I'm done with Dronebase

rmp5s · Jul 22, 2017

Since you guys LOVE my Dronebase videos so much, here's my latest!

djkelly57 · Jul 25, 2017

I have had 2 dealings with Dronebase. 1st call they wanted me to fly a job in class d airspace. I asked them if they had a waiver. Their reply was that they didn't realize it was class d. Second time they wanted me to do a live flyover. I got the information for the job as well as the contact information for the client. Shortly after agreeing to the job they sent me a message back that the client cancelled. Turns out that the client didn't cancel, they just gave the job to someone else. Needless to say, they don't need to contact me again.

William Gaddy · Jul 25, 2017

Same thing here, bait-and-switch, Class B, and D. They just contract with whomever has the least questions.

rmp5s · Jul 26, 2017

I had nothing but good experiences with them up until somewhat recently. It used to be fun to go out and fly for an hour or so, make 60 bucks or so...it was a great way to kill a morning.

Now? Don't get paid anymore. Don't know what changed but it sucks...

William Gaddy · Jul 26, 2017

rmp5s said:
I had nothing but good experiences with them up until somewhat recently. It used to be fun to go out and fly for an hour or so, make 60 bucks or so...it was a great way to kill a morning.

Now? Don't get paid anymore. Don't know what changed but it sucks...

I understand completely. Unfortunately, I predicted this a while ago last year after I talked directly to them and confronted them on a few issues. Their business model is flawed (this is why they attempted to pivot into on-spec commercial panoramas, with no payout guarantee) and they are actively encouraging operators to flout the law and the safety of the national airspace...

licensed pilot · Jul 26, 2017

William Gaddy said:
I understand completely. Unfortunately, I predicted this a while ago last year after I talked directly to them and confronted them on a few issues. Their business model is flawed (this is why they attempted to pivot into on-spec commercial panoramas, with no payout guarantee) and they are actively encouraging operators to flout the law and the safety of the national airspace...

Funny to hear that. I saw one pano where the pilot was clearly on his cell phone and not paying attention to the aircraft and brought it to their attention. Their reply was that "he was probably on auto "(WTF!). Guess if you put your bird on an auto mission then VLOS is for the birds.

William Gaddy · Jul 26, 2017

licensed pilot said:
Funny to hear that. I saw one pano where the pilot was clearly on his cell phone and not paying attention to the aircraft and brought it to their attention. Their reply was that "he was probably on auto "(WTF!). Guess if you put your bird on an auto mission then VLOS is for the birds.

Dr. Ifly Drones · Jul 26, 2017

I've had similar experiences. Request to fly in Class B airspace (more then once) and in situations of obvious risk.

William Gaddy · Jul 26, 2017

It's for those reasons I decided to stop working with them. I don't think it will be long before the FAA, or an accident, privacy, or trespassing lawsuit and the attendant publicity shut them down.

ExpressAerial · Jul 29, 2017

i receive mission requests here in Texas daily as part of the Allstate claims rollout. I don't fly for them simply because of the non-compete agreement that you must sign and the lack of ability to schedule the flights. I don't understand how they can expect you to contract part-time with them and then do no other photography on the side.

rmb · Jul 29, 2017

All horrible experiences here as well.

rmp5s · Jul 29, 2017

That's funny...I've NEVER been contacted for a job by them. I've ONLY ever done panos.

rmb · Jul 29, 2017

Sorry, just checked my emails, I am dealing with the equally horrible droners.io website

rmp5s · Jul 29, 2017

rmb said:
Sorry, just checked my emails, I am dealing with the equally horrible droners.io website

Oh God...droners.io...talk about terrible. Everything from requests to video airports (seriously) to never getting a reply to a request inquiry. Garbage, useless site so far. lol

About as bad as CL...where dude wanted me to drive to a place four and a half hours away to video a property...oh, but "you've got to be here in time to catch golden hour"...did I mention he only wanted to pay me 300 bucks? lol 300 bucks to rent a car and either get up at 0100-ish to get there in time to catch morning gh or catch eventing gh and get a hotel room...

William Gaddy · Jul 29, 2017

rmp5s said:
Oh God...droners.io...talk about terrible. Everything from requests to video airports (seriously) to never getting a reply to a request inquiry. Garbage, useless site so far. lol

About as bad as CL...where dude wanted me to drive to a place four and a half hours away to video a property...oh, but "you've got to be here in time to catch golden hour"...did I mention he only wanted to pay me 300 bucks? lol 300 bucks to rent a car and either get up at 0100-ish to get there in time to catch morning gh or catch eventing gh and get a hotel room...

I DID actually get one good job from droners.io, for a railroad bridge inspection job. Real estate is pretty much a race to the bottom.

William Gaddy · Jul 29, 2017

What continues to astonish me is that none, and I mean NONE of these platforms have any understanding or accounting or travel costs. So, you want me to show up in "NobodysHere, BFE Pennsylvania" downstate, and .... eat my travel costs of driving two/three hours? Meanwhile these guys are sitting in an office in Mountain View, CA in some office park going ... "Yup, not my problem bro! Hey Shaniqua can you pass my latte over, thanks dude, I need my caffeine to deal with all these xxxxxxx pilots."

enzyox · Jul 29, 2017

All these bidding type sites are garbage and any profesional that gets work from them only hurts the overall market prices. With zero quality control, no license verification, no insurance and are full of hacks who are willing to fly below cost for real businesses.

rmp5s · Jul 29, 2017

I haven't COMPLETELY lost hope in droners, even though it's proven to be totally useless thus far.

Dronebase, though? Yeeeeea...it ain't lookin good...

William Gaddy · Jul 29, 2017

enzyox said:
All these bidding type sites are garbage and any profesional that gets work from them only hurts the overall market prices. With zero quality control, no license verification, no insurance and are full of hacks who are willing to fly below cost for real businesses.

Very well said, and agreed 100%... My one job with droners.io resulted in this developing into a rental business. Go figure. It was a loss-leader, for sure.

OmniDrone · Jul 29, 2017

Same here. Drone base is the worst for our industry. They are always sending me job request for jobs that only pay $40 and are always in restricted airspace. I am seriously thinking about reporting them to the FAA.