Keys to Know When Hiring a sUAV Company

      So, why should your commercial business hire a professional FAA 107 Certified sUAS (Drone) Operator to do your commercial video and photo work? As a business, you may think that since you or your friend has bought a drone you can legally perform commercial operations and capture footage for your business. According to the FAA, this is illegal. 

Why?
FAA 14 CFR 1.1 defines operator as: If you are not licensed you become a person "acting as an operator." Additionally, the person hiring the unlicensed operator becomes the "person causing the operation." 

As a result the person "acting as an operator" is subject to up to $1,100.00 in fines. The person "causing the operation" is subject to up to $11,000.00 in fines and are subject to records requirements. This means the FAA can subpoena all of your business financial records to see if you ever hired an unlicensed operator in the past.

Protect your business, hire legal pilots.  

Why Would it Matter If They’re Certified or Not?
The insurance aspect alone should compel every commercial business seeking (drone) sUAS operations to verify the legitimacy of their sUAS service provider. Insurance companies will cover operations conducted by individuals only if they have the proper credentials to conduct the specified types of unmanned aircraft flights. If they do not, any coverage that they claim to have either doesn’t exist or was most likely fraudulently obtained and, thus, will not apply if an accident does occur. 

Every sUAS Pilot that is Part 107 will have their FAA License on them upon proof to their insurance carrier and should be obtainable for the client in their FAA Binder which should be available at all flights.

Besides the risk associated from an insurance standpoint, there are legal concerns that come with hiring a drone operator for any commercial use without a Remote Pilot Certificate. Although the FAA is hardly able to police the entire commercial drone space at this time, they are, of course, trying to deter unauthorized operations. If a business is caught or turned in, the company or individual hiring/contracting them could face federal penalties for their role in the unauthorized flights. 
 
In addition to the hiring company’s suffering from possible federal penalties, non-certified drone operators performing the commercial sUAS flights can also face heavy fines and potential jail time for non-compliance. For example, a Chicago-based company was fined $1.9 million by the FAA for embarking on unauthorized drone photography flights a couple years ago. The case recently settled at a $200,000 civil fine.

Not only will hiring or obtaining a FAA Part 107 Pilot dismiss many legal concerns, but it will also protect the client.