Hiring a Drone Pilot in Michigan: 8 Things to Check First

Before you hire a drone pilot in Michigan, confirm five compliance items: an FAA Part 107 certificate, recurrent training within the past 24 months, insurance with a certificate you can hand to your venue, a Remote ID compliant aircraft, and a working knowledge of the airspace and permits at your location. Then check three fit items: a portfolio that matches your kind of shoot, clear footage rights, and a contract that covers weather, deliverables and raw files.

This is general information, not legal advice. Airspace and rules change, so check B4UFLY or a LAANC app and the relevant permit office before every flight.

Credentials and compliance

1. A current Part 107 certificate

Any drone flight that supports a business must be flown under the FAA’s Part 107 rules by a pilot who holds a remote pilot certificate. That includes a realtor’s listing video and a restaurant’s social clip, not only big productions. The hobby exception covers flights that are strictly recreational.

You do not have to take the pilot’s word for it. The FAA’s Airmen Inquiry database lets anyone search certificate holders by name. Search by last and first name without a city or state first, because the FAA says pilots who opted out of releasing their address will not appear when a location is specified. Under §107.7, pilots must also carry the certificate and identification while flying, so asking to see it is reasonable.

2. Recurrent training within 24 months

A certificate does not expire, but the privilege to use it does. Under §107.65, a pilot must have passed the knowledge test or completed recurrent training within the previous 24 calendar months. The FAA offers that recurrent training online at no cost, so there is no good reason for a working pilot to be out of date. Ask for the completion date.

If your shoot runs into twilight or after dark, ask one more question. Part 107 allows night flights only if the pilot’s test or training was completed after April 6, 2021, and the drone needs anti-collision lighting visible for 3 statute miles.

3. Insurance and a certificate of insurance

The FAA does not require drone insurance for commercial work. Your venue, landlord or permit office probably does. In Detroit, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy requires commercial shoots to carry general liability insurance naming the Conservancy as an additional insured, and the Detroit Film Office asks for a certificate of insurance with its permit application.

Ask for a certificate of insurance (COI) that covers the shoot date, shows the liability limit, and names you and the location owner as additional insured where required. According to UAV Coach’s drone insurance guide, liability policies typically start at $500,000 and can go as high as $10 million per occurrence, and $1 million of liability coverage can cost as little as about $10 an hour through on-demand providers, while broker-built annual policies can run $600 to $800 a year. Because coverage is that accessible, a pilot who cannot produce a COI is telling you something. Ask your venue for its exact required limit and wording before you book, not the day before.

Liability coverage pays for damage to people and property. Hull coverage protects the pilot’s own aircraft. You care mostly about the first.

4. Remote ID

Since the FAA ended its enforcement grace period on March 16, 2024, drones that must be registered also have to broadcast Remote ID, either built in or through an add-on module. Pilots who do not comply risk fines and suspension of their certificates, according to the FAA. It also matters for event work: sustained flight over an open-air assembly requires Remote ID compliance. Ask which aircraft will fly your job and confirm it broadcasts.

5. Airspace, LAANC and waivers

This is where experience shows. A capable pilot should be able to tell you, before the shoot, what airspace your location sits in and what that requires.

In Detroit, that means knowing that much of the riverfront and downtown core is uncontrolled airspace while Eastern Market, Midtown’s Cultural Center and New Center sit inside Coleman A. Young airport’s Class D, where LAANC authorization is needed. It means knowing that Tigers and Lions home games ground drones across downtown, and that the riverfront, Belle Isle and city filming each have their own permit. Our Detroit drone rules guide lays those out, and the stadium restriction guide covers game days.

Ask two questions. “How will you handle airspace authorization for this address?” and “Do you hold any FAA waivers relevant to this shot?” Some shots, such as flying beyond visual line of sight or from a moving vehicle over a populated area, are not allowed under standard Part 107 rules without a waiver. If a pilot promises one of those shots casually, ask to see the waiver.

Fit for your project

6. A portfolio that matches your shoot

Drone work splits into a few distinct crafts, and a strong reel in one does not prove the others.

FPV needs a note of its own. Pilots wearing goggles cannot see the aircraft with their own eyes, and under §107.31 someone must keep it in unaided visual line of sight, which in practice means a visual observer outdoors. The FAA says Part 107 does not apply to flights conducted entirely indoors, but insurance and the venue’s permission still do. See our FPV fly-through service for how those shoots are planned.

Ask for full pieces, not a highlight reel, and ask which pieces the pilot flew personally.

7. Footage ownership and usage rights

This is the item clients most often assume and least often check. Under U.S. copyright law, the creator generally owns the work. A commissioned work counts as a work made for hire only if it fits one of nine categories and both parties sign a written agreement saying so, according to the U.S. Copyright Office’s circular on works made for hire. Without that, or a signed transfer, you typically receive a license to use the footage rather than ownership.

A license is often fine. It just needs to be specific:

• Where you can use it: website, organic social, paid ads, broadcast, print, out-of-home.
• For how long, and whether it is exclusive.
• Who else can use it, such as a developer’s brokers, tenants or partners.
• Whether the pilot can use it in their own portfolio.

8. Contract terms

A one-page agreement prevents most disputes. Make sure it covers:

• Weather days. Part 107 requires 3 statute miles of visibility and set distances from clouds, and every aircraft has wind limits. Agree in advance on who calls a weather cancellation and what happens next.
• Rescheduling. Include airspace and stadium conflicts, not only weather.
• Deliverables. Number of edited photos, video length, aspect ratios (vertical for social, horizontal for web), file formats and turnaround.
• Raw files. Whether unedited footage is included, and at what cost if not.
• Revisions. How many rounds are included.
• Permits. Who applies for them and who pays the fees. The Riverfront Conservancy alone charges $750 for four hours.
• Cancellation terms on both sides.

For what these jobs typically cost and what drives the range, see our drone photography cost guide.

The FCC Covered List question

On December 22, 2025, the FCC added foreign-made drones and critical drone components to its Covered List. The restriction applies to new device models. According to the FCC’s fact sheet, it does not affect anyone’s ability to keep using drones they already own, and retailers can keep selling models authorized earlier.

For a client, that means a pilot flying an existing DJI or other foreign-made aircraft is not breaking any rule. It may affect what equipment pilots can buy as their fleets age. If your organization has its own policy on drone brands, which some public agencies and contractors do, ask about the aircraft before you book.

Red flags

• The pilot cannot or will not show a Part 107 certificate or a COI.
• The quote arrives before anyone asks for the address.
• They say no permits or authorizations are needed anywhere in Detroit, or that all of downtown needs LAANC. Both are wrong.
• They offer shots over crowds, over a stadium on game day or over Windsor without mentioning rules.
• Nothing is in writing about rights, raw files or weather.
• The price is far below the market range with no explanation.

A quick checklist

Working with us

We walk every client through airspace, permits, insurance and rights before the shoot date is set, because that is where drone jobs go wrong. If you are comparing pilots for a Michigan project, see our drone photography service and ask us the same eight questions.