Drones

A dynamic perspective on low altitude photography

Flying Pictures are the first UK company legally permitted to fly 113Kg unmanned aircraft in built-up areas, including London, to within 30m of the public and up to 600ft day and night.

From Cinema-ready heavy-lift drones, carrying cameras such as our own Arri Alexa Mini, Reds or Sonys, to smaller lightweight packages we have a solution for every environment & budget.

Our highly skilled pilots and experienced Aerial D0P's and Camera Operators have credits spanning major feature films, commercials, drama & documentaries, worldwide. Each of our pilots has many years' experience flying remotely piloted aircraft and are fully qualified and independently assessed on a regular basis, they are highly experienced working on-set and have credits to match.

Find out more about our heavy lift drone here - ULTRA

Flexibility and Safety

Flying Pictures operate a fleet of Unmanned Aerial Systems (Octocopters) in the same way as we deal with manned aviation. All of our aircraft have been specified, commissioned and are maintained in-house by our skilled technical support team.

Our large fleet of aircraft enables us to carry multiple, identical specification airframes and gimbals meeting all production insurance requirements.

We're proud of our Safety Record - Keeping it, is our number one priority. All flight operations adhere to UK UAS regulations, and our CAA Permission for Commercial Operation (CAA ID: 257) and unique OSC Exemptions (see below).  We have Public Liability Insurance of £10 million as standard (upgradable to £20m for operations within the City of London) and our procedures have been independently vetted for Health & Safety competency by 1st Option Media Safety. 

We have also developed specialist solutions for Live Broadcast and Aerial Lighting rigs.

Our operations team are experienced in dealing with external organisations to obtain authorisations and exemptions, including the Met Police, Diplomatic Protection Group, City of Westminster, Port of London Authority and regional authorities.

Congested Area CAA Exemption (Operational Safety Case):

All aerial companies, including those flying drones, require permission from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to operate.

Flying Pictures have a unique list of permissions and exemptions. We were the first company in the UK able to fly 22Kg aircraft in built-up/congested areas as close as 10 meters distance from the public and property not under our control. Our 10m operational safety case also allows us to fly up to a height of 600ft above ground level and we can do this both day and night.

Other operators may well be able to fly in built-up areas but check the separation distances they need to keep - it will inevitably be between 15m and 30m making most urban shots difficult at best or increasingly impossible. Our insurance provider is also happy to provide cover up to £20 million for flight operations in the City of London (at additional cost).

Special Builds

Our unique "Skunkworks" team have provided purpose-built prop-aircraft to a wide range of productions, from major Feature Films to TV Dramas such as Sherlock and Midsummer Murders, plus commercials for Amazon and EE.

Working with the production design team we love to design, build and fly anything... There you go, the challenge has been set!

Operational Capabilities

We are often asked what the legal capabilities of our aircraft and pilots are. Our unique OSC permission gives us the capability to operate outside of the standard CAA Permission for Commercial Operation:

Minimum Separation: Standard 50m / OSC Operations: 10m

Maximum Altitude: Standard 400ft / OSC Operations: up to 600ft

Maximum visual line of sight from Pilot: up to 500m

Day and Night aerial operations

Maximum combined aircraft mass: Standard 20Kg / OSC Operations: 22Kg

Please contact our team on 01264 862222 for more information, our fully qualified and experienced staff pilots will answer your questions.