Drone Cinematography

To legally fly a drone in Canada (that has a take off weight of 250g or more) ‘anywhere’ in the open air, the drone operator MUST have the following documentation in place (as an absolute minimum)…

• A valid Pilot Certificate for RPAS operations (appropriate for the airspace and location)
• A certificate of RPAS Registration (with the number clearly visible on the drone)
• Established procedures for pre-flight, take-off, launch, approach, landing and recovery
• Emergency procedures in place, with respect to…
  • (i) a control station failure
  • (ii) an equipment failure
  • (iii) a failure of the remotely piloted aircraft
  • (iv) a loss of the command and control (C2) link
  • (v) a fly-away
  • (vi) a flight termination
• A detailed Site Survey
• A copy of the RPAS Operation Manual
• A maintenance record for the RPAS

If a drone operator does not have ALL of these documents/procedures in place, then they are NOT operating legally, or in accordance with the Canadian Aviation Regulations for ‘Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems’.

Additional rules for ALL drones (of any size and weight) can be found here…

Recreational drone operators must remain at least 100ft horizontally from the public. For Advanced Professional drone operators, if the people are part of the operation (or bystanders) AND they can be briefed on the safety and emergency procedures for the drone operations, we can operate the drone in and around the location without restrictions. However, to fly drones over people in public (or less than 15ft from the general public), for safety and legal reasons we need to use specialized drone equipment and additional planning, and would typically attach a small parachute to the drone for enhanced safety (and to comply with Transport Canada regulations), more…

How long a drone can fly for depends on the type of drone and its payload weight, but we can typically expect a flight time of 20 to 30 minutes. We carry sufficient spare batteries to conduct several flights in one day and always have mobile charging systems for each drone on location.

The biggest limiting factor to affect drone operations is wind speed, it becomes difficult (and more time consuming) to produce good results with wind speeds gusting more than 35kph (note also that at 100ft the wind is typically around double than on the ground!). We can operate in light rain and snow to a degree (providing we have good visibility), as we have a fully waterproof and submersible drone in our fleet, capable of taking off and landing on water. We can operate the Inspire 2 drones below freezing, at air temperatures down to -10C (but with limited range and flight times). In short, the nicer the weather, the better the results.

Some of our Drones are designed to operate in temperatures as low as -10c. However, if there is a potential for ice to form on the surfaces of the drone (or the air temperature is beyond the drone manufacturers recommendations), we will not be able to fly for safety reasons.

Note: We only use the forecasted air temperature as a guide, we always measure the temperature of the drone surfaces before a flight, to determine if it is safe to fly.

Transport Canada require ‘Line of Sight’ operations to be within 500mtrs of the operator/observer. However, with strategically placed observers (who are in direct radio comms with the Pilot), we can operate at greater distances if needed (the signal strength of our drones allow them to be safely controlled from even a few kilometres away), more…

After a short safety briefing with all personnel involved with the operation, and any other people who may be in the area, we can operate the Drone as close as a few feet away from the subject, depending on the location and weather conditions. For close proximity flights our Risk Assessment will ensure we mitigate potential dangers to an acceptable level, and would typically attach propeller guards to the Drone.

Ideally, for a drone to take off and land safely we like to cordon off at least 20ft of unobstructed, flat ground for both our primary and secondary landing sites. Caution tape, signage and ground crew will also be used if there is potential for people not involved in the operation to enter the areas.

In case we are unable to fly the drone on the pre-booked date (i.e. due to bad weather), we will try our best to capture some useable footage on another day to make the best of the situation.

Note: If we are required to remain on standby (in case there is an opportunity to fly the drone at all), a reduced rate for a ‘Bad Weather Day’ will be charged.