Ok... Some of you know that I currently am not running BEP as my full time job. I currently am the lead photographer for a studio in Phoenix. We shoot school portraits. It's a salary position, full benefits, company car and cell phone... but I don't enjoy it like I used to after starting to fly AP work. My question is how many of you are doing the AP work full time? I am seriously considering leaving my full time position to go and hit the road running with the AP thing. I have already had to turn down a couple high paying jobs because my current job will not allow me to take the time off to go shoot. For this reason I haven't been activly going out and looking for as many jobs as possible. I feel like I am at the point where I need to either A) Leave my current job to go do the AP work full time and hope that I can make it, or B) Stay with my full time job and just continue to do the AP work on the side. Thoughts? Josh
Josh, I would suggest, if possible, continue with your day job on a PT basis, keep your benefits and run your AP gig with the time you have. I know it must sting having to turn down those occasional big jobs but in reality how often do they come by? There's ALWAYS dry spells in the AP business, some lasting months. It can be misleading when you're on a roll for one or two month with AP requests, makes you feel as though you could live comfortably doing it full time...then kaboom, the dry spell hits town. Even worse now with the birth of the multirotor and the number of AP companies popping up. A lot of production companies are actually buying their own multi and learning the ropes for themselves. If you'd asked the same question 2 or 3 years ago I would say "go for it!" But now it seems everyone has a professional AP company therefor the competition is greater and more options for production companies to find a "local" AP guy instead of flying one in. I'd feel more comfortable doing AP fulltime if I was a retiree receiving monthly benefits or some other form of guaranteed income...2 or 3 years ago would have been a different story. Just my thoughts. Howard
HI Josh. I have my own studio, www.fjh.se, but more and more AP work, www.helikopterbild.se, every year now In Sweden where I live there are not so many days every week one can do AP work so for me the mix is the best thing. Dont leave your salary position, this AP thing is evolving fast and many new competitors will be looking into the fun and or monney of the business. Who is fit for survival today may not be fit tomorrow. If you have a family to support , think twice! If not think only once ;-) And be prepared for a different salary every month... I have been working with AP for over 20 years, RC helis since five and multirotors since two years. Myself I am not that fond of flying, but beeing on the ground with any RC copter in the air is great fun! Regards from snowy Sweden. /Janne
Hi Josh, I do understand where you might want to be full time into this but as the others suggest let the industry evolve a bit the FAA still don't know what to do with us, amongst other things, I have been in the film industry for 25years as a dollygrip and grip the interest is there for film and TV work however you need an in and many will never find it. The AP market is much larger though the rates may be much smaller its a viable market... Good luck and I hope we run into each other out here, I'm in the Mesa AZ area till march....
we have just started the firma skydrone.no and we are getting alot off jobs but i work as a carpenter full time
Hi Josh... I'm very late on this but... I'm a full time drone pilot for the last 2 years now. I can't complain, of course sometimes you get a lot of jobs and sometimes you get none. It's good to have some reserve in the bank for those months... For an example last October I hadn't a job but in Nov-Dec I flew almost everyday. The only thing I don't recommend is that you open a business with your wife and let her be the camera operator, PR, etc.... She will start to give you orders from... "Fly it to the right so I can make a Pan..." to "take the trash out the house now...." LOL No vacation away from the boss. LOL Good Luck