Drones

William Kling

William Kling

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Messages
6
Location
Savannah , Georgia
Display Name
Display name:
WKling808
So my school posted on their website that the Drone Pilot Ground School is offering a scholarship just to high school students to get them ready for the test required to get a Remote Pilot Certificate. The scholarship provides free, unlimited access to Drone Pilot Ground School’s remote test prep course to help drone pilots pass the FAA’s Part 107 exam (the course usually costs $299). And they're also offering, for the first 100 students, to pay for the testing fee, which would be around $150. I'm working towards getting my PPL and think that this would be a cool thing to get along the way.

I want to hear what y'all's opinion on Drones and if this is worth the trouble to get the actual Certificate.

I've attached the link to my school's website that explains the scholarship in more detail below.

https://www.effinghamschools.com/si...7&GroupByField=&GroupYear=0&GroupMonth=0&Tag=
 
Fur sure, especially for existing pilots where it's quite easy.

Got mine as well as a drone, it's a tool and depending on your location and rig and skill, not super hard to find a couple little side jobs for them.

There have also been full time drone jobs posted before, the drone industry ain't going to be getting any smaller ya know
 
I'm planning to have several thousand drones in the spring, along with a couple of queens and a whole mess of workers.
 
For what it's worth, I'm a full time drone pilot now (mostly hail/wind damage insurance claims) if you've got any specific questions. I have a PPL with about 100 hours of flight time and a BS in Aeronautics from ERAU.
 
overdrive148 said:
For what it's worth, I'm a full time drone pilot now (mostly hail/wind damage insurance claims) if you've got any specific questions. I have a PPL with about 100 hours of flight time and a BS in Aeronautics from ERAU.
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So, there's real money to be made? I'm thinking about a new career.
 
N659HB said:
So, there's real money to be made? I'm thinking about a new career.
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I am making just a bit more than I was as a line service tech, but my boss has said that you can make 1k/day with a Phantom 4. I haven't seen how yet. I can PM the pay details if you'd like!
 
Knew a guy in the Army who got out and started at 140K with a drone outfit in Houston. He was like a manager of a drone team. There's money to be made.
 
overdrive148 said:
I am making just a bit more than I was as a line service tech, but my boss has said that you can make 1k/day with a Phantom 4. I haven't seen how yet. I can PM the pay details if you'd like!
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Interesting idea, but I doubt I could make money at it out here in the Middle of Nowhere. It's food for thought, though.

Rich
 
William Kling said:
So my school posted on their website that the Drone Pilot Ground School is offering a scholarship just to high school students to get them ready for the test required to get a Remote Pilot Certificate. The scholarship provides free, unlimited access to Drone Pilot Ground School’s remote test prep course to help drone pilots pass the FAA’s Part 107 exam (the course usually costs $299). And they're also offering, for the first 100 students, to pay for the testing fee, which would be around $150. I'm working towards getting my PPL and think that this would be a cool thing to get along the way.
Click to expand...

Hey! I'm the CEO / lead instructor over at Drone Pilot Ground School, and just wanted to hop in and confirm that what you wrote is all correct. Would love to see you or any other students apply for our scholarship. This is my first post in this forum, so not allowed to add any links yet, but we just published an interview with one of our students over on our blog who charges up to $250 / hr for some of his drone missions. But for many of our students, it's not just about the money. It's about the lifestyle / getting outside / getting to be on the cutting edge of new technology.
 
alanp said:
Hey! I'm the CEO / lead instructor over at Drone Pilot Ground School, and just wanted to hop in and confirm that what you wrote is all correct. Would love to see you or any other students apply for our scholarship. This is my first post in this forum, so not allowed to add any links yet, but we just published an interview with one of our students over on our blog who charges up to $250 / hr for some of his drone missions. But for many of our students, it's not just about the money. It's about the lifestyle / getting outside / getting to be on the cutting edge of new technology.
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That's great, I'm currently filling out the application for the scholarship. I am more interested in the knowledge than the money but some extra cash never hurt anyone :)
 
RJM62 said:
Interesting idea, but I doubt I could make money at it out here in the Middle of Nowhere. It's food for thought, though.

Rich
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I also live in a relatively remote location, about a half hour from any thing, so I don't know about making a whole lot of money from it.
 
William Kling said:
I also live in a relatively remote location, about a half hour from any thing, so I don't know about making a whole lot of money from it.
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I've been letting the voices in my head discuss it, and one possibility they came up with was offering it as a service to real estate agents as kind of a virtual tour of an entire property. The problem with that idea is that real estate agents tend to be both cheap and slow to pay their bills. There's also not a lot of property turnover in and around Sparrow Fart.

On the other hand, a lot of what turnover there is tends to be out-of-town people who buy land locally to retire or as summer homes or hunting and fishing properties. Having an online aerial tour available could be a selling tool for those who aren't sure whether they feel like making a trip to look at the property.

Amusement parks and sleep-away summer camps might also be good prospects for aerial tours. But there are only so many of them around anymore. More amusement parks have closed than opened around here in the last decade or so. Most of them are also less impressive from the air than they are on the ground. They're laid out in ways that make them seem bigger than they actually are.

Documenting crop damage for insurance claims would also be a possibility, but what do you do between disasters?

Other than the drone itself, it doesn't seem like a business that requires any serious money to get going. But there still has to be enough work to bring about cap cost recovery and start to make a profit within a reasonable time. I also suspect that drones (especially the video equipment) tend to obsolesce rather quickly, and accidents do happen; so it's not necessarily a one-time investment in a drone.

It's still an intriguing idea, though. I've worked harder jobs.

Rich
 
Drones2.jpg
 
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