Hello from the Finger Lakes

[StackFLX]

@LoudThunder @BetterBizWorks @Dave716 Couldn't agree more on making a purchase -- I've pulled the trigger on an Air 2s Fly More which is arriving tomorrow.

@LoudThunder Digital cinematography was my major at UC forever ago, and even though my career has segued over time I'm hoping my current production rigs are well-suited for 4k / 5.4k editing. My fastest rig currently is running a 2080 Ti w/ 32GB DDR4. I also have a hackintosh that I've recently built -- I certainly used to prefer MacOS over Win10 for video work, but maybe it's less of an issue nowadays, DaVinci Resolve didn't exist back then and I was mostly working in Premiere & AE. But it's running a Radeon 5700XT which is a bit of a downgrade from the 2080 Ti, hopefully still fine though, we'll see.

I do not yet have my Part 107 license yet, I will in due time, but I did charge this to my business account, so I'm wondering -- do I technically need a Part 107 in order to legally use this drone to acquire collateral for my own business's website? That is, shooting collateral that I will not be selling to anyone else. Shooting an on-brand background video for my own site's landing page is the simplest thing I can think of to legitimize a tax write-off.

 

[LoudThunder]

I do not yet have my Part 107 license yet, I will in due time, but I did charge this to my business account, so I'm wondering -- do I technically need a Part 107 in order to legally use this drone to acquire collateral for my own business's website?

I am no lawyer, but before I acquired my Part 107, I was still undecided if I really needed one. I watched a video on YouTube of a young married couple who were still enjoying a semi-nomadic life and posting their travel videos on YouTube and one of them was their experience with being tracked down by the FAA and informing them (in a friendly way…) that they needed a part 107 license because they were posting their videos on YouTube and they had enough followers that their channel was monetized, meaning they were receiving money from YouTube, therefore the videos no longer qualified as products of Recreational Flying… They then went on to tell about getting their license through Pilot Institute…

So, I would say, if the photos or videos are associated whatsoever with a commercial enterprise, you need your 107… You may not be selling those videos, but they would be used as an advertisement to your business and if you wanted me to take those same photos and videos for you I would be required to have my 107, even if I did it for free because we are friends/relatives/associates/old college buddies/etc… the FAA considers the good will I would receive from you for doing this as a form of recompense and that is where the rub lies…

By the way, I did get my Part 107, I took the Pilot Institute's 107 course and I'm bragging now, I aced the exam… But, truth is I got the license solely so I could fly where Recreational Flyers may not fly… Like my own yard… I live in a Zero Altitude Quadrant of an Air Force Base Class D Airspace. And as a Recreational Pilot, I could not get an authorization to fly in my own yard. But now, with my 107, I have the FAA Authorization to fly here…

Whether you acquire your license by self-study or through a commercial course and whether you ace the course or pass with the minimum 70%, our licenses are all the same color and mine does not have a Gold Embroidery around it… LoL…

But, let's be honest and realistic, if you "cheat" and put up those photos and videos on your web site before you get your 107, who would know… The FAA is not patrolling the Internet looking for rogue droners…

Good Luck!

 

[RkyMtnHigh]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I live in upstate NY and I've been flying about 10 years, I started with a cheap Syma drone then built an F450 with the TBS dead cat frame with a modified GoPro 4. I used to live in San Diego so was lucky enough to be able to walk into Peau Productions offices and have work done on my cameras on the spot. I built a couple more frankenstein builds from stuff on HobbyKing (they used to have tons of kits and parts), bigger builds with Tarot gimbals.

After that I got into FPV for a bit and built a few Armattan and ImpulseRC quads. Analog FatShark stuff was still the bee's knees at the time but I've been out of the loop for years and don't really know what's the latest in that now.

Nowadays I'm just looking to get into easy flying with better video than what I was working with back then. I've been patiently lurking the classifieds here and other places in search of either an Air 2s or preferably a good deal on a used original Mavic 3 (1x and 7x). I've had that typical paralysis where I've been waiting for the next-gen models to come out before buying, but I really just need to get something now and get back up in the sky. Thanks for reading.

Welcome to the forum the Colorado Rocky Mountains! Happy and safe flying!