How to Choose a Drone Operator in London Without Getting Caught Out

The barrier to owning a capable drone is now a few hundred pounds. The barrier to lawfully flying one for money, close to buildings, over a city, near people, is considerably higher, and the gap between those two facts is where clients get caught out.

Here is what to ask. Any competent operator will answer all six without hesitating.

1. What authorisation do you hold, and does it cover my site?

UK drone flying sits in categories. Most recreational and low-risk flying happens in the Open category, which comes with hard limits on how close an aircraft may be to people and built-up areas. Work that needs to go closer than those limits sits in the Specific category, which requires an Operational Authorisation from the Civil Aviation Authority, granted against a documented safety case.

For most commercial work in London, particularly anything near buildings or in a busy street, the Open category limits are the problem: there is nowhere to stand that satisfies them.

So the question is not "are you CAA approved", which means very little. It is: which authorisation do you hold, and does it permit the separation distances my site actually requires? Ask to see it. It is a document with a reference number and an expiry date.

Rules change, so check current requirements against the CAA's own guidance rather than any supplier's summary, including this one.

2. What insurance, and at what level?

Commercial drone operations in the UK require insurance that meets the aviation liability requirements, which is not the same as ordinary public liability and is not included in a standard business policy.

Ask for the certificate, check the level of cover, and check it is current. Most commercial clients, and every local authority, will require this before anyone flies. If a supplier has to go away and find out, that tells you something.

3. How will you assess my site, and what will you need from me?

A professional operator does a site assessment before the day, not on it. Expect questions about:

• •Airspace over the site, and whether any restriction applies.
• •Where the aircraft can lawfully launch and recover, and whose land that is.
• •Who will be around, and how they will be kept clear or briefed.
• •Obstructions, overhead lines, and what is downwind.
• •Emergency procedures, and where the aircraft goes if something fails.

An operator who asks for nothing except the postcode and a time has not assessed anything.

4. What is your weather policy?

Aircraft are grounded by wind and by rain, and in London by low cloud on tall structures. This will happen at some point on any programme of work.

The question is what the arrangement is: what wind speed stops the job, who decides, when the decision is made, whether there is a charge for a stood-down day, and how quickly a rescheduled date can be found. Getting this in writing beforehand prevents the single most common dispute in the industry.

5. What exactly is delivered, and when?

"Aerial photographs" is not a specification. Establish:

• •How many final images, and at what resolution.
• •Whether they are graded or straight out of camera, and in what format.
• •For video, the runtime, the format, the frame rate, and how many rounds of edit are included.
• •Whether raw files are included, and who holds copyright and usage rights.
• •Turnaround from flight to delivery.

For survey work, add the accuracy statement and what it was checked against. Our guide to point clouds, orthomosaics and 3D models covers how to specify that properly.

6. What happens to the data?

Aerial imagery of a site frequently contains things that are not yours: neighbouring properties, windows, vehicles, people, and on secure sites rather more than that.

Ask how footage is stored, who has access, how long it is kept, what happens to frames that capture third parties, and whether anything will be published or used for marketing without your consent. On residential and secure work this matters a great deal, and a considered answer is a strong signal of professionalism.

The one that is not on the list

Portfolio. Everybody shows a reel, and a reel hides everything: two good seconds from a bad day, one lucky frame from a shoot that produced nothing else.

Ask instead to see a complete deliverable from a job like yours. A full survey set, a full stills delivery, an unedited-length shot. That shows consistency, which is the only thing that predicts what you will actually get.

Our own work is on the portfolio, and our approach to London airspace specifically is set out in drone filming in London's restricted airspace.

Happy to answer all six for your project. Get in touch.