Drone Operator in Miami

Part 107 certificated. $5M aviation liability. Approved by every major studio. Local 600 and non-union crews available.

Miami operators live or die on turnaround. Commercial, music video and fashion work here books late and shoots fast, and the weather window can close in an afternoon. An operator who needs a week of lead time for authorization is not useful to this market.

A CineDrones operator arrives as a unit, not a hobbyist with a case. FAA Part 107 certificated pilot, dedicated camera operator on the gimbal where the shot calls for it, visual observer, and the authorizations filed before the call sheet locks. We have worked on sets since 2013, which mostly means we know when not to fly — when the AD is behind, when the light is about to go, when the shot is better served by staying out of the way.

Permits and authorizations in Miami

Miami-Dade coordinates county film permitting, and the City of Miami Beach runs its own separate process with its own rules for aerial work. A shoot that crosses the causeway crosses a permitting jurisdiction.

Crewing in Miami

Miami crews work fast and book late, matching a market driven by commercials, music videos and fashion. The bilingual crew base is a real asset for the volume of Spanish-language production shooting here.

We shoot South Beach, the causeways, Brickell, and the water — and we travel. CineDrones works nationwide, so if your production is basing in Miami and shooting somewhere else entirely, that is a normal week for us.

What a Miami booking includes

  • FAA Part 107 certificated pilot
  • Dedicated camera operator on the gimbal where the shot needs one
  • Visual observer and on-set safety brief
  • Airspace authorization filed before the shoot date
  • Certificate of insurance issued to the production
  • Media handed off on the day in the format post wants

Cinema-payload multirotors, FPV airframes, and the smaller aircraft that fit where the big ones cannot.

Selected credits

Our aerial units have worked on Ozark, Jack Ryan, Bosch, Mayans M.C., SEAL Team, NCIS: New Orleans, Fear the Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Modern Family, 9-1-1, Goliath, The Resident, Raising Dion, Castle Rock, Doctor Sleep and Chef's Table, for Netflix, Amazon, Apple, HBO, Hulu, Showtime, Sony, CBS, AMC, MTV and Bravo. See the work →

Drone Operator in Miami — questions we get

How far ahead should we book a drone operator in Miami?

For a straightforward day, a week is usually enough. For anything inside controlled airspace or needing a waiver, give us two to three weeks — the authorization is the long pole, not the crew. Short-notice calls are worth making anyway; we hold availability for exactly that.

Do you handle the FAA authorization and the film permit?

Yes, both. We file the airspace authorization and we work with your locations department on the permit side. What we will not do is show up and hope, which is the failure mode that costs productions a day.

What if the weather turns on the shoot day?

We give you a straight go or no-go rather than an optimistic maybe. Wind limits and visibility minimums are aircraft specifications, not preferences, and a unit that flies outside them is risking your production, not just our aircraft.

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