A year ago, Scott bought us a DJI Mavic Air drone so we could capture some great footage while boating. One of our favorite YouTube vloggers, Kara and Nate, always include awesome drone footage in each of their videos. In fact, it’s one of the reason’s we follow their channel. Unfortunately, this past year, someone turned them into the FAA and they got into big time trouble. Not only did they not have their Part 107 drone certification, but they filmed in National Parks which is not allowed without the proper permits.
That was a wake up call for us (though we don’t have 2m followers!) Scott discovered that if you want to use any of your drone footage for commercial use (business, real estate OR YouTube videos that are monetized, etc) you need to get the FAA Part 107 drone certification. Plus, you also need to register your drone with the FAA.
Prepping for the test
Scott signed up with Pilot Institute about a month ago for study guides and sample exams. The cost is normally $249 which includes lifetime access to resources, but he was able to get a deal for $149. There is a lot of information and the sample exams really helped him prepare for the actual exam. In fact, he recommends that you NOT take the exam without prepping first.
Some of the interesting things we learned from the institute were:
- Before flying, check the city, state and federal rules and regulations. Just because the Federal authority might say it’s okay to fly your drone, the city might not.
- Don’t fly over people. For example, you can fly over a football stadium, but only if it’s empty.
- You can’t fly at night.
In addition, this training / exam is also used for people who are getting their pilot’s license. So Scott learned a lot about aviation in general. One thing that he learned was what the numbers on a runway represent. Airport runways are numbered according to compass bearings. This means runway numbers are based on the compass with 360 representing north, 90 representing east, 180 representing south, and 270 representing west. Who knew?
Test time
Scott scheduled his drone certification exam with PSI examination services in Bellevue. He selected this company because, while all testing sites charge a fee for taking the exam, many also charge another fee on the day of the exam – PSI did not. The exam was $96 and it had 60 questions. PSI said the testing time would be 2.5 hours, but after taking the sample tests, Scott guessed it would only take him about 20 minutes.
His appointment was for 1:30p and they ask that you arrive 15 minutes early. Since this is FAA regulated they are very strict with their rules. No phones are allowed and you need proper identification with a current address. Unfortunately, after I dropped him off he immediately called me from the office phone, stating his driver’s license had our old address and he needed the car registration to show his new address. After running a quick errand, I returned to pick him up, but it didn’t take him 20 minutes to take the exam. It was more like an hour.
You need to answer 42 out of 60 questions correctly to pass (70%). Did he pass? Drum roll please……Yep, he got 90%!! Woot! Way to go pilot Scott!
Time to officially fly the drone
Since studying, we learned we can’t go to the cool places we’d like to (Myrtle Edwards Park, Alki, Golden Gardens…..) so now where do we go? Well, we picked the dock at Ray’s Boathouse. Sadly, it’s closed right now due to covid and it offered us a dock all to ourselves. Ray’s has a special place in our lives, as we used to walk to it for happy hour when we first starting dating (I lived in Ballard). We can’t wait for them to re-open after the pandemic is over.
The sun was about the set and the sound was perfectly calm. It was the perfect day to fly the drone. Be sure to watch our next YouTube episode to see the footage.
We also figured out how to have the drone follow us – so that will be fun to include in future episodes.
Links and information
Scott certainly did his research and below are the links to various sites that helped him prepare for his Part 107 drone certification:
ONLINE TRAINING
PRACTICE TEST SITES
MORE HELPFUL INFO
As always, thank you for following our blog and our YouTube channel. Now that Spring is around the corner, we are actively searching for another boat and hope to find one by March or April – so stay tuned! Be sure to follow us on social media @BoatingJourney too.
Cheers, Scott and Ally
