After Marcel Hirscher was nearly hit by a drone which was filming him while in a Alpine Slalom race in Italy, a company in San Francisco has been granted permission to fly their drones on the ski slopes to provide custom video shoots for holiday skiers.
The International Ski Federation has banned drones from all skiing competitions due to the danger, but the FAA have granted Cape Productions an exemption so they can video skiing holiday makers.
Although given the exemption by the FAA, they must obtain permission from anyone in the filming zone, which could be a problem.
Here is an extract from their website explaining the exemption they have been given:
Cape holds a 333 exemption from the FAA for commercial drone operations in the United States. The exemption is tailored specifically to Cape’s operations, and makes the company the first operator in the U.S. authorized to fly drones within 500 feet of customers and in an area wider than a closed set.
As the first consumer drone video service to launch in the US, Cape continues to serve as a leader in the commercial drone industry. Cape’s unique regulatory permission from the FAA is a result of our work since 2014 to ensure the regulatory compliance of our service and our perfect safety record to date across thousands of flights in the US, Canada, and New Zealand. Thanks to the FAA’s grant, Cape is able to offer applications for both consumers and businesses that are impossible under the standard aerial data collection and closed set filming Section 333 exemptions held by other operators.
The current, amended exemption from the FAA under which Cape operates places the company’s operations in a unique class apart from other companies authorized by the FAA to perform outdoor aerial data collection and closed set filming. Previous decisions forbid drone operations closer than 500 feet to anyone other than the pilot and visual observer (aerial data collection) or persons on a closed set, all of whom have consented to be involved in and are necessary to the film production (closed set filming). Unlike those decisions, Cape’s FAA grant explicitly allows us to fly drones in an area wider than a closed set and near people participating in the intended purpose of the drone’s operation, including skiers, provided they are briefed beforehand on the operations and provide consent.
See more from Cape Productions here:
https://www.cape.com/regulations/
Simon Hughes. Ed.
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