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Comment by frisco | Hacker News Reader

As a pilot, the dynamics of flying for money are very different than flying for fun or personal reasons. The pressure to make the flight in marginal conditions, or push separation to get the shot, or otherwise just generally fly closer to the limits is real and significant. Adding money (and presumably third parties) totally changes the nature of the operation.

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Yeah, when you put it that way, it makes more sense.

I still hope they’ll make the rules more permissive at some point, especially as drones are integrating more and more flight automation and collision avoidance technology. Maybe certify certain drones with specific features and restrictions as being suitable for commercial usage without a license? Accidents can still happen, but... accidents can also happen with any kind of commercial activity, even without drones involved at all.

My impression is that it's pretty easy to get a Part 107 Remote Pilot license; I think it's essentially just a knowledge test. Even if all you learn getting it is how the airspace system works and how to coordinate your use of it, that's a significant base of knowledge that is essential to flying responsibly in the US. There are serious civil and criminal penalties in the Federal Aviation Regulations for lots of complex rules that really do matter, so it makes sense that they at least just want commercial operators to understand what they are on the hook for.

I asked a flight school instructor about a part 107 license a while back and his response was "you want one? say the word and you'll have it by lunch." The only requirement is passing a written exam which he said was very easy compared to the private pilot exam.

The hardest thing about getting the part 107 license might actually be getting the identification form signed, since it needs to be done by an official. If you take the exam at a flight school they'll probably offer to have a CFI do it for you (for a fee I'm sure), but if you take the exam at a non-flight-specific testing center you might have to make a trip to a FSDO or call a CFI and see if they'll do it. It would help with the accessibility of the 107 license if they got rid of the somewhat arcane proof of identity rules inherited from other pilot's licenses.

Hence even pilots need a commercial license to do paid aerial photography.

The thing that bothers me about that is the scenario where pictures are taken for fun, but later what if someone were to offer money for them?

In such cases it’s normally intent that matters. A lot of laws are based around intent, which might seem like a huge issue but that’s why terms like ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ are used.

If you’re regularly selling photos from your regular drone flights then that’s hard to argue about. But a once off because you happen to take a news worthy photo is another story.

You can fly for fun while putting the video on your monetized youtube channel = commercial flight.

Good point!

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