Yesterday I wrote a story on how to monetise your drone without the need to go the hoops of certified training etc – which can be expensive. You can read it here.
On reflection though, and this applies to business as a whole and not just drone oriented, there is one aspect to this that I had not thought of.
I am currently in the process of interviewing one of the major CASA certified trainers and they brought this subject up, and to say it is a tad important is an understatement.
Insurance.
It’s all very well to be gung ho and ignore CASA and its rules (as some people in various drone Facebook forums seem to think), but if something DOES go wrong and you are not registered and insured, then the results could be (financially) catastrophic.
Imagine if you are flying over a bushfire and just happen to hit a water bomber. Or even more simple, if there is a battery failure and your drone simply falls out of the sky from 300 metres (so above the legal level if uncertified) over a crowded beach? or through someone’s roof. or onto a freeway.
Or, as was the case some years ago, a motor sport telecast had to be suspended as some idiot decided to fly his drone over the circuit while the TV helicopters were filming, necessitating them being grounded and costing 100s of $1,000s of lost revenue and costs.
The second point from this is that if you intend to go commercial and are not insurance covered, it’s more than likely no potential customer will come within a bull’s roar of you anyway … and of course it is unlikely you’ll get insurance if you are not registered and licenced.
Catch 22.
