Being a professional drone operator is like any other business; for it to be viable there has to be a need locally for your services and you need to be able to satisfy that need by providing a professional service at a price that your market will accept.
Commercial drone operators in the UK by law need to obtain CAA permission for commercial operation (PFCO) and insurance before they set up business. So our advice would be to become proficient by practising on an inexpensive drone. Once you have honed your basic flying skills you can then upgrade to a better drone suitable for commercial work, such as a DJI Inspire 2 or Matrice 200. After a lot of practice you should be starting to be a competent drone pilot, you can then undertake the CAA permission course with an approved training school known as a National Qualified Entity (NQEs) . The course requires you to demonstrate the necessary skills and knowledge needed by a professional drone operator. Even with your CAA permissions in hand, it can be a tough market to crack especially if you don’t have any photography experience. Also, on average there are only around 100 perfect flying days in the UK per year so you must factor the weather in. And it’s not just about being a pilot. Flying of drones is probably just 10% of the job. You’ll need to spend time marketing, accounting, maintaining kit and writing risk assessments.
Let’s consider some of the problems: for the hobbyist who wants to move into the commercial environment – what will be your target market? Aside from a few friends that have offered you work, where will your next step be after that? How will you be marketing yourself? What will be your day rate to cover your expenses and so on? What will be your USP versus any other operator out there?
Then there’s the financial side to all this. To start with due to the inclement weather you are likely to have only 100 flying days available per year (a lot less for Hovershotz who operate in Cumbria, Lancashire & the Lake District). Assume £25000 desired income plus (maintenance, insurance, training, buying a drone, software processing, website design, promotion fees, trade shows, networking, association memberships, vehicle & travel expenses) you are very quickly looking at needing to generate an income of £30000. Therefore without doing any further calculations your absolute minimum daily rate would be £300 as a ballpark reference point. Can you afford to go full-time, and part-time will you devoting enough resources to make it a success?
What next after qualifying as a competent commercial drone pilot with CAA permission for commercial operation? You then need to make sure that you are also a competent qualified photographer, videographer or surveyor. We are astounded at the number of cowboy drone operators who claim to offer professional services but have no formal training or qualifications in photography, videography, surveying or video & photographic editing.
Sadly most new drone operating companies don’t make it past the first year, as the hardest part is generating the work. Figures from the CAA show that 45% of new PFCO holders do not renew it after the first year.
