Crew
Drone operator and crew hire in Cape Town
A licensed aerial crew that arrives with the aircraft, the permits and the paperwork. The pilot who scopes the shot flies it.
What a booking includes
- A licensed remote pilot, flying under an operator certificate and following South African aviation law. Fully insured.
- A dedicated spotter on visual line of sight of the aircraft and the flight line for the whole flight.
- The aircraft and the batteries for the day.
- Flight planning for every location, including the airspace check.
- The aviation permits and approvals, handled by us.
Depending on the shot, the crew grows. A camera operator can fly with the pilot on the Inspire 3, and a drone technician supports the FPV builds. Tell us the shot and we will say who is needed.
Half day and full day bookings
We book by the half day or the full day, not by the hour. Which one fits depends on the shots, the light, the number of locations and the permits. Location count matters as much as shot count, because every location needs its own flight plan and airspace check. Describe what you need to capture and we will say which suits it.
On set
The crew works to your call sheet like any other department, and hands the production a clear picture of what the aircraft needs.
- A safety brief with the first AD before the first flight, covering the flight line, the abort call and where the aircraft goes if the link drops.
- A cleared flight corridor. Nobody stands in or under the flight line who is not in the shot and briefed.
- Battery swaps planned into the schedule, so the day is built around them rather than interrupted by them.
- On chase and proximity work the spotter can ride in the tracking vehicle.
Which aircraft come with the crew
| Aircraft | Flown for | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| Mavic 4 Pro | Smaller shoots, tight locations, quick deployment and scouting. | Drone services in Cape Town |
| DJI Inspire 3 | Cinema aerials for film, television and commercials. Full frame 8K. | Aerial filming |
| Gimbal stabilised FPV and GoPro FPV | Chase, proximity, dive and single take interiors. | Cinema FPV |
| Freefly Alta X heavy lift | Larger cinema cameras and custom payloads. | Aerial filming |
Who books the crew, and where
Production companies and service companies, agencies, brands, hotels, wine estates and property developers. Cape Town is home ground: the metro and City Bowl, the Atlantic Seaboard, the Winelands, the Overberg and the West Coast. We also work across South Africa and in Namibia, and longer trips are on request. We film. We do not sell drones or train pilots.
Permits
Crew hire in Cape Town comes with the permit work built in. Commercial drone work in South Africa sits behind a chain of permissions, and we map it before the day. Start with permits and approvals, then the guides for Table Mountain National Park and Cape Town film permits.
Questions producers ask
Is the pilot licensed?
Yes. Every flight is flown by a licensed remote pilot under an operator certificate, in line with South African aviation regulations and the airspace, landowner and location rules that apply. We are fully insured.
Can you join at short notice?
Sometimes. It depends on the crew diary, the aircraft the shot needs and above all the permits, because the aviation clearances and any location permission run on their own clocks and no authority backdates. Send the location and the date and we will tell you straight what is possible.
Do you supply a spotter?
Yes. A dedicated spotter stays on visual line of sight of the aircraft and the flight line for the whole flight. On chase and proximity work the spotter can ride in the tracking vehicle.
Who handles the permits?
We handle the aviation side: the flight plans, the airspace coordination and the paperwork behind them. The production lodges the location permission, such as a City of Cape Town film permit, a SANParks or CapeNature application or a landowner letter, and we build the aviation applications on top of it.
Tell us the day
Send the location, the date and the shots you need. We will come back with the crew, the aircraft and the permit route.