Finding a licensed drone pilot

EYE IN THE SKY: Dave Brown, owner of Droners LLC, started his company in August. Droners is a "two-sided online marketplace" that connects consumers and businesses to professional, FAA-registered and regulated drone pilots for commercial services. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
EYE IN THE SKY: Dave Brown, owner of Droners LLC, started his company in August. Droners is a "two-sided online marketplace" that connects consumers and businesses to professional, FAA-registered and regulated drone pilots for commercial services. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

At www.droners.io, hiring a drone pilot to film special occasions or commercial services is a Web click away.

Incorporated last August, Droners LLC connects professional drone pilots with consumers looking for aerial footage of weddings and social events, and to real estate agents, roofers or solar-grid operators needing aerial property video or inspections.

Company founder Dave Brown, 32, originally of Eldon, Mo., came to Rhode Island five years ago and lives with his wife and children in South Kingstown.

One day last year, a friend filmed him with a drone while he kite-surfed. Wondering afterward why he couldn’t easily find a professional drone pilot for hire on the Web, he decided to launch his own website and company.

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Brown vets every one of the 1,300 pilots offering services through his site via a Federal Aviation Administration database. Pilots must be registered with the FAA, meet legal requirements to operate a drone professionally and have a manned aircraft pilot’s license, he said.

And the FAA has vetted Brown, making sure his pilots comply with its rules, he added.

“They’re definitely watching closely,” he said. •

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