Video Production

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…

In order to collect data, or legally take aerial photographs and aerial drone videos from remotely piloted aircraft (even for recreational purposes), the operator must have passed an examination and hold an ‘RPAS Pilot Certificate for Basic Operators as a minimum (Note: your drone must also be registered with Transport Canada).

This demonstrates of a level of competency and safe practices, and include the requirements for you to make detailed flight plans, risk assessments, emergency procedures and maintenance logs etc.. Failure to comply with Transport Canada CARS section IX regulations can result in fines up to $25,000 and/or jail time.

Note: Some (but not all) of the Transport Canada drone regulations are not applicable to very small drones (lighter than 250g). However, you must still operate them safely and responsibly.

Yes, all our drones have video downlink (and our property walkthrough video cameras) and have live streaming capability and can be made available for live broadcasting platforms, such as Facebook Live and YouTube Live.

Note: Some of our drone equipment have fully encrypted video downlinks, in case sensitive information is required to be filmed.

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.

No, we will not typically fly a drone inside a Church or building with people inside. The only time we would operate a drone inside a building would be if it was first evacuated, and would require specialist planning and crowd control etc.. However we can safely use special gyro-stabilized camera equipment to simulate ‘flying’ around inside a building.