What Columbus businesses film from the air
Columbus has been building along the Scioto. The Scioto Mile parks, the Arena District, Franklinton and the Short North put apartments, offices, venues and restaurants within a short walk of the river, and aerial video is the simplest way to show that geography to a renter or tenant. The Ohio State campus and its medical center, Ohio Stadium and the hospitals and research buildings around them are large sites that read best from above. Further out, Easton’s retail district and the logistics corridors on the south side near Rickenbacker need site and access shots for leasing and investment.
The Class C line downtown
The airport that matters is John Glenn Columbus International (CMH), about 5 nautical miles northeast of the Statehouse. According to the FAA’s Class Airspace data, its Class C reaches the surface on the east side of the city. Over the riverfront, the Short North, German Village and the campus, it is a shelf that starts at 2,500 feet above sea level, so those flights need no LAANC.
The boundary runs through the east edge of downtown. The FAA facility map puts the Statehouse block in a 200 foot grid, while one block west at Broad and High there is no grid. East of there, the Columbus Museum of Art, Olde Towne East and Franklin Park Conservatory are all inside the surface Class C at 200 feet. Ohio State’s Don Scott Airport adds Class D on the northwest side, covering Upper Arlington and Worthington. Rickenbacker and Bolton Field have their own Class D to the south and southwest.
Game days, campus and city rules
Ohio Stadium is the biggest scheduling factor. The FAA’s stadium rule bars drones within 3 nautical miles of the venue from one hour before to one hour after NCAA Division I football games. That ring reaches the Statehouse, the Short North, the Arena District and Grandview Heights, so we keep downtown and campus-area shoots off Buckeyes home game days.
Ohio State’s November 2025 interim policy update made all university property a no-fly zone without prior authorization, with requests due two weeks ahead. For buildings next to campus we launch from private land and keep the flight path off university property.
The city’s 2026 Film Planning Guide from Columbus Recreation and Parks requires a permit for commercial filming in a city park, including the Scioto Mile parks, or with a street closure. It asks for $1,000,000 in general liability coverage naming the city and says drones may not fly directly over people. Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks, which runs Scioto Audubon Metro Park near downtown, says on its FAQ page that commercial drone work needs its permit. Our Ohio drone laws guide covers the state rules.
Light, seasons and travel
The Scioto runs north to south past downtown. The skyline on the east bank faces the river and takes late afternoon light, shot from over the west bank near Genoa Park and COSI, while morning light falls on Franklinton and the west bank. Ohio State’s football season runs through the fall, which makes spring and summer the easiest time to schedule campus-area work.
Our pilots are based at our Detroit studio on Hunt Street, about 205 miles from the Statehouse by road. Travel is quoted with the project, and we can pair a Columbus shoot with work in Toledo on the way.
Planning a Columbus shoot
In October 2026 we flew tourism aerials across Delaware County, just north of Columbus, for Destination Delaware County. Send the address, date window and deliverables. We check the CMH and OSU grids, the Ohio Stadium schedule, campus and park rules and landowner permission before we quote. See our Detroit drone photography services, including campus drone video and construction progress flights, or contact us to start.