What Troy businesses use aerials for
Troy covers 33.5 square miles of land by the U.S. Census Bureau’s count, several times the size of Birmingham or Royal Oak, and its commercial spine is Big Beaver Road. Kelly Services lists its world headquarters at 999 West Big Beaver, The Kresge Foundation’s main office is at 3215 West Big Beaver, and City Hall sits at 500 West Big Beaver. Somerset Collection, at 2800 West Big Beaver, spans both sides of the road as Somerset North and Somerset South, joined by an enclosed skywalk.
That concentration is why corporate communications teams, leasing agents and investors ask for aerials in Troy. A drone shot places a tower against the road, the parking, the mall and the nearby I-75 interchange in a way no ground photo can. The same flights feed recruiting videos, annual reports and leasing brochures. Beyond Big Beaver, Troy has industrial and flex buildings, new home communities and civic landmarks like Troy Historic Village on Wattles Road.
An airport inside the city
Oakland/Troy Airport is what makes Troy different from its neighbors. The county-owned field has no control tower, and on FAA data the airspace around it is Class G at the surface, so there is no facility map grid and no LAANC authorization to request. That does not make it a free-for-all. Its 3,549-foot runway runs east and west, its traffic pattern is flown about 1,000 feet above the field, and planes on final approach are below 400 feet close to each end. The Troy Transit Center sits about a third of a mile west of the runway’s west end, almost in line with it.
Part 107 requires drones to yield to all aircraft and bars interfering with airport traffic patterns. For shoots within a mile or so of the field, we add a visual observer whose only job is watching for aircraft, keep altitude as low as the shot allows and land when traffic approaches. Elsewhere in Troy, the Detroit Metro Class B floor sits at 4,000 feet above sea level, or 6,000 feet over the north end, far above anything we fly. We check B4UFLY or a LAANC app on the day of every flight, because airspace and temporary restrictions change.
Permits and property
Michigan’s PA 436 of 2016 bars cities from regulating drone flight, but it does not open private property to launches. Troy’s filming checklist routes outdoor shoots on city property to the city clerk for a special event permit and park shoots to the Recreation Department, and the city’s film and video coordinator helps with locations. Somerset Collection asks commercial filming and drone requests to go through its Marketing Department. Corporate campuses have their own security and property managers, and we clear launch points with them before the shoot.
Light and seasons
Big Beaver runs east and west, so the long south-facing facades on the north side of the road hold light through the middle of the day, and glass towers pick up color at sunrise and sunset. Late spring and summer give the longest shooting windows and green landscaping around campuses. Fall color softens office parks, and clear winter days give crisp, low-angle light on glass by mid-afternoon.
Planning a Troy shoot
Send the address, what the footage is for and a date window. We check airport proximity, property approvals and city permits, then send a fixed quote. See our Detroit drone photography page for how we fly across the region, construction drone photography for scheduled progress flights and FPV drone video for one-take moves through a lobby or showroom. When you are ready, contact us.