High Time For a Drone License
originally published January 4, 2021
I’ve gotten by for years operating drones for news and documentaries without a commercial drone license. I’ve learned a few tricks to limit my legal exposure and liability, but mostly I’ve been okay because drone laws have remained the wild west of aviation regulation enforcement. But I think 2021 is my year to accept my professional responsibility, and here’s how I’m doing it.
I went to bed on Jan. 1 and couldn’t think of a single New Year resolution I wanted to take on this year. Then, my subconscious chose one for me in the form of a nightmare. I dreamed I was flying a drone through the subway tunnels of the 6 train between 28th and 33rd street. I was on the subway platform at 28th flying my drone over a moving train. It was a beautiful shot — the drone was flying in the opposite direction of the train, doubling the perceived speed of the passing train cars. Light beams reflected off the shiny sheets of steel and sparks burst up from the tracks around the train.
The 28th street platform has a special significance in my psyche, because when my buddy Joe Lorio came to visit me in New York in 2007 he had jumped the turnstile there and was immediately busted by transit cops. I didn’t even know what had happened at first, but when I saw them issuing a ticket I confronted the police, overestimating my authority, and I ended up in cuffs on the concrete. A few minutes and apologies later, we were released, but it evidently left a scar across my memory, because that’s just where I was standing with my drone remote in my dream.
I watched my remote monitor as the train passed out of the frame, when an air raid siren suddenly sounded and I knew I had been busted for illegally operating a drone in the subway. The siren blared, the lights in the station went out, and a voice boomed over the loud speaker demanding “You must cease flight of your aircraft” over and over again. It was the same voice that says “stand clear of the closing doors.”
I woke up in a daze, staring at the ceiling and contemplating the dream. Obviously flying in the subway is illegal regardless, but I think my subconscious was trying to tell me I should get my commercial drone operators license. And so — I had my 2021 New Year resolution.
I googled some classes that prepare you for the Part 107 Commercial Drone Operator test. I know Channel 11 won’t pay for them (I’ve asked), but there were some reasonably priced ones in the $300 — $500 range. Still, I think I’ll take a shot at completing it with informal training on YouTube University. I decided to give myself a deadline of March 1 to take the test. It seems like an achievable goal.
My first move was to hit up RJ Hill, because he’s the best drone pilot I’ve ever worked with. We shot a story about Wild Horses in Utah together last year. You can see us operating his DJI Inspire drone together in the photo on this post. He was also just a great fellow and I thought it would be nice to connect. The only problem with RJ — He’s too good. He was already an airplane pilot when he took the test, so he really didn’t know how to help a regular idiot like me. He did have some great advice about getting linked up on the FAA site, but I am sure I need more information than that. So I hit up Julian Quinones. He and I worked together on a story about the North Korean nuclear threat. I’ve never worked with a producer who was as talented a shooter as Julian, and his organizational skills are peerless. He took a class two years ago and got his license, so I asked if he would give me some tips.
He sent me some excellent notes from his class, and gave me some advice on getting through the bureaucratic mess of scheduling the test. I figure I’ll try that out this week. I’ll keep noting my progress here on The Midori Story.
