Using a Mini 2 can be a great idea when staring commercial work. It allows you far more freedom of where you can fly than larger drones and requires less effort to get started. Thing we need to take into account are:
- Registration
- Privacy
- Drone Insurance
- Permissions
- Safety
- Qualifications
Note: This assumes you are not adding any payloads to your drone that will push it over the 250 gram mark.
Registration
There are two types of registration in the UK. The Operators ID and Fliers ID. For the Mini 2 you only need your Operator ID. You Operator ID will last for one year and costs £9. You register yourself, so only need one Operator ID for all of your drones. Click here to register.
You do not need a fliers ID, but it is free and easy to obtain. You can get one here after getting your Operator ID
Privacy
Privacy becomes even more important when flying commercially. Any data captured (included videos and photographs) that can identify a person will be subject to privacy laws. Any data must not be used commercially without permission. Also, if it is stored, it needs to be stored securely.
So ideally avoid recording any footage where people are identifiable. If you do record someones identity, make sure you have permission to and that the data is stored securely.
For more info, check out our page on privacy here.
Insurance
To fly your drone commercially insurance is compulsory. When doing this, you need to buy special commercial drone insurance and not recreational insurance. You can choose to buy, hourly, monthly or annual insurance. Hourly insurance can be as little as £5 per hour.
I personally use flock cover which has an app to make it really easy to get insurance quickly.
To find out more about insurance you can see our YouTube video here.
Permissions
When flying commercially it is even more important to make sure we have all the permissions we need. So we will need to make sure we have:
- the landowners consent to take off and land
- permission to fly in any restricted areas (if this apples to the flight)
It may also be worth notifying anyone who be affected by the drone when you are flying. This may include a leaflet drop if you are flying in an urban area or notifying the police if you are flying over a sensitive area such as doing work for a school. (You can ring the police on 112).
Safety
With everything else taken into account, it is still legally required that you fly safely.
Qualifications
You do not legally require any qualifications to fly your drone commercially. For larger drones they may help you fly in more areas, but for sub 250 gram drones you will not receive and more benefits other than the information they provide. The GVC may give you more business based info.
You can see our video at the bottom of this page for more information on this.
Video
This video will cover everything on this page in more detail, along with a few extra tips.