Drone jobs currently in demand after shutdowns.

While some drone jobs disappear from real estate, other drone jobs have been created thanks to the virus.

After Corona-virus shut down numerous economies around the United States, only about half of drone pilots were inhibited from working.  As many pilots were deemed essential by many states who defined media and construction as essential to the economy. Other drone pilots working in construction were able to continue working in every state except two.

Drone pilots typically offer photography and videography for small business commercial productions, real estate and action sports.  Albeit, many of these creative drone jobs have dried up.  In fact, most of the drone pilots polled for this article have seen real estate jobs disappear. These drone jobs disappeared because real estate home volume is abnormally low.  When a home does hit the market, they sell very fast and frankly do not need aerial imagery to aid in the sale.

As the drone industry witnesses the creative drone jobs vanish, many regret their lack of technical skills.  As drone-service-providers (DSP's) re-emerge from lockdown, many pilots are asking which verticals are hiring drone pilots.

Drone U reached out to a small group of pilots who are currently performing drone jobs. Which industry verticals are currently hiring drone pilots?

1. Construction
2. Covid Contracting
3. Traffic Monitoring
4. News Media Requests
5. Insurance Adjustments
6. Roof Inspections

While the resurgence of drone jobs seems to be coming back slowly, there is a measurable uptick in drone jobs.  Most of the drone jobs we see are entirely in construction. In fact, our large enterprise clients are asking to hire drone pilots while they train their own drone teams. 

Construction:

Most of the drone pilots we spoke to were working in construction. Drone pilots were being hired to provide permanent record of installation via photos. Some drone pilots were being hired to film video of construction sites to ensure social distancing requirements.  Other drone pilots were being hired to create highly precise maps to measure volumes, distances and audit material deliveries.

COVID-19 Contracting

Another large trend in drone jobs was the surprising emergence of drone pilots being hired to help calculate social distancing at covid testing sites.

One particular trend caught my attention with these pilots. Most drone pilots had received work thanks to their websites and google ranking.  We're really happy to see our members taking advantage of our business course and it pay off.

Traffic Monitoring:

Traffic monitoring has to be one of the easiest drone jobs on the planet. Frankly drone pilots might face increased adversity to problems as boredom levels spike with this flight. Between governors who want to know real-time traffic levels, to the health department auditing how many cars go through a testing center...traffic monitoring offers valuable data.  Businesses have been hiring pilots to better understand how to setup traffic flow through parking lots to increase delivery time to clients.  As trust decreases throughout America, business owners are getting creative to serve customers quickly and efficiently.

News Media Requests:

Drone pilots who flew over the empty streets have been rewarded as they sell their stock footage to numerous sites.  Drone pilots are also being hired to help drive inspiration on corporate commercials. One Drone U member, Phillip Hurst inspired millions with his drone video featured in a nationwide commercial. While these drone jobs are few and far between, it seems that media companies need quality drone pilots for advanced operations.

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Roof Inspections and Insurance Inspections

After speaking with some of the drone jobbing aggregators, two of the biggest increases in drone jobs came from roof inspections and insurance inspections.  While these drone jobs offer the lowest pay of all drone jobs, its an opportunity to get out of the house and get some flight practice in.

As drones make social distancing very easy, we expect to see more companies hire drone pilots.  Drone pilots who prepared themselves to serve various creative and technical verticals are finding themselves prepared to take advantage of opportunity. Some would call this luck. Rather, it is being prepared for opportunity when it arrives.

Drone pilots should prepare for these jobs by ensuring they're ready to fly creative and mapping jobs. Let Drone U help you get there.

-Paul Aitken

Chief Executive Officer -Drone U