Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Yeah, apparently it's a reply by email by someone at the CAA regarding what is 'work'

I think it will get pulled also, sounds like duff info... otherwise they are saying contracting for aerial work no, PAYE even if contributing to making money, sure go ahead
 
Flukester said:
This is meant to be direct from CAA -


The same applies to estate agents and farmers. As they are not getting an income from the actual flight of their UAS, then they do not need a Permission, even though the flight contributes to their commercial activity.
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Really, if that's correct, the same could be said of a videographer (or whatever the correct term is). If they were asked to produce a video for a company and just so happened that they chose to use a UAV/UAS for part of the filming, but were not specifically being paid to film with the UAV/UAS.
 
I see what they are trying to say. If you pay someone to make a flight thats 'work', but if you make money from the flight later by association (YouTube adverts) thats not.

The grey area is is a business 'does it themself' which I agree is wrong. That wording suggests that if I paid Russ to produce a film for me to use for my business I need a license, but if I ask someone who works for me to make the exact same video, then I don't.
 
^^ Quite. Whoever emailed that has been slapped already I'm sure.

On a completely separate note but whilst I'm typing, we've been asked to exhibit at Creative England's expo in London this month which is quite cool. It's an evening invite-only affair with 300 odd producers, financiers and film makers plus and a couple of culture MPs too (Sajid Javid and Ed Vazey), along with other professional exhibitors, so should be quite cool!

We're displaying the S1000 (ceiling height is so low it would barely classify as flying) but we're also taking a handful of X4s to fly and for visitors to have a go at.

It's such a massive leap to get from commercial work to broadcast and film work because there isn't really a middle ground but finger's crossed.
 
Nice one Russ - good exposure for the business and yourselves generally! I like to go to something like that just out of interest if nothing else - very interesting event to attend.

That CAA email does indeed seem very odd - will be interesting to see what if anything happens if it's gained any traction on twitter etc among UAV/UAS users!

A friend and I are looking to start something up ourselves now - still very early stages but we have contacts who we could get work through once licensed etc so here's hoping!

Would I be right in thinking (Russ?) that for the BNUC-s (and others I presume) you need to take the flight test etc using the craft you'll subsequently be using for business purposes - ergo did you use your S1000 for the qualification?
 
TheOtherOption said:
Would I be right in thinking (Russ?) that for the BNUC-s (and others I presume) you need to take the flight test etc using the craft you'll subsequently be using for business purposes - ergo did you use your S1000 for the qualification?
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Yes, your Operations Manual, which is the document you submit to the CAA as part of the permissions process, has to list any and all SUAs you'll operate. That's specific, so they need the drone's serial number (ie if we broke our S1000 and bought another then we'd need to update and resubmit our OM). Equally if we add a new SUA then we would need to resubmit it to the CAA for approval.

And then yes, you need to take a flight test for each SUA you'll be using, but this isn't serial specific, so you would only need to do one flight exam with one S1000 even if you had 10 of them. But if we wanted to then start using a Phantom commercially we would need to take a separate flight exam for that. I think you can be assessed on up to 3 different models per flight exam.

It's one of the reasons we leapt to the S1000 because we didn't want to go through the whole process with a smaller craft only then to have to redo it all again (with the associated costs) when an upgrade was needed.
 
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So to get a licence you need to do part 1 and 2 of the BNUC-S course? No need to do the Assurance of Airworthiness unless it's over 20KG?

My brother keeps nagging me to get it so I can do some work for his clients and I'm starting to really consider it.
 
Now ordered
1x #387000003/45167 MultiWii PRO Flight Controller w/MTK GPS Module ( UK Warehouse)
4x #NTM2826S-1000/45164 NTM Prop Drive 28-26 1000KV / 235W (short shaft version) (UK Warehouse)
4x #NTM28-ACC/28454 NTM Prop Drive 28 Series Accessory Pack (UK Warehouse)

Should get me started,
Need esc's, props, F450 frame, lipos and charger.
Getting there slowly.
 
spookywillow said:
So to get a licence you need to do part 1 and 2 of the BNUC-S course? No need to do the Assurance of Airworthiness unless it's over 20KG?

My brother keeps nagging me to get it so I can do some work for his clients and I'm starting to really consider it.
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Correct.

What are your brother's clients out of interest, in terms of industry?
 
First proper flight at the weekend - nothing to exciting in terms of video but you get the idea. Go pro is just strapped to the frame for now -might think about a gimbal in the future.

Video might take a bit to show as it's still processing.

Some wobbly flying at times due to a bit of wind.

 
Ash2097 said:
Thinking about selling my Predator V2 for some Dominator V2.

Anyone tried both sets of goggles? Are they that much better?
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This is not to answer your question but i have the Fatshark Attitude V2 at the moment great bits of kit but wanting the DominatorHD set badly no where in stock at the moment tho :(
 
spookywillow said:
Poaching my potential clients :p Builders, Public events, Industrial companies to name a few.

I have seen a company called UAS resource group that do what appears to be the same thing, Heard of them?
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Ha, we've got a long enough list of potentials without needing to add any more... yet :p.

Not heard of them no.
 
Potentials, not clients! It's actually a very difficult market. There's lots of companies entering it, even more non-permitted amateurs and hobbyists, and a lot of general confusion from the public and potential clients about the legalities and cost/value.

Most of our aerial clients were already existing clients, and the majority of projects also involve ground filming or photography which is our main business.

There's certainly no money to be made in a lot of industries, estate agency for example. Average Joe from the local flying club might be happy making a few hundred quid at the weekend (or working from home with low overheads doing a couple of flights a week) but it's certainly not something that would be worth our while.
 
Thats what I meant :)

I won't be doing a great deal I wouldn't of thought, Enough to cover the costs of the licence and insurance and I will be happy. I said I'm going to do something this year and it's either this or a HGV licence and I prefer these to trucks :D
 
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