The short answer
There is no objectively “best” drone company in Las Vegas, and every company that ranks for that phrase is asserting the title about itself. That is not a useful answer for a producer with a shoot date.
What is verifiable is a company’s record. Four numbers and one list settle almost every hiring decision:
- How many years it has worked scripted sets — not how many years it has owned drones
- Its aviation liability limit, and whether that limit is standing or bought for your job
- Whether it can staff Local 600 union and non-union, so the answer does not change mid-prep
- Whether FAA and film-permit work happens in-house or gets pushed back to your production
- Which productions it has actually flown, named
CineDrones has worked sets since 2013, carries $5 million in aviation liability plus workers compensation, supplies both Local 600 union and non-union crews, handles FAA authorization and coordinates local film permitting in-house, and holds aerial or on-camera drone credits on more than forty productions. We work Las Vegas as one of ten markets, and the full aerial toolkit that operates out of Los Angeles is available here.
Ask every company on your list for the same five things. The ones that answer in specifics are the ones to call back.
What Las Vegas specifically demands
Las Vegas looks like an easy aerial city and is one of the hardest in the country to fly legally. The reason is not the FAA. It is that the Strip sits inside a five-mile state criminal restriction and spans two separate permitting jurisdictions.
The Strip is split between two permit authorities
The Las Vegas Strip — Las Vegas Blvd between Sahara Ave and Russell Rd — sits in unincorporated Clark County, permitted by the Clark County Business License Department. North of Sahara it becomes the City of Las Vegas. Six jurisdictions cover the valley in total: Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Mesquite and Clark County. A production that assumes one permit covers the Strip has already lost a day.
State law, not just FAA rules, governs the Strip
NRS 493.109 prohibits operating a UAS within five miles of an airport without FAA authorization or airport-operator consent, and within 500 ft horizontally or 250 ft vertically of a critical facility without written owner consent. Violation is a misdemeanor. The entire Strip is within five miles of Harry Reid International. This is a criminal statute layered on top of Class B airspace — the airspace authorization is necessary but not sufficient.
The City requires paid police staffing for drone work
For drone use in the City of Las Vegas, LVMPD officer staffing is required, potentially with a barricade plan, and LVMPD wants 14 calendar days notice. That is a budget line, not a formality.
Lead times and insurance
Clark County: applications a minimum of 10 calendar days before the first shoot day, $1M general liability naming Clark County and LVMPD as additional insureds, permit free with a $45 processing fee. City of Las Vegas: 5 working days with no road closures, 14 working days with traffic disruption, $1M/$2M CGL, no permit fee. Federal land through BLM or NPS runs 30+ days; NDOT right-of-way 4–6 weeks.
No drones in residential areas, and casinos own their sidewalks
Clark County prohibits drones and base camps in residential areas outright. Private casino and hotel sidewalks require direct permission from the property. Fremont Street Experience needs both a city permit and a separate location agreement from Fremont Street Experience, LLC.
The airspace
Harry Reid International anchors Las Vegas Class B airspace, and the Strip lies immediately north and east of it. Part 107 operations there require an FAA airspace authorization through LAANC or FAADroneZone. The specific facility-map grid ceilings over the Strip change and are informational only — the FAA is explicit that those maps do not themselves authorize anything — so they get pulled fresh for the location and the date.
Rules change. Treat the above as a briefing for planning conversations rather than legal or regulatory advice, and confirm current requirements with the relevant authorities and your insurer before you shoot.
The checks that apply everywhere
Regardless of market, the same seven questions sort a working aerial department from a pilot with a drone.
- The insurance floor is $5 million, and it should already be in place. Most studio productions will not accept an aerial vendor below it. A company that has to buy up for your shoot is telling you what level it normally works at. Ask for the certificate in prep, and ask whether workers compensation is carried too.
- Part 107 is the entry ticket, not the qualification. Every legal commercial pilot holds one. What separates companies is the hard operations — flying over people under the FAA’s Subpart D categories or a waiver, at night, beyond visual line of sight, and inside controlled airspace.
- Local 600, both ways. Signatory scripted work generally requires the aerial camera position to be filled by an ICG Local 600 member; commercials and non-signatory work usually do not. The failure mode is hiring a company that can only staff one way.
- Permitting done, not delegated. Airspace and ground are two separate approvals from two different bodies. If a vendor sends the paperwork back to your line producer, price that time into the bid.
- Redundancy, because aircraft come down. Ask what happens when the primary aircraft is out of service at 2pm. Ask the same about the pilot.
- Payload range, because the shot picks the aircraft. Heavy-lift for a full-size cinema camera — the Freefly Alta X carries RED and ALEXA Mini. Mid-size stabilised for aerials that intercut with A-camera — the DJI Inspire 3 shooting 8K full-frame on swappable DL-mount lenses, and the Inspire 2 with the Super 35 X7. FPV for continuous moving shots through spaces nothing else fits, carrying anything from a GoPro up to cinema cameras. A company with one aircraft will tell you your shot suits that aircraft.
- Named credits, not logo walls. “We’ve worked with Netflix and HBO” is a claim any company can make after one day of second-unit work. A named production list is checkable.
The long version of each check, written for the Los Angeles market, is here.
The credit list
CineDrones has provided aerial cinematography, on-camera prop drones, stunt drones or aerial lighting on productions including:
Ozark · 9-1-1 · SEAL Team · Jack Ryan · Bosch · Goliath · Castle Rock · Doctor Sleep · NOS4A2 · Mayans M.C. · Modern Family · NCIS: New Orleans · American Horror Story: Cult · Fear the Walking Dead · Station 19 · The Politician · The Resident · Runaways · Raising Dion · Good Trouble · The Gifted · 24: Legacy · American Housewife · The Fix · The First 48 · Hell’s Kitchen · The Grand Tour · Basketball Wives · Shahs of Sunset · Bizaardvark · I Feel Bad · Kevin (Probably) Saves the World · Making It · The Leisure Seeker · Trial by Fire · First and Last · Spartan · TKO · You’re the Worst — and NFL broadcasts.
Two are written up in detail — what the production needed, what it took to fly, and what that demonstrates: 9-1-1, where we brought the look and the aerial design to the show from day one, and Ozark, where the aerials carried feel and drama into the visual language of the series.
When to hire somebody else
We would rather say this in prep than take a booking and disappoint a producer.
- If the job is real estate, weddings or single-operator social content, an aerial department is the wrong purchase. You do not need Local 600 crews and a $5M policy to shoot a listing.
- If the job is inspection, survey or mapping, hire a company that does that work. We fly for camera.
- If the schedule allows no rehearsal for a complex FPV move through a practical location, the honest answer is that the shot should be flown a different way, or the schedule should change.
- If the only thing that matters is the lowest number on the bid, someone will always be cheaper. What we will not do is quote a crew and a safety plan we would not actually staff.
How to run the comparison
Send every company on your shortlist the same message:
Shoot dates, location, and city. What is your standing aviation liability limit? Can you staff Local 600 and non-union? Who files the FAA authorization and who coordinates the film permit? What aircraft would you bring for this shot, and what is the backup? Name five productions you have flown.
The replies sort themselves. Specific answers with numbers and titles come from companies that have done the work.
Frequently asked
Do I need a permit to fly a drone on the Las Vegas Strip?
Yes, and probably more than one. The Strip between Sahara Ave and Russell Rd sits in unincorporated Clark County, which permits through its Business License Department with a minimum of 10 calendar days notice and $1M general liability naming Clark County and LVMPD. North of Sahara you are in the City of Las Vegas, which is a separate application. On top of that, Nevada state law NRS 493.109 makes it a misdemeanour to operate a UAS within five miles of an airport without FAA authorization or airport-operator consent, and the whole Strip falls inside five miles of Harry Reid International. Casino and hotel sidewalks are private property and need the property’s permission separately.
How far in advance do I need to book a drone shoot in Las Vegas?
Clark County requires completed applications a minimum of 10 calendar days before the first day of filming. The City of Las Vegas needs 5 working days with no road closures and 14 working days if there is traffic disruption, and LVMPD wants 14 calendar days notice where officer staffing is required for drone work. Federal land through BLM or the National Park Service runs 30 days or more, and NDOT right-of-way 4 to 6 weeks. Two weeks is the realistic floor for a Strip aerial; anything involving road control or federal land needs a month.
Does a Las Vegas drone shoot need police on set?
For drone work in the City of Las Vegas, yes — LVMPD officer staffing is required and may come with a barricade plan, with 14 calendar days notice. Budget it as a line item rather than discovering it in prep.
More on this market: drone cinematography in Las Vegas · aerial cinematography · FPV drone pilot · Local 600 drone operators
CineDrones is a Hollywood-based aerial cinematography company working in Las Vegas and nine other markets nationwide. FAA Part 107 certified, $5M aviation liability, Local 600 union and non-union crews, flying since 2013.
Send us the shot and the dates — 310-905-9195. We will tell you what it takes, and we will tell you if it should be flown a different way.
