What was the first type of commercial drone work you did?

[Torchbearer]

I know inspections and real estate photos are common first gigs for drone pilots

My first commercial work is supposed to be happening tomorrow, I'll be flying fpv (Shendrones Terraplane) for a group of GoPed racers and trying to get some good cinematic footage for them

I'm interested in hearing what you all did for your very first commercial work

 

[BigAl07]

My very first "Commercial" work was documenting construction on new homes in the area. That was followed, 2 years later, by working on a production crew for The Travel Channel shooting aerials for one of their TV shows.

 

[Torchbearer]

My very first "Commercial" work was documenting construction on new homes in the area. That was followed, 2 years later, by working on a production crew for The Travel Channel shooting aerials for one of their TV shows.

Thanks for the reply. This is the type of response I was hoping for.

Do you do this type of work full-time these days?

 

[TreeLineView]

My first Commercial shoot was water front property on Cape Cod. 60 seconds total deliverable. Had to shoot it twice because I didn't account for low tide. LOL. That was back in the 333 exception days. Boy I've learned a lot since then.

 

[MapMaker53]

My first drone shoot for my employer was to take photos and video of an industrial parcel that was going to be sold by our client. Upon finishing my rather elaborate video flight, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to press the record button and had to fly it all again.

 

[John G.]

My first drone shoot for my employer was to take photos and video of an industrial parcel that was going to be sold by our client. Upon finishing my rather elaborate video flight, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to press the record button and had to fly it all again.

The record button is my nemesis.

 

[Gagey52]

My first was an Ortho on a remote homeland site. No internet connection, and I couldn't start the capture program. I had to fly manually and dodge two wedgetails who took a keen interest in my work.

 

[Torchbearer]

My first drone shoot for my employer was to take photos and video of an industrial parcel that was going to be sold by our client. Upon finishing my rather elaborate video flight, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to press the record button and had to fly it all again.

That's the story of my life with my gopros on my FPV drones. You're not alone! Haha

 

[Torchbearer]

My first was an Ortho on a remote homeland site. No internet connection, and I couldn't start the capture program. I had to fly manually and dodge two wedgetails who took a keen interest in my work.

How did you end up getting the job?

I'm not ready to start taking jobs beyond cinematic fpv type gigs yet (just had my first job on Friday!), but I'm trying to get an understanding of how you guys pick up mapping jobs

My cinematic stuff comes from people on Instagram messaging me, but the clientele would be totally different for that type of work

 

[BigAl07]

Thanks for the reply. This is the type of response I was hoping for.

Do you do this type of work full-time these days?

I work roughly (right now) about 25 hrs a week actually doing UAS related stuff. This includes training, flying, planning, processing etc.

I also have a full time 45hr/week day job for 8 more weeks. I'm retiring from my Day Job in November to allow me more time to train pilots and do UAS stuff and also get some sleep. It takes a LOT of time and effort to build a strong business that you can rely on but we're finally able to go that route here.

 

[BigAl07]

My first Commercial shoot was water front property on Cape Cod. 60 seconds total deliverable. Had to shoot it twice because I didn't account for low tide. LOL. That was back in the 333 exception days. Boy I've learned a lot since then.

That dang RECORD button.... it bit me in the tailfeathers more than a couple times. That's one reason why I review EVERY video clip immediately... I can't tell you how many times when I hit the button to STOP recording it STARTS meaning I never his START to begin with.

Ahhh the 333 days. Those were the GOOD Ole Days for sure. There was a time when I was the only LEGAL (meaning 333) UAS Operator in the state. That was a VERY lucrative time but it was short lived once Part 107 went into action.

 

[Torchbearer]

I work roughly (right now) about 25 hrs a week actually doing UAS related stuff. This includes training, flying, planning, processing etc.

I also have a full time 45hr/week day job for 8 more weeks. I'm retiring from my Day Job in November to allow me more time to train pilots and do UAS stuff and also get some sleep. It takes a LOT of time and effort to build a strong business that you can rely on but we're finally able to go that route here.

That's really exciting! Congratulations man!

That's similar to what I have going on now. I'm about a decade into my career (totally unrelated office job), ~40hrs per week. I also just restarted working on weekends at my college bar at the age of 35 to get money to make this happen. Gotta do what we gotta do

I plan to hang onto my day job as long as I need to to stay solvent throughout this process.

How long has it been since you started with documenting the construction on homes to get to the point you're at now?

Did you begin flying drones just as a hobby and it evolved from there?

 

[BigAl07]

That's really exciting! Congratulations man!

That's similar to what I have going on now. I'm about a decade into my career (totally unrelated office job), ~40hrs per week. I also just restarted working on weekends at my college bar at the age of 35 to get money to make this happen. Gotta do what we gotta do

I plan to hang onto my day job as long as I need to to stay solvent throughout this process.

How long has it been since you started with documenting the construction on homes to get to the point you're at now?

Did you begin flying drones just as a hobby and it evolved from there?

I've been in this IT job I have now for 21 years so it's time for me to go ahead, retire, take my pension and go do something I love. My wife and I scrimped and saved to get out of debt several years ago and since then squirreled away as much $$ as we could. I'm retiring three weeks after turning 52 years old which is unheard of but due to Blessing from Above and some luck it's about to happen. I'm too young to be able to access my retirement funds so I'll invest them and live off of the Blessings I mentioned. I plan to UAS 3 days a week in addition to teaching/training Emergency Services in UAS operations.

We started flying "Commercially" in 2012 but I had a leg up getting going... I work in the Building Industry and have a ton of contacts. Through this I was able to get a huge jumpstart on this industry and build a name/brand/reputation before anyone else in the area even knew this was an option.

I've been flying R/C Aircraft since 1974 (4 years old) and never quit. We started putting cameras on Helicopters many years ago but that was all for FUN.

 

[Torchbearer]

Wow yeah to be able to retire at 52 and focus on the projects you want is awesome. You've been workin hard!

Your coming from the building industry makes sense. This has made me wish I did some sort of engineering track in college so I could possibly go the surveying direction, but it seems like I would've needed to be on that track 20 years ago

When I grabbed my first drone I never expected it to go this direction. I just wanted to do flips in a park on my days off

I'm in mid-level finance career and the barrier to entry in opening your own brokerage firm is pretty enormous. And honestly I don't care enough about it to do it even if it was possible haha

I tried my first 3d model yesterday with a Mini 3 Pro to try to figure out how it's done. It's not pretty but I'm super happy you can tell what it is

 

[Gagey52]

How did you end up getting the job?

I'm not ready to start taking jobs beyond cinematic fpv type gigs yet (just had my first job on Friday!), but I'm trying to get an understanding of how you guys pick up mapping jobs

My cinematic stuff comes from people on Instagram messaging me, but the clientele would be totally different for that type of work

It started out as a point of interest as a Project WHS officer and grew from there.
Regards