5 phrases NOT to say to a drone pilot

Sometimes naive and well-meaning, sometimes based on stereotypes, sometimes bordering on the illegal. Here are a few phrases that might make a drone guy want to strangle you.

If you know someone who operates and works with drones, be aware that they often hear the same phrases and questions (more or less always the same ones), to which they would love to react with insults or by pressing a hypothetical ejector button.
But alas, UAS (SAPR) operators do not have an "eliminate inappropriate user" button or a "cliché terminator" on their drone controls, so they can do nothing but swallow the frog and answer calmly, and if they can manage it, with a touch of irony.

Let's take a look at a short list of phrases that every UAS (SAPR) operator has heard at least once - often far more than once - and offer a few tips to anyone who has, against their will, one of these strange individuals in their life or circle of loved ones, who work with a flying object that many consider part of a worldwide conspiracy.

#1

To begin with, don't call them a drone guy.

We joked a bit and twisted the knife in the wound right in the title, but the truth is that drone guy means very little. The complete and most correct definition is UAS (SAPR) operator, which better describes the activity of a person authorised to fly a multicopter who knows where they can do so, how to do it, and which permits and authorisations to request and from whom.
Their training was long and costly and involved commitment as well as exam and performance stress.
A lawyer cannot be called a legalist, and a minister should not be called a political scientist. There are very precise qualifications that correspond to the competence each person has acquired and to paths that are anything but simple.

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#2

ENAC certification costs too much. It's the same even without it.

Reaction of the SAPR Operator (drone operator): Fainting.
First of all, ENAC recognition cannot be bought. What does have a cost is the courses that teach what the regulations are and how to decode them, and the training courses that issue certificates recognised by the authority (there are several, including the one by Aerialclick).
Insurance has a cost too (because it is absurd to fly a remotely controlled and potentially dangerous object without insurance), as does acquiring recognised machines or getting a drone recognised.
Anyone who wants to operate within the rules, like it or not, has to follow this path, just as a taxi driver who wants to drive their vehicle legally must have a licence, insurance, a permit, etc.
Now, if you really intend to fly a drone without recognition... don't tell your friend the SAPR Operator calmly, unless they have already had eight glasses of vodka and will therefore forget everything by tomorrow morning. Even you. Even where they dumped your body.

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#3

Those "things" should be illegal and banned.

To every worried person who expresses this idea, the recognised Operator will think of everyone who has said the sentence in point #2.
Because drones have generated considerable media noise accompanied by a series of strong prejudices and approximations.
Many believe that very soon we will be surrounded by drones flying over cities, over beaches, in the places where we would like to relax.
This will not happen thanks to the ENAC rules, which generate a lot of debate among professional and non-professional drone pilots.
Reply tip for SAPR Operators who hear someone say sentence #3: In reality, unrecognised operators who fly over people's heads, that is, over what the Civil Aviation Authority defines as critical areas, are already technically breaking the law and face penalties.

#4

Can you film the wedding from above for me?

The reaction to this question will be the cyanotic face, close to death, of your SAPR Operator friend. The curt answer will be NO.
Don't be offended. That "no" doesn't contain the sentence "it's kitsch, everyone does it now" (at least not only that). That "no" contains "it can't be done because it is dangerous for people, and ENAC will not unleash its best people to analyse your case and grant us a permit".
If you answer "But my friend did it at her wedding", expect a reaction similar to the one in point #2. Or a headbutt.

#5

Is it a job? I mean, do they pay you?

Well yes, it is a job. In fact... it is one of the jobs that over the next ten years will be most in demand in various fields (art, technical mapping, heritage protection, agriculture, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, etc.).
For those who do it well and within the rules, it is also paid quite well. In short, those who have gone through the process to obtain recognition are well aware that it would be a shame to leave it as a hobby, when they can provide such sought-after and useful technical services.
A recognised SAPR Operator knows that within a few years they could help rescue victims of environmental disasters, help in emergencies and in agriculture without herbicides, save cultural heritage and help in the fight against international terrorism. Keep these dreams and ambitions in mind when you are about to ask for footage at a wedding or a communion.

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