What you get when you hire a drone pilot through us
Anyone searching for a drone pilot in Detroit will find plenty of them. Many are good at flying. The difference between a solo pilot and a pilot booked through a studio is everything around the flight: who checks the airspace, who talks to your property manager, who carries the insurance, and who is still answering the phone if the weather turns.
When you book with us, the pilot comes with that support. We confirm the airspace and game-day schedule before we quote a date, handle authorizations and permits, send a certificate of insurance, and add a visual observer when the site calls for one. The pilot may be on our in-house crew or from our roster of Detroit freelancers. Either way, you know by name who the remote pilot in command is before anyone arrives on site.
If you are still deciding what kind of provider fits, our guide to freelance pilots, drone companies and agencies lays out the trade-offs honestly, including when a solo pilot is the better buy.
What the Part 107 certificate actually means
Every paid drone flight in the United States has to be flown under the FAA’s small drone rule, Part 107, by a pilot who holds a remote pilot certificate. According to the FAA’s pilot certification page, first-time applicants must be at least 16, pass an aeronautical knowledge exam, clear a TSA security background check, and then complete online recurrent training every 24 calendar months to keep the certificate current. The exam covers airspace classes, weather, emergency procedures, night operations and airport operations.
A certificate proves the pilot knows the rules. It does not prove they have flown your kind of site, so ask for work that matches your project. You can confirm the certificate yourself: our checklist for hiring a drone pilot in Michigan walks through the FAA’s Airmen Inquiry search, insurance and the contract terms worth putting in writing.
LAANC, waivers and Detroit airspace
Most of the planning for a flight happens before the pilot leaves the studio.
- Controlled airspace. Much of the downtown riverfront is uncontrolled airspace below 400 feet on FAA facility maps. North of roughly I-75, Coleman A. Young International Airport’s controlled airspace begins. The FAA describes LAANC as a way for pilots to get near-real-time authorization for controlled airspace at or below 400 feet, checked against facility maps, restrictions and NOTAMs. Where a map ceiling is lower than the shot needs, a further coordination request can be filed up to 90 days ahead.
- Waivers. Some shots fall outside Part 107’s standard limits, such as flying beyond visual line of sight or over people with an aircraft that does not meet an operations-over-people category. Those need a waiver. The FAA’s waiver page says it aims to decide requests within 90 days, so we plan around the rules rather than promise a waiver on a tight deadline.
- Restrictions that are not on the map. Game-day flight restrictions around Comerica Park and Ford Field, park and riverfront permits and the international boundary in the river all shape Detroit shoots. Our Detroit drone rules guide covers them.
The suburbs have their own airspace picture. We keep local pages for Dearborn, Troy, Ann Arbor and Southfield, and the rest of the state is on our Michigan drone photography page.
What the pilot handles on the day
Under 14 CFR 107.19, the remote pilot in command is directly responsible for the flight and is its final authority. In practice, that means the pilot, not the client, decides whether a shot is safe. On the day, our pilots:
- Assess the site before takeoff. Section 107.49 requires a preflight look at weather, airspace, people and property on the ground, and other hazards, plus a briefing for everyone involved in the flight.
- Keep the aircraft in sight. The pilot or a visual observer must be able to see the drone with their own eyes throughout the flight. For FPV, where the pilot flies through goggles, a visual observer is on the crew every time.
- Stay inside the limits. No higher than 400 feet above ground (with an exception within 400 feet of a structure), at least 3 statute miles of visibility and set distances from clouds, according to section 107.51.
- Manage the public. A perimeter at the launch site, and routes planned over open ground instead of over crowds or moving traffic.
- Call it when it is wrong. Wind, rain, a surprise event or a changed restriction can end a flight. Weather days are written into every quote.
Pilot-only booking or a produced shoot?
A pilot-only booking fits when you know exactly what you need and someone on your side will do the rest. Good examples: a set of listing stills, a site visit on a fixed schedule, raw aerial b-roll for an editor who already has the rest of the footage, or a single establishing shot for a larger production. You pay for the flight and the files.
A produced shoot fits when the aerial is part of a story. That is the difference between a few clips and a finished drone video with a shot plan, ground coverage, color, music and vertical cuts, or a full aerial photography set edited for listings, print and social. We do both, and we will tell you which one your project needs. The full range of work is on our drone and aerial page.
Book a pilot
Send the address, the date window and what you need delivered. We will check the airspace and permits for that exact spot, name the pilot and send a fixed quote. Request a drone pilot.