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

[HighlandsVideo]

I would be happy to volunteer for opportunities to fly if only for the drone good will that it would foster.

 

[Paul WIngfield]

I am interested in finding out if either Part 107 UAS or hobby pilots would be willing to volunteer their drone services to consumers, and perhaps small businesses. The background for this question is that, anecdotally, there seems to be a lot of drone enthusiasts that have trouble finding safe, legal places to fly, and would even volunteer their services if it gave them a great opportunity to use their drone for a useful purpose, without payment. Please reply to this post by giving feedback on whether or not you would be willing to use/fly your drone as a volunteer. Assume that all you had to do is provided raw photos or unedited video footage. Although the types of services offered would evolve, assume that a consumer simply wanted aerial photos of their home, vacation property, boat, RV, or other recreational equipment, etc. for their own personal reasons: share on social media, vanity, bragging rights, or selling their home or property. Realtors would obviously be interested in free photos, but let's exclude them from this question.

There are obviously plenty of legal and regulatory questions, but please ignore those for now. Assume your volunteer services would comply with all relevant laws and regulations.

Would you volunteer? If so, how often or how many times?

Thanks for the feedback.

Dave

I already DO volunteer with the Facebook group "Drone SAR for lost dogs UK". We help search for people too and do ground searches when we can't fly. However, in the UK we are seriously hampered by the ridiculous 150m safe zone that we have to abide by in urban environments. This means that even a Mavic Mini with its propeller cage on, can't fly over streets and gardens and that is usually where the dogs often are.

I have also helped neighbours by asking them all if they would like their gutters scanned by my drone free of charge. I did this because it was the only way I could legitimately check my own (I told them I couldn't take any reward for the work because of our drone laws but one neighbour baked me the most amazing lemon drizzle cake ?).

 

[bobfa100]

I would volunteer to assist Law Enforcement and for Search & Rescue. I would do it as needed if available.

I’d be interested to support local first responders, but not those trying to cheap out (realtors first come to mind)