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Can I do this ?

We have already cleared it with the principle and the local school board members, we tried to think of everything we could and that's one reason I wanted to post about it on here and ask for help. I really appreciate all the responses !
I hadn't thought of insurance though, what am I looking at cost wise and what companies should I look at for this type of insurance if you don't mind me asking ?
I had annual insurance, not sure about daily insurance of you're not 107 certified, someone else will have to chime in on this.
 
Ok, I just got the call back and talked to the guy at my local FSDO. ( by the way, he could not have been nicer and more helpful ! ) In short, he gave me the go ahead to do it as long as either me, my wife or the school was not being compensated for that demo flight in any way and also that I fly in accordance to the safety rules of the FAA and the safety regulations of the AMA. Also I had to be registered with the FAA and have my drones marked with my number, which is already done and has been since I have owned them.
He also told me to make sure it was cleared by the principal of the school which I assured him everything has already been taken care of.
He also thought it would be a good thing to go by the local airport to let them know what I was doing and at what altitude I would be flying and on which date. The airport is about 6 to 7 miles from the school but still thought it would be a good neighbor policy to let them know. So I plan to go to the airport and talk to them in person and let them know everything.
I am not sure now when I will do this, the weather here is going to be bad next week on the day she wanted me to do this so she has made other plans and I have some health issues that I have to take care of the week after, so with the weather and time change we may now look at possibly early next spring, unless we get some unusually good weather in the next 3 weeks or so.
I want to give everyone that posted on here a big"THANK YOU" for all your help and I will let you know when we do this and how it goes ! We will definitely be doing this, it will just be a matter of when the weather and my health allows.
Thanks again !
 
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I still have not heard back today and if I don't hear anything by around 1 or 2 tomorrow then I will call again. As soon as I find out for sure I will post it here so that everyone will know what they tell me. It may help someone else in the future.

Based upon the rules and the intended purpose, if the flight is conducted outside of controlled airspace the FSDO won’t have any responsibility or involvement. The FAA does not regulate flight at schools. School districts and civil laws handle that. What you intend to do is no different than providing a demonstration for a STEM class or STEM fair.

Just be sure if the airspace, fly safely with good separation from the students, and get them asking questions. Be ready with answers describing all the associated careers and activities drones can take them to. You and your wife just might find yourselves the foundation stone for many future careers.
 
Make sure the principle of the schools is in agreement, and you should carry insurance just incase your drone decides to have a mind of its own.

Definitely drone insurance and I would check your local town/municipal ordinates for anything relating to drone flights.
 
Definitely drone insurance and I would check your local town/municipal ordinates for anything relating to drone flights.
The school is not within any town limits. It is in the country with a few homes around, but the field I will be flying in is pretty big and down in a valley surrounded by mountains and Insurance is something I am going to check into.
 
Hey hold on a sec! You might want to reconsider this -even cancel the event, at least until you obtain a Part 107.

I totally forgot an important interpretation of the "furtherance of a business" by compensation in regard to this seemingly innocent display of a hobby. And I'm not talkin'bout the peanut butter & bribe sandwich from a kid. I'm surprised that none of the other contributors caught it, especially @PatR, @Ty Pilot and @Phaedrus who we have all come to count on to remind us of the finer details and nuances of the FCC rules and regulations. And quite frankly I am even more surprised that the local FSDO didn't catch it either. There is in fact a business that will potentially be furthered by this.

...The Retail Drone business!?
 
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I don’t see any relationship between a class demonstration and furtherance of a business. Totally unrelated for this activity. The effort and action is purely educational.

As for insurance, if the operator, a publicly stated amateur, was a member of the AMA and set up his flight line in accordance with AMA safety guidelines he would be insured for $2 mil in secondary coverage.

If I was in his stated position, especially as it’s a school in the country, I’d be all over it. If we fear doing everything we will never do anything.
 
I don’t see any relationship between a class demonstration and furtherance of a business. Totally unrelated for this activity. The effort and action is purely educational.

As for insurance, if the operator, a publicly stated amateur, was a member of the AMA and set up his flight line in accordance with AMA safety guidelines he would be insured for $2 mil in secondary coverage.

If I was in his stated position, especially as it’s a school in the country, I’d be all over it. If we fear doing everything we will never do anything.
It is my suspicion that @DCH 's post was a tongue in cheek one. Am I right DCH?
 
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Hey hold on a sec! You might want to reconsider this -even cancel the event, at least until you obtain a Part 107.

I totally forgot an important interpretation of the "furtherance of a business" by compensation in regard to this seemingly innocent display of a hobby. And I'm not talkin'bout the peanut butter & bribe sandwich from a kid. I'm surprised that none of the other contributors caught it, especially @PatR, @Ty Pilot and @Phaedrus who we have all come to count on to remind us of the finer details and nuances of the FCC rules and regulations. And quite frankly I am even more surprised that the local FSDO didn't catch it either. There is in fact a business that will potentially be furthered by this.

...The Retail Drone business!?
That's a stretch. Next we could worry that just taking it out of the box for show might become an FAA issue.
In my world, safety is the main concern. Permission with nearby people & property is next. After that, do the check list & fly.
-Bill
 
Hey hold on a sec! You might want to reconsider this -even cancel the event, at least until you obtain a Part 107.

I totally forgot an important interpretation of the "furtherance of a business" by compensation in regard to this seemingly innocent display of a hobby. And I'm not talkin'bout the peanut butter & bribe sandwich from a kid. I'm surprised that none of the other contributors caught it, especially @PatR and @Phaedrus who we have all come to count on to remind us of the finer details and nuances of the FCC rules and regulations. And quite frankly I am even more surprised that the local FSDO didn't catch it either. There is in fact a business that will potentially be furthered by this.

...The Retail Drone business!?
I sure hope so, be nice to see some of these kids enjoy the demo and start to take an interest in our hobby/profession. Love to see the young ones start getting involved at a younger age and learn the correct and safe way !
 
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I sure hope so, be nice to see some of these kids enjoy the demo and start to take an interest in our hobby/profession. Love to see the young ones start getting involved at a younger age and learn the correct and safe way !
They are our future hopefully.
 
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So my wife has been a math teacher for 35 years and is also now the tech teacher at her elementary school. So she is doing some classes and after school programs about drones and other tech and wants me to bring a couple of my drones to after school and talk a little bit about them and do a couple of flights and answer a few questions about them.
I am not a pro but figure I can answer some of their questions and do a couple of flights for them. I have been flying helicopters and drones for several years so I know I can handle the flying part of it and be safe while doing so.
We also talked to the principle and got permission and also talked to the local school board member, but my question is............are there any laws or FAA regulations I need to know about that may prevent me from doing this ? I have done some research but can't find anything that may prevent it.
I know to keep the kids back a good safe distance and not to fly directly over them. I also will not be doing any kind of sport flying as far as fast fly by's or any kind of flying of that nature.
I will be mainly showing the pre-flight inspection and the different types of control movements a drone can do, and I'll hover around and take some video and pictures to show them inside after the flights. I thought I may take it up to around 200 feet to get a nice video and some pictures from above and I'll talk to them about being a safe and responsible drone pilot.
We live in a very rural area of far Southwest Virginia so not many professional drone pilots or company's close by. Most of these kids have only seen the toy type of drones like you see in a department store.
I plan to fly three of my drones and do a short flight of each starting off with the MJX Bugs 5w and then the Yuneec Mantis Q and then the Q500 4k and talk about the differences between them.
So if anybody knows of any regulations I may be breaking please let me know, and also I am open to any suggestions for the demonstration that you think may help the kids in any way, and please feel free to suggest them. The kids will be from classes of 3rd grade to 7th grade.
I do not have my 107 yet so of course I'm not getting paid and the school is not going to profit from this so I am thinking it should not violate the commercial regulations, but there may be something I am not aware of. I plan on doing this one day next week, depending on the weather of course.
Any help would be greatly appreciated !
Thanks
just dont post pics or vids on utube or other u need a 107 to do that
 
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just dont post pics or vids on utube or other u need a 107 to do that
What? Why would you need a 107 cert to share that on YouTube? Unless you are running a commercial YT channel.
 
I find this thread very interesting! No need to have 107 for YouTube unless you are flying a drone in the video AND making money from your YT channel. Most of us with YT channels will NEVER derive any money from them and I would refuse any money from any place for doing my YT videos. To me they are a labor of love and no price would be large enough to compensate me for them. Besides, the way I understand things on YT, you need at least 1,000 subscribers and I do not think I'll ever get there.
 
I find this thread very interesting! No need to have 107 for YouTube unless you are flying a drone in the video AND making money from your YT channel. Most of us with YT channels will NEVER derive any money from them and I would refuse any money from any place for doing my YT videos. To me they are a labor of love and no price would be large enough to compensate me for them. Besides, the way I understand things on YT, you need at least 1,000 subscribers and I do not think I'll ever get there.
I agree.
With the amount of subscribers to my channel I would very quickly starve to death if I were to rely on any earnings from it. Indeed, I long ago made the decision not to moneytise any of my videos posted there. I spend time editing those videos out of the pure enjoyment of it. I even derive just as much pleasure in editing as I do in obtaining the footage. If anyone wants to see the finished work they are free to do so. For me, money doesn't enter the equation.

Incidentally, any footage obtained during a commercial operation is never posted to YouTube or anywhere else. Only my clients see that.
 
I agree.
With the amount of subscribers to my channel I would very quickly starve to death if I were to rely on any earnings from it. Indeed, I long ago made the decision not to moneytise any of my videos posted there. I spend time editing those videos out of the pure enjoyment of it. I even derive just as much pleasure in editing as I do in obtaining the footage. If anyone wants to see the finished work they are free to do so. For me, money doesn't enter the equation.

Incidentally, any footage obtained during a commercial operation is never posted to YouTube or anywhere else. Only my clients see that.
I would starve too, I think I may have 2 subscribers and I have only uploaded 1 or 2 video's over the years and they were from when I was flying helicopters a few years ago.
On another note, could anybody tell me a good FREE video editing software ? I do not need need one that is of pro quality right now, just something to edit some of my video's of the flights I have done around my home and something to learn on. I haven't done much editing so I want to learn and practice a while before I buy a better higher end software.
I have of course Googled for it, but just wanting some advice from the good people on here ?
Thanks
 
I would starve too, I think I may have 2 subscribers and I have only uploaded 1 or 2 video's over the years and they were from when I was flying helicopters a few years ago.
On another note, could anybody tell me a good FREE video editing software ? I do not need need one that is of pro quality right now, just something to edit some of my video's of the flights I have done around my home and something to learn on. I haven't done much editing so I want to learn and practice a while before I buy a better higher end software.
I have of course Googled for it, but just wanting some advice from the good people on here ?
Thanks
I've used Filmora as a beginner editor. There is a free trial download so you can test it to see how it works.
I use Filmora too...mainly because it's so easy to use and gives pretty decent results considering it's cost. But the trouble with the free 'trial' version is that when you render your finished edit out it appears with a very prominent watermark making it essentially useless for posting. The free version, then, is simply to evaluate it. However, the cost of Filmora is fairly inexpensive and, indeed, has come down in price since I bought it.

My experience of free editors that don't splash watermarks out is mixed. One of the best free editors (there is a pro version too) is DaVinci Resolve but you need quite a powerful higher end computer to run it properly. So, if you have a computer that has 'guts' I would recommend DaVinci Resolve, but if you have a less powerful computer and a few £ to spend then Filmora would be a fairly good choice particularly if a steep learning curve is to be avoided.
 

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