work. There's nothing that can change that. If you're doing work for free for a friend's business, that's commercial work because it's done "in furtherance of a business". If you want to say "I don't care about the rules/laws, etc., I'm gonna do it anyway, 'cause it's just between me and a friend, and I'm gonna get my 107 afterwards anyways", then fine. But don't try and make out what you were proposing to do something it's not.

I understand you called it off, but I figured you were still looking at it wrong, so there ya go, for the future. Sounds like it would be a good idea to just go out and practice getting the images you would for a job and producing something with it, and get you 107 cert along the way.

 

[DJI Ferrari]

You're kinda saying two different things. Technically, if you're making money with your drone, that's commercial work. There's nothing that can change that. If you're doing work for free for a friend's business, that's commercial work because it's done "in furtherance of a business". If you want to say "I don't care about the rules/laws, etc., I'm gonna do it anyway, 'cause it's just between me and a friend, and I'm gonna get my 107 afterwards anyways", then fine. But don't try and make out what you were proposing to do something it's not.

I understand you called it off, but I figured you were still looking at it wrong, so there ya go, for the future. Sounds like it would be a good idea to just go out and practice getting the images you would for a job and producing something with it, and get you 107 cert along the way.

no i do care about the rules and laws because i want to be responsible and is why i already told him i wont do it, plus after all the comments here about the job and its difficulty from people that said they work in the field, i just think i need more time to acquire exp with this drone and further information in this drone job thing. Above all i want to be responsible and if this is a commercial job then i need a commercial license which i don't have which evidently makes me doing this illegal and i don't want to be the ahole pilot who disregards laws and rules because that isn't responsible and would make me no better than those pilots that spy on people and fly in the clouds.

I am truly sorry for my lack of explaining skills i know what you mean and I should have been more clear. But you and many others are right, There are rules and regs and i let my excitement get the best of me and for that i apologize. Thank you and many others for sharing your thoughts and opening my eyes more clearly to this subject. I only hope I didn't waste too much of your or anyone else time with all the replies. Thank you all again and merry Christmas too all of you., your replies have helped me a lot actually. : )

 

[choo choo]

Having read most of the posts, I’m not sure whether the OP is a certifiable ‘nut job’ or certified genius. I can’t figure out whether this is a total troll wind up, it’s got more twists, turns and back tracking than than the ‘big bopper’ on speed.
If he’s genuine, I wish him every good wish for the future, let’s face it, even Einstein failed his exams and became a patent clerk.

 

[FLPilotshark]

So an old family friend just called me about my Mavic, and asked me to do some flying for him and he will pay me $500 if he is satisfied.
He just purchased a huge piece of land so I am guessing that is big considering how much he is willing to pay. Anyway, he wants to clear it out and put rent houses on it but as of now, its just a swamp of trees and swamp. I guess he wants me to fly over it and see what the terrain is like and I guess what kind of equipment he will need, he said **** tell me when more when I get the Mavic tomorrow. I can't wait.

Just got my 1st Mavic battery in too, and just for the mess of it here is a photo of the stuff for my spark I had.View attachment 55135

@DJI Ferrari - Congrats first on passing your exam and Congrats on your first job mate with your UAV.
How well did you do on your part 107 exam since I am about to take mine? I also have some jobs waiting for me to become Airmen Pilot! I actually scored a massive job with one of the biggest car companies in the world and they want me to do a bunch of Aerial shots from Above for one of there FL properties since they may want to use it for one of there commercials. I have been studying my butt off- if you don't mind me asking what was your score on the Part 107 exam. All the best and safe flying!

 

[choo choo]

@DJI Ferrari - Congrats first on passing your exam and Congrats on your first job mate with your UAV.
How well did you do on your part 107 exam since I am about to take mine? I also have some jobs waiting for me to become Airmen Pilot! I actually scored a massive job with one of the biggest car companies in the world and they want me to do a bunch of Aerial shots from Above for one of there FL properties since they may want to use it for one of there commercials. I have been studying my butt off- if you don't mind me asking what was your score on the Part 107 exam. All the best and safe flying!

I think you will find he hasn’t got 107!! Only registered it with FAA and is tootling off to Walmart or some such place to have a sticker printed.

 

[dannybgoode]

I think you will find he hasn’t got 107!! Only registered it with FAA and is tootling off to Walmart or some such place to have a sticker printed.

I think the post was made with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

 

[Davedavedave17]

I’m guessing this is a joke?

 

[Rich55]

I predict we get a message last week asking "why did my drone crash". Seems like a fairly ambitious project for a new pilot literally taking the drone out of the box and flying a mission like this.

I get the feeling this guy is punking this group. Anyone with a decent drone knows everything you guys are trying to explain to him.