Part 107 question

Mike Smith

Mike Smith

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im lazy tonight or I would look it up, but am I understanding this correct. To get my 107 certification all I have to do/have is; a part 61 certificate, a current FR and take the online course?
 
Mike Smith said:
im lazy tonight or I would look it up, but am I understanding this correct. To get my 107 certification all I have to do/have is; a part 61 certificate, a current FR and take the online course?
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Pretty much. I just need to get my application signed off. The whole process took me about an hour, and that included figuring out the process. :)
 
I just did Course Number ALC-515 and got my little certificate.

That's really all there is to it?

@overdrive148 -- I may be calling you for a job

Edit: Wouldn't you know it, I took the wrong test. But now I've done ALC-451 too.
 
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My son works for a geotechnical engineering firm and told me that he thought I could make a few extra dollars doing drone photography for firms like his. I know there are tons of folks doing that now, but it is “relatively” inexpensive to get into it. I wonder what the used market for those things is like?
 
Current regulations only require that you take the knowledge test. If you're already a certificated pilot, then a CFI can sign you off once you've passed the test and you get your new card. A FR keeps it current. Otherwise, you have to take the test at a facility every two years.

No practical experience necessary.

If you want to get in the business, cheap drones are cheap. Payloads/sensors are where things get expensive... well, that and adhering to the requirements of whatever client you manage to snag. Lots of competition for low-hanging fruit. Higher-risk = higher pay, but the equipment/training/compliance costs get astronomical pretty quickly.
 
FlyingIsGood said:
Current regulations only require that you take the knowledge test. If you're already a certificated pilot, then a CFI can sign you off once you've passed the test and you get your new card. A FR keeps it current. Otherwise, you have to take the test at a facility every two years.

No practical experience necessary.

If you want to get in the business, cheap drones are cheap. Payloads/sensors are where things get expensive... well, that and adhering to the requirements of whatever client you manage to snag. Lots of competition for low-hanging fruit. Higher-risk = higher pay, but the equipment/training/compliance costs get astronomical pretty quickly.
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I don’t know anything about this, I am just looking for something part time to offset some flying costs. If you don’t mind, could you expand on the last part? Obviously, I will have to become “unlazy” and dig in to this if I get serious.
 
Mike Smith said:
I don’t know anything about this, I am just looking for something part time to offset some flying costs. If you don’t mind, could you expand on the last part? Obviously, I will have to become “unlazy” and dig in to this if I get serious.
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What he means is drone platforms themselves are relatively cheap, the cameras and sensors are crazy expensive (we rent our thermal cameras). Low hanging fruit is the entry level stuff, real estate photography, some lower quality orthographic or panographics, etc.

When you get into the bigger stuff you need a much more expensive drone and payload, plus all the requirements of the company you contract with (batteries are blessed once yearly by a Tibetan monk, aircraft is only handled or flown with the fanciest lace gloves, etc).

My company mostly does home/roof inspections for insurance companies after hail happens. It isn't really difficult to do nor time consuming so the pay is a bit lower but depending on where you live you can make it up with volume. I have also done a few cell tower inspections and those are more risky (high altitude, chance of losing signal near the top, harder to see, etc). Those pay more than the home inspections. Movie or commercial filming makes a lot of money too but the drone and camera are jawdroppingly expensive. I interviewed for a job a few years ago for a company doing drone inspections of oil rigs in the Gulf and their starting pay was 90k a year! That was when the US first started allowing pilots to fly drones.

Generally a Phantom 4 is a good place to start (I use the Pro, about $1500 with equipment). My boss says there's a way to make $1000 a day with a Phantom 4 in construction. I haven't seen it personally but that would be a hell of a job.
 
You don't have to have a drone, because many companies do have drones (real estate sellers, for instance) don't have an employee with a PPL to take the test. So to be legal they hire a 107.

To serve in that capacity you don't have to fly the drone either. A non pilot can fly it provided you are present.
 
Mike Smith said:
How would one go about finding these opportunities?
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I would search "Part 107" including the quotation marks on Indeed or some other job sites, but some of the more local real estate ones probably aren't listed as often. You could get a drone and go visit different agents to see if they want to use you. I work for a drone company in TX which does inspection work across the US but it's mostly in storm areas during storm season.
 
Thing is, I would absolutely be a mercenary. I don’t see myself ever doing it for fun. I would have to have a good idea that I could make money with it before I spend a couple AMU’s.
 
Mike Smith said:
Thing is, I would absolutely be a mercenary. I don’t see myself ever doing it for fun. I would have to have a good idea that I could make money with it before I spend a couple AMU’s.
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So chat up a couple of real estate offices, maybe talk to the radio station about checking their antennas. The worst they can do is say No . . . . The best would be finding out that they have a drone guy and just need a Real Pilot to go out with him.
 
What I am finding is there are a couple of outfits who are doing this without the cert. and one company who is certified and has a lot of experience and equipment. I just don’t know if there is enough meat on this bone. I’m gonna keep talking and see what the prospects are.
 
Mike Smith said:
What I am finding is there are a couple of outfits who are doing this without the cert. and one company who is certified and has a lot of experience and equipment. I just don’t know if there is enough meat on this bone. I’m gonna keep talking and see what the prospects are.
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A handful of our contract pilots have multiple contracts with other companies to fill out their schedule since our work is hit and miss. Some are retired and just want something to do. I was lucky enough to be hired on internally as a test case being paid full time and hourly to boot. The problem was that I did so well that I got promoted so I could handle quality control and tell the network pilots what they're doing wrong. I still fly a day I choose each week and get to work from home which is nice.

The problem with smaller companies like mine is that when work isn't 100% guaranteed in one place, it's cheaper for us to have contract pilots spread out who are paid per job instead of having them on retainer. The part that sucks is that none of them have a guarantee they'll get jobs because we only get what's handed to us.

There are some fire departments and police stations in DFW that are using drones that I'm sure is going to become widespread. And there was a job posting for an intern at BNSF for a drone pilot that paid extremely well (at least to me). The bigger full time opportunities are out there, I think you might have to have some resume experience doing it first to be able to reach those.
 
@Mike Smith

@overdrive148 Answered a lot of it the same way I would have. There are over 100,000 Part 107 pilots in the US according to an email I got from the FAA last week. There's a ton of competition, and the $ is on a downward trajectory.

I've been in the industry since the beginning, and it requires a rapid pace and a lot of flexibility to keep up. Don't be discouraged though... if you can score a contract to get some work done, then go for it. It may not overflow your bank account, but it could add some side cash if you stay up to date with the tech.
 
Anybody taken their first 107 re-current yet? Went on the site last night, and it says it takes 2 hours to take the course. That's as much time is as suggested for a biennial flight review!

Jim
 
As far as I understand it if you are a Part 61 with current BFR you only need to take the online course which is about 15 minutes. Not sure yet how you provide current flight review verification. Initially I had to have my CFI submit some paperwork. I don’t see why you couldn’t just submit a scan of your logbook, that’s all you use to fly your real airplane.
 
I got mine basically because I could. Haven't used it and I am not sure if I will but I figured what they hay.
 
Me too, I figure if there was easy money in it there’d be a million people doing it. I think it’s a lot tougher to make money on commercial drone operations than most people think. I was disappointed that they sent me a separate card rather than just an additional rating on the one I already have.
 
Cykoguy said:
I got mine basically because I could. Haven't used it and I am not sure if I will but I figured what they hay.
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I did the same. The weather was bad and I was inside for a while, so I tackled it.
 
Silvaire said:
As far as I understand it if you are a Part 61 with current BFR you only need to take the online course which is about 15 minutes. Not sure yet how you provide current flight review verification. Initially I had to have my CFI submit some paperwork. I don’t see why you couldn’t just submit a scan of your logbook, that’s all you use to fly your real airplane.
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My post may have been confusing...let me clarify. As I understand it, the 107 re-current for current full-size is just the on-line test...Silvaire is correct. The preamble for the test says it takes about two hours to complete, though.

There's no flight review I'm aware of for part 107 (and don't give 'em any ideas). I was comparing that (the onl-line course) to 2 hours for a BFR for full-sized operations. Sorry I was un-clear.

Jim
 
My company was recently awarded work to support thousands of cell towers across the US. I'll be the first to go learn how to do it and create the shot list/documentation/etc. Not sure exactly which states yet but it's a pretty big contract.

Anyone interested? I am guessing probably 20MP camera or better and a 107/insurance required.
 
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Mike Smith said:
im lazy tonight or I would look it up, but am I understanding this correct. To get my 107 certification all I have to do/have is; a part 61 certificate, a current FR and take the online course?
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Yes, the hard part is you still need to fill out a 8710 and have a CFI sign off your application, but then you are certified and can print your temporary certificate.
 
overdrive148 said:
My company was recently awarded work to support thousands of cell towers across the US. I'll be the first to go learn how to do it and create the shot list/documentation/etc. Not sure exactly which states yet but it's a pretty big contract.

Anyone interested? I am guessing probably 20MP camera or better and a 107/insurance required.
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Part-time OK? My partner (former Dart instructor, fellow PPL/IR) and I have done a few contracts recently.

Scott
 
scottfromboston said:
Part-time OK? My partner (former Dart instructor, fellow PPL/IR) and I have done a few contracts recently.

Scott
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Details are still being hammered out (coverage areas, pay, etc) but from what I understand each pilot covers an area and fly your towers in batches by a certain date. So it could maybe work part time but not 100% sure yet.
 
Mike Smith said:
Thing is, I would absolutely be a mercenary. I don’t see myself ever doing it for fun. I would have to have a good idea that I could make money with it before I spend a couple AMU’s.
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I'm with you on that. Someone gave me a drone, and I've flown it all of once. I may get the 107 certificate "just because", but there's essentially zero chance I'd use it (or a bigger, better, drone) professionally unless someone offered me an ongoing gig with a signed contract.
 
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