Elevate Your Perspective with Above Ground Level Drone Service LLC

With the introduction of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) or drones to the general public, the need to create a safe flying environment for everyone sharing the skies is imperative. According to The Teal Group, drone sales are projected to be a $73.5 billion industry in the next few years (The Teal Group, ND, as cited in Hussein et al, 2021). This safety gear recommendation is for recreational and commercial Part 107 drone pilots. The basic safety gear recommended for any flight mission is to have you and your flight crew wear a reflective yellow vest, close-fitting work clothes, closed-toe shoes, 2-way radios, and a hard hat. Wearing safety gear implies to the general public that you are on a flight mission, and distractions are not welcome. You must eliminate unnecessary distractions. Do not forget a set of orange cones to create a safe work area and to protect the landing zone. Caution yellow tape is easily accessible and, if utilized around your work area, will prevent non-flight crew audience from entering your flight zone. All the above will promote a safe and incident-free flight mission.

As a general rule, the Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) must ensure that the aircraft and all its components are 100% operational, including any software updates. A detailed inspection of the drone, components and control box (remote control) must include the propellers, motors that spin freely, no hairline cracks in any of the components, battery status must be acceptable in all the cells, and no bulging is acceptable in the body of the battery. In this video, I show you how a battery is starting to bulge; therefore, it does not hold the charge for 20 or more minutes even if it shows that is fully charged. In this video I created for you labeled Checking Drone Battery Status, and narrated with the assistance of generative realistic voice by Eleven Labs (2025), depicts batteries in good and bad condition.  Also, It is recommended to check weather conditions, and any possibly flight restrictions in the area day before the flight mission.  Here is a video I uploaded to show you how I check and install any software updates in the control box and the drone (Drone software update). Do not forget to document the condition of the drone to create a record that the drone was 100% operational before the flight mission.

There are many interactive resources available to check the weather conditions, temporary flight restrictions (if any), maximum flying altitude allowed to fly, and what airspace classifications apply to your flying area. These are the ones I prefer to use: Air Control - Aloft (you must create an account before its use), for an all-in-one GPS location, airspace classification, authorization requirements, and weather conditions. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Facility Map is the maximum authority to check the maximum altitude allowed for flights not exceeding 400 AGL,  and Drone Deploy to create autonomous missions. 

Many important factors come into play when flying drones. Absent a waiver or a Certificate of Authorization (CoA), the federal and local laws governing airspace should not be ignored. To keep this simple, the drone must always be within visual line-of-sight (VLOS), and under no circumstances should not fly higher than 400 AGL.  You, as the Remote Pilot-in-Command (RPIC), must be aware of any hazards within the flying area. Any structures, trees, buildings, light poles, and power lines must be accounted for and discussed with your flight crew during the pre-flight safety meeting. The communication with your designated Visual Observer (VO) should be accurate, clear, and concise. A contingency plan should be on standby in case of a mid-flight emergency. Be alert of the current weather conditions and the direction of the wind. Remember, flying headwind decreases drone performance and power, and tailwind maintains battery efficiency, but the drone can be difficult to operate depending on the knots per hour.

Looks like all the safety parameters have been observed, and the drone is in optimal operating conditions, and you are ready to fly. You go airborne, and once your VO acquires visual of the drone, you start to focus on the data center display. You make sure you stay within the parameters of your mission (height, distance, speed, GPS signal, and battery status) as you alternate between the data center and your VO. Keep in mind that if you perceive any safety concern, you must abort the mission and land the aircraft safely in the area. It is acceptable to bring the drone to the launching area if it is safe to do so. Operating the controls of the aircraft accordingly and staying within the parameters ensures a successful mission. If everything goes as planned, this mission will be pleasant and stress-free. 

As I mentioned earlier, creating a record of the operational condition of the drone pre- and post-flight is critical in the event of an unplanned landing. The FAA does not require a specific template for a pre- and post-flight inspection form. So, feel free to create our own. You can my template, but feel free to modify it to suit the parameters of your drone and flight-mission requirements. Download the template here.

Air Control - Aloft. https://air.aloft.ai/login

Drone Deploy. https://www.dronedeploy.com/

Eleven Labs. Generative voice v2. Text to speech. https://elevenlabs.io/app/speech-synthesis/text-to-speech

Federal Aviation Administration. (2025). FAA Facility Map. https://faa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9c2e4406710048e19806ebf6a06754ad

Hussein, M., Nouacer, R., Corradi, F., Ouhammou, Y., Villar, E., Tieri, C., & Castiñeira, R. (2021). Key technologies for safe and autonomous drones. Microprocessors and Microsystems, 87, 104348.