Field Notes
Hiring a Drone Operator? Five Questions That Protect You
The drone is the easy part. The certificate, the insurance, and the airspace plan are what stand between you and the liability — five questions to ask before anyone launches over your property.
Anyone can buy a capable drone this afternoon. Flying it over your building, your job site, or your event for pay is a different thing entirely — it is regulated commercial aviation, and the rules exist because the risk lands on more people than the pilot. Before you hire anyone (including us), ask these five questions. A professional answers all five without blinking.
1. Are you Part 107 certificated — and current?
Commercial drone work in the U.S. requires an FAA Remote Pilot certificate under Part 107 — there is no recreational exception for paid work, favors for a business, or footage you plan to sell. Ask to see the certificate, and ask when the pilot last completed the FAA's recurrent training (required every 24 months to stay current). No certificate means the flight is illegal from wheels-up, whatever the pilot's stick skills look like.
2. Is the aircraft registered and Remote ID compliant?
Drones flown commercially must be registered with the FAA, and nearly all must broadcast Remote ID — a digital license plate — while flying. A compliant operator's aircraft carry registration markings and show up properly identified. It is a two-second check that separates an operation from a hobbyist with a business card.
3. Can you send me a certificate of insurance?
Real operators carry aviation liability coverage and can produce a certificate of insurance naming the job — often with you listed as certificate holder or additional insured for the flight. If an uninsured flight damages your property or hurts someone, the claim fight starts with you. Ask for the certificate before the flight, not after an incident.
4. How will you handle airspace for my site?
Much of the Columbia Midlands sits in controlled airspace — Columbia Metropolitan Airport, McEntire Joint National Guard Base, and Shaw AFB see to that. Flying there legally means FAA authorization, usually through LAANC, secured before the flight day. "We'll be fine, it's just a quick flight" is not an airspace plan. The right answer names the process and builds it into your schedule.
5. What exactly do I receive, and when?
Deliverables in writing: the report or files, the format, the timeline, and who owns the imagery. "Some photos" is how projects end in arguments. Every service on this site names its deliverable up front for exactly this reason.
The part nobody mentions
The FAA can fine an operator up to $75,000 per violation — and can fine the operator's company even when no license exists; enforcement formally tightened in 2026. Insurers, for their part, can contest claims arising from illegal operations. The cheap flight can become the most expensive line item on the project. The full picture of how certification works is on our Part 107 page.