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Are 107 Holders really Pilots?

Help From Above said:
Insurance is the final determination for me. Most of the terminology I use follows along with their definitions.

Who's a real pilot? Skills aside and up in the air, I'd say you're really a pilot when your life depends on the systems. No risk of crashing/fatality means you can't really say you're a pilot without mentioning it's remote. :(

It all works pretty well with my ADHD!
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Great comment that I somehow oddly relate to
 
Certain tugboat captains are pilots too.

I think that as long as you recognize and have clear respect for the vast differentiation in the knowledge, skill and responsibility between operating manned aircraft and unmanned systems, you’ll be fine. This means stating you are a “remote pilot” as your FAA license clearly states, not a “pilot”. Stating anything other than “remote pilot” would misleading. If you want to be a “pilot”, earn that. I did.
 
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I don't think I would use software as a determining factor. That would discount a lot of full size aircraft pilots. I am pretty sure that would discount most commercial airlines pilots. And my nephew that is an F-18 and F-36 pilot inn the Navy.
 
Acuity9 said:
Certain tugboat captains are pilots too.

I think that as long as you recognize and have clear respect for the vast differentiation in the knowledge, skill and responsibility between operating manned aircraft and unmanned systems, you’ll be fine. This means stating you are a “remote pilot” as your FAA license clearly states, not a “pilot”. Stating anything other than “remote pilot” would misleading. If you want to be a “pilot”, earn that. I did.
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Exactly, I think some grab the moniker not completely understanding the term and its historical uses.
 
It sure does. Technically you could win the argument that the authoring agency says so, so it is so. I really agree with the previous poster though, that a remote pilot and a commercial airline pilot are two different things. I certainly could understand why a higher credited pilot might have a problem with sharing the title with a remote holder.

But that does not change the words on the little card.
 
Tim Jones said:
It sure does. Technically you could win the argument that the authoring agency says so, so it is so. I really agree with the previous poster though, that a remote pilot and a commercial airline pilot are two different things. I certainly could understand why a higher credited pilot might have a problem with sharing the title with a remote holder.

But that does not change the words on the little card.
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Yup two totally different worlds
 
In discussions with prospects and customers, I will never say I am a "pilot." I think it's very silly and unwise to make that a selling point. (As is posting the FAA logo on a a website, as if that's supposed to impress prospective clients).

Years ago when all my work was from airplanes I would sometimes have competition from pilots who were not really photographers. They were primarily pilots, but wanted to make extra money and purchased Pentax 6x7 cameras, and they took very ho-hum pictures. What they weren't is PHOTOGRAPHERS.

Being a "pilot" is secondary. Are you a good photographer and a good videographer? Your drone is just a platform.
 
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PS I don't want to imply that a pilot can't also be a good photographer. But usually when one is focused on that aspect, they are usually missing the point and are making it all about sending a camera in to the air, instead of about the quality of the photography.

On the other hand, some types of aerial photography don't require much in the way of artistry, such as inspections and construction progress (not that artistry would hurt, though). Filling the frame with the appropriate details and exposing it properly, etc., could be sufficient.
 
but the use of drones in a commercial sense is not just about photography or video. Some disciplines do require more stick skill than others. no?
 
Tim Jones said:
but the use of drones in a commercial sense is not just about photography or video. Some disciplines do require more stick skill than others. no?
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No disrespectfulness intended, but if I were coming to you with the idea of possibly hiring you to take aerial photos or videos of my ranch or industrial facility, I would care less about your "stick skill" or whether you aced the part 107 test. What I would want is to see is examples of amazing photos and videos you've produced.
 
Tim Jones said:
Exactly, I think some grab the moniker not completely understanding the term and its historical uses.
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The FAA doesn’t mince words. 107 license holders aren’t reading their licenses. It clearly states “Remote Pilot”. I’m laughing at the comments that refer to themselves as “Pilots, because my license says that”. No, it doesn’t. It says “Remote Pilot”.
 
aerialimagery said:
No disrespectfulness intended, but if I were coming to you with the idea of possibly hiring you to take aerial photos or videos of my ranch or industrial facility, I would care less about your "stick skill" or whether you aced the part 107 test. What I would want is to see is examples of amazing photos and videos you've produced.
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I am not talking about clients, or how we do it. You may have missed the premise of the question. Or at least your leaning towards the artsy side of the discussion.
 
I guess it comes down to this. The BACK (not the front) of your FAA license will say something very specific. Now how you "read into" that is the difference here.
The back of my 107 says "Remote pilot unmanned aircraft system". Let's break that down a bit.
Remote = means you are not actually sitting in the platform, but in a remote location
Pilot = You are actually moving sticks back and forth to make the platform do something
Unmanned = Again, you are not actually sitting in it
Aircraft = Yes it is a flying platform
System = A system is a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole. (according to Wikipedia)

I also hold a multi engine commercial instrument rating, CFI, and rotorcraft-helicopter. And no where on the back of my pilots license does it say remote or unmanned.

As someone stated earlier that as long as you realize that the difference between the two is where are you sitting when you fly your platform, you will understand what kind of pilot you are. You are either a Remote Pilot or a Pilot. They are not the same but do the same thing. Manipulate a platform to go up and down and side and side.
 
aerialimagery said:
No disrespectfulness intended, but if I were coming to you with the idea of possibly hiring you to take aerial photos or videos of my ranch or industrial facility, I would care less about your "stick skill" or whether you aced the part 107 test. What I would want is to see is examples of amazing photos and videos you've produced.
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In my opinion, you do need stick skills to produce those amazing videos and pics.
 
Hillcountryflyer said:
I guess it comes down to this. The BACK (not the front) of your FAA license will say something very specific. Now how you "read into" that is the difference here.
The back of my 107 says "Remote pilot unmanned aircraft system". Let's break that down a bit.
Remote = means you are not actually sitting in the platform, but in a remote location
Pilot = You are actually moving sticks back and forth to make the platform do something
Unmanned = Again, you are not actually sitting in it
Aircraft = Yes it is a flying platform
System = A system is a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole. (according to Wikipedia)

I also hold a multi engine commercial instrument rating, CFI, and rotorcraft-helicopter. And no where on the back of my pilots license does it say remote or unmanned.

As someone stated earlier that as long as you realize that the difference between the two is where are you sitting when you fly your platform, you will understand what kind of pilot you are. You are either a Remote Pilot or a Pilot. They are not the same but do the same thing. Manipulate a platform to go up and down and side and side.
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Agreed, the modern USAF considers their drone people as "Drone Operators" and/or "Remote Pilots" in all actuality ATC operators do not want us to say we are operating a "Drone" when calling in to inform them of our flight(s) within the 5 mail radius of the ATC personnel want us to refer to our AC as "Quadcopter(s)"
as drone has a specific military meaning to them.
 
QuadKid said:
Agreed, the modern USAF considers their drone people as "Drone Operators" and/or "Remote Pilots" in all actuality ATC operators do not want us to say we are operating a "Drone" when calling in to inform them of our flight(s) within the 5 mail radius of the ATC personnel want us to refer to our AC as "Quadcopter(s)"
as drone has a specific military meaning to them.
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and Hexacopters;)
 
AH-1G said:
In my opinion, you do need stick skills to produce those amazing videos and pics.
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I fly arguably one of the best drones for cinema
the smart shots in solo, specifically the multipoint cable cam are easy and beautiful
thing is, I often will fly manual after getting all my planned cable cams
Not sure what causes it, but the GPS waypoints and positioning can cause a jumpiness in the flight path that you cannot get with good flying skills
with no GPS making thousands of small corrections the path is just smoother

Orbit is a common built in shot on many drones. and they look great and they are easy. But I taught myself to do an orbit with just sticks. it is smooth, and allows for just enough variation to make it better than the automatic orbits
 
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