Volunteer Drone Services--Are there enough pilots out there?

[sar104]

If pilots want to volunteer their services then that's fine, whether it's for charities, search and rescue, other good causes, or free work for commercial entities (even if that seems strange). The only thing to keep in mind is that, as pointed out above, all those activities require Part 107 certification.

 

[AMann]

Would the consumers and small businesses volunteer their “home, vacation property, boat, RV, or other recreational equipment, etc.” for my use?

Not personal, I just mad faced the comment because lots of us do volunteer our professional time to give back to our community, including the use of tangible property. The post just seemed a bit... selfish and seemed to say “no, not interested “, but perhaps I’m just a bit sensitive after dealing with selfish parents that want to know only what their kid will get and why not other stuff this week at school. Sorry if it seemed personal.

 

[AnzacJack]

You should also consider the operators that have invested heavily to establish a business in this sector. Your plan is to put them all out of work so you can get more flight time in?
I think most industries would be very adverse to people coming in and cutting them out of their livelihood,
This comes up regularly with pilots wanting to get their hours up and offering cost price or less on travel. Extremely frowned upon and not encouraged anywhere

 

[AMann]

I would also volunteer my services for search and rescue. I work in law enforcement and use drones for work and wouldn't hesitate to volunteer for those purposes. I do however think that photos and videos of homes/properties/etc should be left to those that get compensated. That type of work is an art, and I think people should get compensated for their art work.

Or doing it for science/social philanthropy? E.g., I’ve made free maps for a university archaeological research project, and also helped them search for rock art and sites in inaccessible areas with my drone.

My family is also volunteering our time over Labor Day weekend to help with a archaeological study for the National Park Service. This includes our professional experience, as my wife is a professional archaeologist and I’ve worked as a archaeological field technician, and the use of our photography and pole and drone aerial photography (with my own equipment).

 

[dsmith76]

If pilots want to volunteer their services then that's fine, whether it's for charities, search and rescue, other good causes, or free work for commercial entities (even if that seems strange). The only thing to keep in mind is that, as pointed out above, all those activities require Part 107 certification.

Well stated. Thanks for that concise summary.

 

[Ralph thompson]

One of the downsides to our great drone technology, it makes it cheap and easy to get a potentially dangerous machine flying around the sky. This unfortunately masks the complexity of operating a drone safely, a whole different discussion. Having an inexperienced volunteer flying a drone around a rescue operation, fire, flood etc. Can be a serious hazard, not just to those brave professional soles performing the rescue but also the victims. A drone over 250grams is not a toy.

 

[spamgnome]

Yes, I'd be interested in this type of flying, and I'm Part 107. Droning just for the sake of droning becomes a tad boring at times, so having a mission with a purpose is appealing. I used to do Angel Flights when I had a bit more time. This involve transporting patients to a hospital, typically for cancer treatments, in my aircraft. These patients often didn't have the financial means to arrange for paid transport, or were otherwise unable to avail themselves of "standard" transportation.
Legally, I can do this type of flying without having a commercial license, so I'm scratching my head a bit on why flying a drone for purely volunteer reasons would require a Part 107. If it's quid pro quo (Clarice) then I get it, but if it's just out of the goodness of my heart, then I wonder.
If anyone knows of sites where I can sign up to "get on the list," I'd happily do that!

 

[Milo187]

I would consider it under certain circumstances/conditions as long as they could guaranty it wouldn’t be used for profit. The biggest show stopper for me would be insurance. They would need to cover my equipment and liability in full.

 

[kensteele]

i thought part 107 is in furtherance of a business?

 

[Meta4]

i thought part 107 is in furtherance of a business?

It can be, but not necessarily.
In simple terms it's flying for someone else rather than just flying for your own fun.

 

[AMann]

I would consider it under certain circumstances/conditions as long as they could guaranty it wouldn’t be used for profit. The biggest show stopper for me would be insurance. They would need to cover my equipment and liability in full.

Most volunteer positions wouldn’t insure your equipment, its a donation on your part.

 

[JSKCKNIT]

I would depending on the reason. I wouldn't do free drone work unless it was something for my community. Teaching kids or getting them interested in drones and aviation I'd definitely volunteer my time for.

 

[julius13]

Would the consumers and small businesses volunteer their “home, vacation property, boat, RV, or other recreational equipment, etc.” for my use?

I can only shake my head that people want drone footage for free. I get this on a daily basis. I do construction services and guys come up to me and some even demand I GIVE THEM A PICTURE. I even hear about how much of a jerk I am for not just saying , hey, let me send you this pic. I didn't get into aerial photography to give my services away. I'm not on a jobsite to make friends, I'm here to make the obvious. With the cost of equipment, insurance, maint., etc. It's ridiculous for someone to assume it doesn't cost me anything to just give them a picture of their work. Hey whlie you have that paintbrush in your hand, can you come paint my house, for FREE.

 

[GFields]

I do volunteer work all the time doing search and rescue. However, I must agree with others that asking someone to volunteer to do a real estate shoot is asking too much.

Good luck.

 

[kensteele]

I do volunteer work all the time doing search and rescue. However, I must agree with others that asking someone to volunteer to do a real estate shoot is asking too much.

Good luck.

this is probably why hobby drone pilots are filling in this gap. not legal of course but there will be no shortage of hobby pilots who would love to do the work and not get paid for it.

 

[ClaudioSr]

Laughable

 

[bobfa100]

I’d volunteer for most legal purposes. The benefit to me would be building a demonstrable resume.

 

[TRDelaney]

Hi
I am a Part 107 pilot, a professional filmmaker and would gladly volunteer any of my talents for humanitarian, search & rescue, etc here in Northern Arizona.

 

[BigAl07]

I do volunteer work all the time doing search and rescue. However, I must agree with others that asking someone to volunteer to do a real estate shoot is asking too much.

Good luck.

I would and DO volunteer my services for my community. But that does not change the fact that most of the things noted in this "request for information" will require a valid Part 107 by the operator.

Having a Part 107 doesn't mean you CAN/WON'T volunteer but almost everything listed in the posts above still do require Part 107 if they are done legally.

i thought part 107 is in furtherance of a business?

Most definitely anything that is the furtherance of a business falls under Part 107 but that's not the ONLY thing that removes the "Protective Bubble" of Hobby/Recreational. If your flight does not fall completely within the definition of Hobby/Recreational then you have pierced the protective bubble and you're now subject to all of Part 107 (even if you don't have your Part 107..).

You can not Hobby/Recreate FOR someone else even if it's charity, humanitarian, Godly, or anything else.

 

[AMann]

I can only shake my head that people want drone footage for free. I get this on a daily basis. I do construction services and guys come up to me and some even demand I GIVE THEM A PICTURE. I even hear about how much of a jerk I am for not just saying , hey, let me send you this pic. I didn't get into aerial photography to give my services away. I'm not on a jobsite to make friends, I'm here to make the obvious. With the cost of equipment, insurance, maint., etc. It's ridiculous for someone to assume it doesn't cost me anything to just give them a picture of their work. Hey whlie you have that paintbrush in your hand, can you come paint my house, for FREE.

I got that when monitoring construction, my old boss wouldn’t like it if he knew, but now that I don’t do that type of work anymore, I can say that I’d send them a watermarked thumbnail of the pic and a link of it for them to Smugmug where they could buy it from me!