Advice For OSC Vol3 and Flyers

[TrevorNewsome]

Hi all,

I was wondering whether anyone would give me some free advice please. I am a PfCO and have a company that does aerial photography and am currently limited to the kind of jobs due to the cannot take off and land less than 30m from structures or people outside of my control. I have recently been offered some jobs by estate agents to take brochure shots of homes they are selling. The issue is alot of the neighbours have property within the 30m take of landing radius. I am presuming i can mitigate this risk by sending flyers around to neighbouring homes giving them the oppotunity to say no and if they don't then that becomes their permission.

Here is my first question, has anyone an example of what to put into one of the flyers or better still a full example of one please?

The second question is, how do get around this if there is a main road within the 30m? If it is not busy then technically you could have your spotter wait until the road is clear of traffic and signals when you are safe to take off and land, but what happens if it is a busy road? is it enough that there would be a building inbetween your drone and the road to mitigate the risk?

If not then is there anyone willing to give me help of what and how to raise an OSC vol3 to the CAA as there is no literature apart from the official CAP documents and no examples online of how and what to put in one and considering the CAA charge alot of money per attempt I am only a single pilot company who has only been flying a year so don't have enough funds to put up to try.

I know there are alot of changes afoot with the new qualifications GVC etc but these wont be available until later this year.

Any help and constructive advice would be appreciated, and in no way am I trying to step on anyones toes and try to steel business.

kind regards
Trevor Newsome

 

[TrevorNewsome]

My idea would to be use a template such as this....



Any constructive comments?

 

[The Editor]

Hi all,

I was wondering whether anyone would give me some free advice please. I am a PfCO and have a company that does aerial photography and am currently limited to the kind of jobs due to the cannot take off and land less than 30m from structures or people outside of my control. I have recently been offered some jobs by estate agents to take brochure shots of homes they are selling. The issue is alot of the neighbours have property within the 30m take of landing radius. I am presuming i can mitigate this risk by sending flyers around to neighbouring homes giving them the oppotunity to say no and if they don't then that becomes their permission.

Here is my first question, has anyone an example of what to put into one of the flyers or better still a full example of one please?

The second question is, how do get around this if there is a main road within the 30m? If it is not busy then technically you could have your spotter wait until the road is clear of traffic and signals when you are safe to take off and land, but what happens if it is a busy road? is it enough that there would be a building inbetween your drone and the road to mitigate the risk?

If not then is there anyone willing to give me help of what and how to raise an OSC vol3 to the CAA as there is no literature apart from the official CAP documents and no examples online of how and what to put in one and considering the CAA charge alot of money per attempt I am only a single pilot company who has only been flying a year so don't have enough funds to put up to try.

I know there are alot of changes afoot with the new qualifications GVC etc but these wont be available until later this year.

Any help and constructive advice would be appreciated, and in no way am I trying to step on anyones toes and try to steel business.

kind regards
Trevor Newsome

A couple of points to consider.

A 'Flyer' type drop to neighbours with no objections does not constitute permission legally.
As an example, suppose you put a flyer through a letterbox, did not receive a response/objection and went ahead and did the job. During the course of the job your aircraft suffered a malfunction and it smashed through the neighbors conservatory or greenhouse etc.
They would simply say 'I never gave permission and you never asked for it!'

The ONLY thing that constitutes a permission, is a written and signed document. This will satisfy your requirements under your current PfCO.

In reality, it isn't that hard to get, even if you are photographing a house in a row of terraced properties. Usually, you only need the adjacent properties permission or maybe two either side.
If you get one difficult individual it is usually easy to work around by using certain angles and maintaining the required stand offs.
OSC's can take 90 days to aquire so with the upcoming EASA regs integration/GVC it really wouldn't be worth the effort and money to submit one now.

 

[TrevorNewsome]

Getting permission beforehand is difficult as alot of the jobs can be many miles from where I am situated, so to travel on the off chance to get them signed can quickly become a lost earner, especially now customers are wanting jobs for peanuts.

I have just had a guy ask for a quote on Bark that is 60 miles away, wants someone to take 1-4 hours of photos and video of a will be golf course, charge no more than £150 to which I only found out after paid for his details. Considering it will cost me £60 in petrol and has already cost £24 in referral costs through Bark, does not really leave me any profit.

I really appreciate the advice and anymore you could give, having read through alot of your posts I respect your opinions. Thanks for your time.

 

[The Editor]

Getting permission beforehand is difficult as alot of the jobs can be many miles from where I am situated, so to travel on the off chance to get them signed can quickly become a lost earner, especially now customers are wanting jobs for peanuts.

I have just had a guy ask for a quote on Bark that is 60 miles away, wants someone to take 1-4 hours of photos and video of a will be golf course, charge no more than £150 to which I only found out after paid for his details. Considering it will cost me £60 in petrol and has already cost £24 in referral costs through Bark, does not really leave me any profit.

I really appreciate the advice and anymore you could give, having read through alot of your posts I respect your opinions. Thanks for your time.

Understood - how about, if you get a offer of a job over say 30 miles away (you can set the distance to suit yourself) you ask the client for contact details of their immediate neighbor either side etc. That way you can introduce yourself over the phone, and sent them permission requests via email. You can always ask for a non refundable deposit enough just to cover your fuel costs?
If your client doesn't get on with a particular neighbor then you would be unlikely to get permission on the day anyway and would have to work round it.
If it is a empty lot or perspective golf course etc. you can do a quick preliminary site survey/risk assessment via Google Earth/Street View as a rough and ready before you get there.

Most situations are able to be completed with a little planning and careful placement.

 

[niki]

Getting permission beforehand is difficult as alot of the jobs can be many miles from where I am situated, so to travel on the off chance to get them signed can quickly become a lost earner, especially now customers are wanting jobs for peanuts.

I have just had a guy ask for a quote on Bark that is 60 miles away, wants someone to take 1-4 hours of photos and video of a will be golf course, charge no more than £150 to which I only found out after paid for his details. Considering it will cost me £60 in petrol and has already cost £24 in referral costs through Bark, does not really leave me any profit.

I really appreciate the advice and anymore you could give, having read through alot of your posts I respect your opinions. Thanks for your time.

Hello,
I read and can't believe what prices you have in UK, £150 sounds pretty low for a golf course. Are you doing some ground photography as well? If not it will be good to went in to that area too as the aerial shots can be just the cherry on the top and sometimes you can even skip them if there are bariers, legal or physical. Anyway I think you should target higher valued estates. Look at this video, this guy is offering online courses but the things he point in this teaser are very interesting and one can get an idea how to approach more valuable clients. I have never participated in his courses but I like what he is saying as I did it in similar way but in to the film industry. I knew people thare are working there and used them to introduce me as talented guy without having portfolio and I did a few shots and credits for movies that later helped me to get more work and better money.

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In short, make a good looking demo reel, scout the real estate sites and look for luxury estates which usually have budget for promotion, contact the agencies and make them an offer. This whole thing may sound as fairy tale but it is not far from reality. If you're good in what you are doing you just need the right direction and to make some contacts as well lot of patience. Making a good reel is not an easy task as for good demo reel you need to have some exciting stuff, if you don't yet then you should continue doing what you're doing and eventually in the future to make amazing reel that will sell you to the richer agencies.

If you get in to the luxury real estates then in most cases you'll not have a problem with taking off and landing as the closest neighbours will be much farther than 30m Since then try to be creative and prepare to work for pennies and even for free if you can afford it as the shots from this golf course may be a part of your future great showreel.

Good luck!

 

[The Editor]

Hello,
I read and can't believe what prices you have in UK, £150 sounds pretty low for a golf course. Are you doing some ground photography as well? If not it will be good to went in to that area too as the aerial shots can be just the cherry on the top and sometimes you can even skip them if there are bariers, legal or physical. Anyway I think you should target higher valued estates. Look at this video, this guy is offering online courses but the things he point in this teaser are very interesting and one can get an idea how to approach more valuable clients. I have never participated in his courses but I like what he is saying as I did it in similar way but in to the film industry. I knew people thare are working there and used them to introduce me as talented guy without having portfolio and I did a few shots and credits for movies that later helped me to get more work and better money.

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

In short, make a good looking demo reel, scout the real estate sites and look for luxury estates which usually have budget for promotion, contact the agencies and make them an offer. This whole thing may sound as fairy tale but it is not far from reality. If you're good in what you are doing you just need the right direction and to make some contacts as well lot of patience. Making a good reel is not an easy task as for good demo reel you need to have some exciting stuff, if you don't yet then you should continue doing what you're doing and eventually in the future to make amazing reel that will sell you to the richer agencies.

If you get in to the luxury real estates then in most cases you'll not have a problem with taking off and landing as the closest neighbours will be much farther than 30m Since then try to be creative and prepare to work for pennies and even for free if you can afford it as the shots from this golf course may be a part of your future great showreel.

Good luck!

This is not actually relevant to the OP question which is very specific to an OSC requirements for reducing standoff distances under a standard CAA permission.

This further becomes moot (in a way) after June 30th when the UK will transition to EASA UAV Regs which will give individuals with an A2C of C and GVC certification permission to fly down to 5m from uninvolved people or buildings etc without prior permission from the owner.

 

[niki]

This is not actually relevant to the OP question which is very specific to an OSC requirements for reducing standoff distances under a standard CAA permission.

This further becomes moot (in a way) after June 30th when the UK will transition to EASA UAV Regs which will give individuals with an A2C of C and GVC certification permission to fly down to 5m from uninvolved people or buildings etc without prior permission from the owner.

I understand I'm not answering the initial OP question, but as the conversation turned out to inability to manage the requests for permission from the neghbour properties due to a lack of budget I thought that the work around is to look for gigs in bigger properties where he can fly without asking neighbours for permission which is kind of work around to his struggling.