Hello from North Carolina

WillJames · Jan 8, 2019

Hello. My name is William and I have been a Commercially Certificated pilot for 31 years. I am studying for my 107 Cert and plan to take it very soon. I have been involved with the R/C Hobby for many years and I founded HeliFreak.com in 2004 which I sold in 2015. I have been interested in flying Drones Commercially for about a year and I am now working with a friend and Commercial pilot I flew with many years ago when I was in my early 20's. At this time, we are looking for professional Commercially rated pilots with experience flying power line and cell tower inspections. It is a traveling position. We are looking for professional experienced team players only. Please get in touch with me if you are interested with your resume and qualifications [email protected]

Nice meeting you and thank you.

Will

BigAl07 · Jan 8, 2019

Hello Will! Good to see a familiar name (and familiar forum) pop up over here.

Allen

dirkclod · Jan 8, 2019

Welcome to the forum Will .

Twenty Eight November · Jan 8, 2019

This is something I am really interested in getting into, but the problem seems to be that everyone is looking someone with prior experience in this field. We all have to start somewhere and that is what I am interested in doing is getting started. I am two years away from a 30 year retirement from State Government and I am looking to get a little experience here and there where I can so when I have weeks to go out on the road somewhere I can be ready. I have been flying a Mavic Pro for about two years, have my part 107, and NCDOT permits. I have flown both a Phantom 4 Pro and an Inspire 1 before, but it was only in a workshop that I attended. Which neither was much different than flying my Mavic, they were just not quite as nimble. Right now I am just trying to get my foot in the door part time somewhere so I can log some commercial experience on different platforms and doing different types of flying. Most of what I have been doing now is cinematic stuff that I edit for own enjoyment. I have done some aerial photography stuff at work, mainly to track inventory coming in and out of our facility, but it only involves short flights a couple of times a week. I have about 50 hours of flight time and over 300 flights on my Mavic. Most of those are logged on Airdata.

PhantomFandom · Jan 9, 2019

Twenty Eight November said:
This is something I am really interested in getting into, but the problem seems to be that everyone is looking someone with prior experience in this field. We all have to start somewhere and that is what I am interested in doing is getting started. I am two years away from a 30 year retirement from State Government and I am looking to get a little experience here and there where I can so when I have weeks to go out on the road somewhere I can be ready. I have been flying a Mavic Pro for about two years, have my part 107, and NCDOT permits. I have flown both a Phantom 4 Pro and an Inspire 1 before, but it was only in a workshop that I attended. Which neither was much different than flying my Mavic, they were just not quite as nimble. Right now I am just trying to get my foot in the door part time somewhere so I can log some commercial experience on different platforms and doing different types of flying. Most of what I have been doing now is cinematic stuff that I edit for own enjoyment. I have done some aerial photography stuff at work, mainly to track inventory coming in and out of our facility, but it only involves short flights a couple of times a week. I have about 50 hours of flight time and over 300 flights on my Mavic. Most of those are logged on Airdata.

Very well said. It is difficult at times to get your foot in the door and get that much needed experience. I can see the other side of it though as well. A company needs someone to come in and immediately get on jobs. They have a need and don't have time to start training the "rookie". I am in the same position, although I have my real life business and have the time to wait for the right opportunities to come up where I can get more into commercial UAS operations. Good luck to you and let me know if you find anything. I'll be happy to do the same.

For the OP William, it seems that you have some willing volunteers if you want experienced pilots who just don't have experience in that line of work, and would do well with some training.

WillJames · Jan 9, 2019

Thank you for the welcome everyone. I know what you mean about experience and we are working on getting a training program through the American Drone Council to help provide experience for part 107 pilots to receive more experience flying P&D. I would encourage any of you guys to get out there and practice.

Twenty Eight November · Jan 10, 2019

I practice all the time. That isn't a problem at all. I have no doubt (not being cocky) I could fly any mission that anyone gave me, with the right equipment and the right pre planning so that I know exactly what you expect and what you want to see. I just don't have the experience flying that particular mission because I have never been given the opportunity to fly that type of mission.

Yes it would be great if there was a specialized class we could go to that would teach how to do these missions, but until then the only way you are going to build the base of capable proficient pilots is to have veteran pilots give them some training, or OJT. That isn't what anyone wants to hear when they are looking someone to fly a mission, but the reality in this kind of business is, if someone has experience then they are probably going to go after their own contracts to fly themselves rather than fly for someone else.

Not everyone that flies a drone is interested in flying for money. I would say the overall majority of people who own quads just fly for their own enjoyment. They don't want the hassle of certifications, extra rules, insurance, more expensive equipment, etc. But there is a portion of us that are serious about what we are doing and just need a foot in the door somewhere to get us moving in the right direction. If a person has spent the time and money it takes to at least get their part 107 certificate, then I think they can be taken somewhat seriously and would be worth the investment it may take to get them to the next level.

I have a full time job and I am not a very savvy entrepreneur. I have had a few side businesses where I have made money and a lot of that for the past 20 years has been focused around photography, video and editing. But even though by definition I was a professional, I never really considered myself that because to me it was just my hobby. Now that I am coming to the end of my (real job) professional career, I want to take some of that professional hobby and make it a professional part time job. I just don't want it to all focus around editing pictures and video like my hobby to this point has been. I also don't really care about having my own business. I just want some supplemental income where I can fly a week here and there to get started, then when I retire I can fly a little more, like a couple of weeks a month maybe if it is out of town. I have been stuck in an office for almost 30 years, I am ready to get outside somewhere.

Just my two cents.

WillJames · Jan 11, 2019

There will be at least two classes that I know of coming and yes the experience is hard to get. That is why it is so hard for us to find competent AND experienced pilots. There are lots of good pilots around, just not many with the required experience.

Here are a couple photos from onsite yesterday in CA,