Do I need PFCO for this?

[Randall8686]

So I have been asked to do (as well as offering)

A) some video for a friends wedding checked airspace it’s clear. I won’t charge him for doing the wedding video but do I need PFCO for this?

B) my company would like some pics of our building. Again I won’t charge them just take off in office car park and take pics/video then land. This will be used on our company website but no money will change hands. I won’t be officially working at the time I take the shots?

From what I can gather if I am not getting paid and it’s recreational and I give them the footage after that’s fine?

Obviously following drone code etc

 

[Drbobk]

So I have been asked to do (as well as offering)

A) some video for a friends wedding checked airspace it’s clear. I won’t charge him for doing the wedding video but do I need PFCO for this?

B) my company would like some pics of our building. Again I won’t charge them just take off in office car park and take pics/video then land. This will be used on our company website but no money will change hands. I won’t be officially working at the time I take the shots?

From what I can gather if I am not getting paid and it’s recreational and I give them the footage after that’s fine?

Obviously following drone code etc

PFCO?

 

[Randall8686]

PFCO?

Permission for Commercial operation (drone licence)

 

[Drbobk]

Is that the U.K. equivalent of a Part 107 license in the US?

 

[The Editor]

So I have been asked to do (as well as offering)

A) some video for a friends wedding checked airspace it’s clear. I won’t charge him for doing the wedding video but do I need PFCO for this?

B) my company would like some pics of our building. Again I won’t charge them just take off in office car park and take pics/video then land. This will be used on our company website but no money will change hands. I won’t be officially working at the time I take the shots?

From what I can gather if I am not getting paid and it’s recreational and I give them the footage after that’s fine?

Obviously following drone code etc

A) Technically no - but you would need to satisfy many safety criteria and have every single persons permission at the wedding (to be legal).
There would also be insurance considerations, since a hobby/recreational policy would not cover the liability for this type of operation should anything go wrong.

B) Definitely Yes. You would be taking pictures/video for commercial reasons which will be used on a commercial/company website.

Don’t shoot the messenger - I only answered your questions.
I have held PfCO (previously PFAW) for around six years so have encountered nearly every scenario.

 

[Randall8686]

A) Technically no - but you would need to satisfy many safety criteria and have every single persons permission at the wedding (to be legal).
There would also be insurance considerations, since a hobby/recreational policy would not cover the liability for this type of operation should anything go wrong.

B) Definitely Yes. You would be taking pictures/video for commercial reasons which will be used on a commercial/company website.

Don’t shoot the messenger - I only answered your questions.
I have held PfCO (previously PFAW) for around six years so have encountered nearly every scenario.

Cheers! Not planning on shooting any messengers don’t worry ?

Yea I only have recreational insurance with the BMFA that does cover drone use world wide but does not cover any paid activities etc.

That’s a shame! Was hoping to do the work thing and thought that might be simpler than the wedding as not flying near people. I assume that I could do it to show a colleague the drone but then footage just cannot be used for commercial purposes?

I am getting extremely tempted to take my PFCO and then possibly hopefully funding my hobby if nothing else (don’t plan on making money but if I can at least fund the licence and yearly renewal along with the odd drone upgrade that would be great)

Seems the going rate is about a grand to get everything done. Not too bad tbh.

However question for you as a PFCO pilot, if I took my test (I have about 25 hours of flying towards ppl so can’t imagine I would struggle) Does this affect recreational flights? I can still just fly recreational flights without risk assessment etc?

 

[Randall8686]

Is that the U.K. equivalent of a Part 107 license in the US?

Yes mate, my fault should have said I’m UK based

 

[The Editor]

Cheers! Not planning on shooting any messengers don’t worry ?

Yea I only have recreational insurance with the BMFA that does cover drone use world wide but does not cover any paid activities etc.

That’s a shame! Was hoping to do the work thing and thought that might be simpler than the wedding as not flying near people. I assume that I could do it to show a colleague the drone but then footage just cannot be used for commercial purposes?

I am getting extremely tempted to take my PFCO and then possibly hopefully funding my hobby if nothing else (don’t plan on making money but if I can at least fund the licence and yearly renewal along with the odd drone upgrade that would be great)

Seems the going rate is about a grand to get everything done. Not too bad tbh.

However question for you as a PFCO pilot, if I took my test (I have about 25 hours of flying towards ppl so can’t imagine I would struggle) Does this affect recreational flights? I can still just fly recreational flights without risk assessment etc?

Yes, you could technically shoot the 'work' footage (assuming you get permission from the building owner etc) but they would not be able to use the video for their website/marketing etc as that would constitute commercial use.

If you have been working toward your ppl then you should have no problem with PfCO, since you will already know how to read a sectional, understand NAS separation/classes of airspace and probably can interpret METARS/TAFS etc - All of which is covered in the courses.
They also cover in depth, weather systems, mission planning, site surveys, risk assessments, Air Law and emergency procedures, is a host of other information.
There is also the practical flight test at the end of the course/exam which lasts around 20-30mins.

Once you have your PfCO you are free to fly recreational as you do now.
You do not have to undertake a site survey and risk assessment for these flights........although, once you hold PfCO you will find yourself mentally doing them quickly at every flight location anyway.

 

[Ren57]

So I have been asked to do (as well as offering)

A) some video for a friends wedding checked airspace it’s clear. I won’t charge him for doing the wedding video but do I need PFCO for this?

B) my company would like some pics of our building. Again I won’t charge them just take off in office car park and take pics/video then land. This will be used on our company website but no money will change hands. I won’t be officially working at the time I take the shots?

From what I can gather if I am not getting paid and it’s recreational and I give them the footage after that’s fine?

Obviously following drone code etc

I am also a previous PFCO holder. There's no real problem with you videoing the wedding. As long as you have the permissions that are needed. That means all the people there and permission of the land owner from where you intend to conduct your flight from (take off and landing). You would still need those permissions, even if you had a PFCO btw. As long as you stick to the drone code and it's not in a congested area, I can't see a problem. However, there is a problem if you give your company the video and they use it on their website. That could be construed as being used for a commercial purpose and even though you received no payment or valuable consideration for the footage, you could land yourself in a bit of trouble. Having said that, it's highly unlikely that anything would happen unless someone actually reported you to the CAA or the police. The biggest problem you could face, as has already been mentioned in this thread, is the fact that you would have no public liability insurance. If the worst did happen and your drone somehow went nuclear and crashed, damaging property or injuring people, then you could be knee deep in doggy-doo! But again, it's unlikely. The question you must ask yourself as a responsible person/remote pilot is, do you risk taking the chance?

 

[Randall8686]

I am also a previous PFCO holder. There's no real problem with you videoing the wedding. As long as you have the permissions that are needed. That means all the people there and permission of the land owner from where you intend to conduct your flight from (take off and landing). You would still need those permissions, even if you had a PFCO btw. As long as you stick to the drone code and it's not in a congested area, I can't see a problem. However, there is a problem if you give your company the video and they use it on their website. That could be construed as being used for a commercial purpose and even though you received no payment or valuable consideration for the footage, you could land yourself in a bit of trouble. Having said that, it's highly unlikely that anything would happen unless someone actually reported you to the CAA or the police. The biggest problem you could face, as has already been mentioned in this thread, is the fact that you would have no public liability insurance. If the worst did happen and your drone somehow went nuclear and crashed, damaging property or injuring people, then you could be knee deep in doggy-doo! But again, it's unlikely. The question you must ask yourself as a responsible person/remote pilot is, do you risk taking the chance?

Thanks for the feedback, I have just spoken to a PFCO company £395+vat does not seem too bad to me for online course and then 2 hour attendance for both exams. They supply a draft manual etc too. + of course the CAA fee’s

I see this as an opportunity to do a little paid work too should it arise and protect myself legally and also should the government start banning recreational drone users hopefully they won’t ban their own approves pilots?

 

[Ren57]

Thanks for the feedback, I have just spoken to a PFCO company £395+vat does not seem too bad to me for online course and then 2 hour attendance for both exams. They supply a draft manual etc too. + of course the CAA fee’s

I see this as an opportunity to do a little paid work too should it arise and protect myself legally and also should the government start banning recreational drone users hopefully they won’t ban their own approves pilots?

That sounds pretty reasonable. Cost me £1,500 in 2015 for the whole thing and I had to travel from Manchester right over to Lincolnshire to take the flying test! Did a 3 course in Blackpool for the first part with the exam on the 3rd day. Had a great laugh on the course and met some great people, we all ended up staying at the same hotel just by chance!

 

[Randall8686]

That sounds pretty reasonable. Cost me £1,500 in 2015 for the whole thing and I had to travel from Manchester right over to Lincolnshire to take the flying test! Did a 3 course in Blackpool for the first part with the exam on the 3rd day. Had a great laugh on the course and met some great people, we all ended up staying at the same hotel just by chance!

Sounds like a laugh, I found a place that is literally 15 min walk from my house that does it (although they only do an online course with the exams in person) never knew about the company but its so local and the online part (That they claim should take 12-15 hours to complete) can be done at any speed you like and can keep going over and over until you are happy.

Is there actually any money to be made once you have PFCO? i dont want to make a living from it but if i can make back the course and fund some extra batteries and possible new drones down the road that would be great. or is work pretty impossible to find?

 

[Ren57]

Sounds like a laugh, I found a place that is literally 15 min walk from my house that does it (although they only do an online course with the exams in person) never knew about the company but its so local and the online part (That they claim should take 12-15 hours to complete) can be done at any speed you like and can keep going over and over until you are happy.

Is there actually any money to be made once you have PFCO? i dont want to make a living from it but if i can make back the course and fund some extra batteries and possible new drones down the road that would be great. or is work pretty impossible to find?

To be honest, these days, not much. Unless you can find yourself a niche. If you've already got people knocking down your door wanting video work, then go for it. The market is pretty much saturated nowadays.When I took my PFCO, the majority of other people on the course were from video production companies. To them, using a drone is just another tool they can use. I could see the writing was already on the wall back then but I went through with it because I'd already paid my money!

If you can specialise, by that I mean not using video, maybe thermal imaging or something like that. Maybe utility survey work but the video part of it, is pretty much all sewn up.