The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is warning the general public that it is illegal to operate a drone with a dangerous weapon attached.

Perhaps you’ve seen online photos and videos of drones with attached guns, bombs, fireworks, flamethrowers, and other dangerous items. Do not consider attaching any items such as these to a drone because operating a drone with such an item may result in significant harm to a person and to your bank account. 

Operating a drone that has a dangerous weapon attached to it is a violation of Section 363 of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act enacted Oct. 5, 2018. Operators are subject to civil penalties up to $25,000 for each violation, unless the operator has received specific authorization from the Administrator of the FAA to conduct the operation. “Dangerous Weapon” means any item that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury.
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Operators should keep in mind that federal regulations and statutes that generally govern drone operations still apply. Some state and federal criminal laws regarding weapons and hazardous materials may also apply to drone operators or manufacturers involved in certain operations.

This is a brief overview of safety tips and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines for flying an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) – often called a drone. We highly encourage you to stay updated with ALL of the current guidelines here: www.faa.gov/uas. Another good resource for staying updated is www.KnowBeforeYouFly.com.

Langley suggests agents spend at least $600 on quality photography and acknowledges that if you don’t put money into photography, you probably won’t last long in the business.

Langley also lists staging, landscaping and property flyers as important qualities to sellers. All agents should be prepared to address each of these needs.

“They want to know about staging. I have an in-house staging lady that I use,” Langley said. “They want to know if I’m going to help with landscaping. I have landscaping people that I can recommend. They want to know about flyers and we have a sign with a flyer box. They want to know about brochures and we do a full color brochure.”

Langley’s lesson to agents is to always put the necessary resources into the listing presentation. The quality of your presentation could be the difference in the closing price.
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“If you’re a brand new agent, it’s hard to do. But you have to graduate to that because you really have to spend money to make money.”

Original Article from: https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=88770&cid=TW561
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September 15–After the widespread devastation Hurricane Irma wreaked on Florida last weekend, unmanned aircraft – more popularly, drones – have been invaluable in supporting response and recovery efforts in the battered Sunshine State.

When Irma’s winds and floodwaters damaged homes, businesses, roadways and industries, a wide variety of agencies sought Federal Aviation Administration authorization to fly drones in the affected areas. The FAA responded quickly, issuing a total of 132 airspace authorizations as of today to ensure the drones can operate safely.
For example, the Air National Guard used drones normally tasked for combat operations to perform aerial surveys. The drones allow the Guard to assess disaster-stricken areas quickly and decide which are the most in need of assistance. Similarly, U.S. Customs and Border Protection sent drones from Corpus Christi to Florida to help map areas in Key West, Miami and Jacksonville, using radar to survey geographic points on infrastructure such as power plants for The Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The private sector is playing its part as well. For instance, Airbus Aerial, the commercial drone services division of Airbus, is helping insurance companies act more quickly on claims coming in from homeowners. The company is combining data from drones, manned aircraft and satellite data to give a clearer overall image of specific locations before and after an incident.

Irma left approximately 6 million Floridians without electric power as temperatures remained in the mid-80s, so bringing the power grid back up is critical. In the northern part of the state, Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) is using drones to assist not only with power restoration, but also to ensure the safety of its crews. JEA said it was able to get all its damage assessments done within 24 hours after the storm passed through.
Drones also have played a significant role in helping Florida Power and Light (FPL) restore electricity – especially air conditioning – for its 4.4 million customers. The company has 49 drone teams out surveying parts of the state still not accessible by vehicles. Some of the drone operators FPL hired were flying within an hour after the storm winds subsided.
FPL cited the recovery effort as a stellar example of cooperation by local, state and federal authorities, including kudos for the FAA.

The search and recovery effort in Florida followed all too soon on the heels of similar operations in the Houston area, where drones played a vital role as well. The FAA issued 137 authorizations, sometimes within a few hours, to drone operators performing search and rescue missions and assessing damage to roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure. In addition to the direct response and recovery efforts, several media outlets flew drones over Houston to provide coverage to local residents and the world about flooding and damage in the area.

The FAA’s ability to quickly authorize unmanned aircraft operations after both Irma and Harvey was especially critical because most local airports were either closed or dedicated to emergency relief flights, and the fuel supply was low. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta neatly summed up the importance of drone operations to Irma and Harvey recovery operations in a speech to the InterDrone conference last week:

“Essentially, every drone that flew meant that a traditional aircraft was not putting an additional strain on an already fragile system. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the hurricane response will be looked back upon as a landmark in the evolution of drone usage in this country.”

The FAA is also helping with another key part of the Irma recovery by moving a second mobile air traffic tower from Connecticut to Key West, FL to provide a safe, sheltered environment for air traffic controllers to manage relief traffic at the airport. Earlier this week, the FAA shipped another mobile tower to storm-battered St. Thomas by air to support controllers there. The tower for Key West is scheduled to leave Connecticut today on a truck and arrive in Key West in the next few days.

​Original Article from: https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=88770&cid=TW561

AERIALS Proven To Sell FASTER And on Average For More Money
Now that more and more real estate agents have access to aerial photos and videos through drones, homebuyers and sellers are changing the way they expect to interact with real estate listings.

According to MLS statistics, homes with aerial images sold 68% faster than homes with standard images. Video tours that incorporate drone footage are also a great way to make your property stand out and to attract new listings. According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), 73% of homeowners say that they are more likely to list with a real estate agent who uses video to market their home; however, only 9% of agents create listing videos. An Australian real estate group reported seeing a 403% increase in traffic for listings that included video as compared to listings without."

In the last two years, drone technology has rapidly evolved. If you wanted an aerial image, you either had to hire a professional helicopter pilot or had to know how to assemble electrical components and solder wires, set up a flight computer and integrate a camera. Today, with a few clicks on Amazon, you can have a flying professional camera and supercomputer on your doorsteps within 48 hours.

With this major leap forward in technology comes a change in the way people are marketing and selling products and services in all types of industries, but one of the most prominent is real estate. Now that more and more real estate agents have access to aerial photos and videos through drones, homebuyers and sellers are changing the way they expect to interact with real estate listings.

According to MLS statistics, homes with aerial images sold 68% faster than homes with standard images. Video tours that incorporate drone footage are also a great way to make your property stand out and to attract new listings. According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), 73% of homeowners say that they are more likely to list with a real estate agent who uses video to market their home; however, only 9% of agents create listing videos. An Australian real estate group reported seeing a 403% increase in traffic for listings that included video as compared to listings without.

Are Drones Worth It?
Some of you might be thinking, “Is it really worth it for me to pay someone to take aerial photos and video of my listing?” Let’s look at some numbers.

Let’s keep things simple and assume the price of the average home you sell is $350,000 (the approximate average as of October 2016), the total commission is 6 percent, your brokerage gets 3 percent, and you end up with 1.5 percent (half of the 3 percent). That’s $5,250 for you per transaction. Let’s also assume you close 11 transactions per year (NAR average for 2015). That’s an annual salary of $57,750.
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Now let’s say you begin to incorporate aerial photos and videos into your marketing plan for your listings. If we go off of the statistic that homes sell 68 percent faster when using aerial imagery and that 73 percent of homeowners prefer to list with an agent who uses video, we can be conservative and say that you could attract 50 percent more listings and close 50 percent more deals—pushing the 11 transactions to approximately 17, which would result in an annual income of $89,250 in our scenario, an increase of $31,500.

The average cost of hiring a drone pilot to shoot and edit varies by the size of the property and the area you are in, but the average is about $500. If you use a drone pilot for each of the 17 listings, it will cost you approximately $8,500. That is a net increase of $23,000 per year ($31,500 minus $8,500) from deciding to incorporate drones, a return on investment of 270 percent.

So You Want to Hire a Drone Pilot. What Should You Look For?
It seems like every day there is another company popping up that offers drone photography and videography services. When searching for the right person for the job, it’s important to look for the following things:

FAA-Issued Commercial Drone License
The FAA established new regulations in August 2016 that required anyone using a drone for commercial purposes (defined as anything other than recreation) to hold a Remote Pilot Certificate with a Small UAS Rating. If you are going to hire a drone pilot, make sure they have this license. Not only does this ensure that the drone pilot knows the rules they need to follow, but it also protects you from being associated with any illegal operations. The FAA has handed out hefty fines to people flying drones illegally.

Insurance
There are a number of insurance options out there for drone pilots. Make sure that your hired drone operator has liability insurance in the event something goes wrong and they damage that beautiful house you are trying to sell. Standard liability policies cover up to $1,000,000.
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Experience and Quality
If someone is offering their drone services, it’s a given that they should have a demo reel of properties they have photographed and filmed. Go to their website, check out their work, and make sure it measures up to your standards. Not all drone operators are created equal. It takes practice and skill to get those smooth drone shots that make or break a listing video.
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David Young is the founder of Drone Launch, a business focused on giving people the knowledge and tools they need to safely and profitably use drones for business. Contact David at david.young@dronelaunch.co or through Twitter and Instagram @dronelaunch.
For more information, please visit DroneLaunchAcademy.com.
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​Read the full article here.
This was originally published on RISMedia’s blog, Housecall. Visit the blog daily for housing and real estate tips and trends. Like Housecall on Facebook and follow @HousecallBlog on Twitter.