UAS stands for an Unmanned Aerial System. It is an unmanned aircraft, operated without any direct human intervention from within the aircraft.

Sometimes, you will also see it written as UAV. This stands for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Or, you may have heard it being called an RPAS, which stands for a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System.

And you have, no doubt, heard it being called a drone.

Essentially, many use these terms interchangeably to refer to the same thing.

Our additional info page lists other commonly used terms, expressions, acronyms and abbreviations used within the industry.

In the UAE, all drones heavier than 500g need to be registered with the GCAA. And, if you intend to fly your drone in Dubai, you will also need to register it with Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA). Before they approve you, DCAA will want to see your RPAS training certificate.

Note that, for hobbyists, current Civil Aviation Regulations (CARs) forbid use of drones with image recording equipment.

If you have a drone, and you intend to fly it for recreation, make sure that your drone is registered and that you are familiar with the latest regulations. Word of mouth advice you hear on the street will not protect you from potential charges and fines. When flying, use common sense. Flying a drone, although fun, can cause severe injury or damage to property should things go wrong.

A copy of current CARs can be found on GCAA’s website.

No, we do not. However, at present there are a few centres in Dubai that do so. And the number of these centres is likely to grow.

For UAS/RPAS training and certification courses you can contact Exponent Technologies, located near Al Maktoum World Central Airport.

The drones we use can stay up in the air between 15 to 30 minutes. That’s in a single flight. The actual time depends on the drone itself, the weight it carries, the demands of the mission and complexity of the maneuvers, and the weather conditions. It is often the case that drones are intermittently landed for their batteries to be replaced before taking off again to complete the mission.

No. We do not rent our drones. Our drones can only be flown by operators specifically registered for their use. However, perhaps we can help you in some other way. Why not give us a call with your specific requirements and together we can figure it out?

In summary, you will need the following:

• NOC from the General Civil Aviation Authority.
• NOC from the local Civil Aviation Authority. If you are filming in Dubai, then it would be the DCAA. If you are filming in Fujairah, then it would be FDCA, and so on.
• Security clearance from the Ministry of Defence.
• Filming permit from the relevant authority, e.g. DFTC in Dubai, or Abu Dhabi Film Commission in Abu Dhabi.

Note that you will have had to have been registered with relevant authorities before you can apply for the above. So if that is an issue for you, we can assist.

We can secure all of NOCs, security approvals and filming permits. Or anything else that may be needed to keep the project moving. We would need you to provide us with certain documents relating to your business or the intended activity. Normally, these would include copies of IDs, creative briefs, filming script, letter of undertaking, etc.

One thing to keep in mind is the time it takes to obtain all the necessary permits. Usual turn around time ranges from 7 – 10 working days. This often depends upon the location, the main authority in charge and the time of the year.

If you need additional information, feel free to get in touch with us and we can advise accordingly.

In Dubai, a filming permit from DFTC takes between 3 – 5 working days to process.
In terms of the fees, on our last project our costs were as follows:

• DFTC Application fee: AED500.
• Filming permit fee: AED2,500.

For each of the above transactions, you will be asked to pay AED10 Knowledge Fee and AED10 Innovation Fee. These are charged by the local government. So in total, a permit for filming or photography at a public location in Dubai will cost you AED3,040.

(Information correct at the time of writing. For up to date information, please contact the relevant authority)

Well, let’s look at it this way. A single flight lasts between 15 – 30 minutes. Our drones carry a single 480Gb SSD drive. So the answer will be anywhere between whatever can fit on the drive and up to a maximum of 30 minutes in length.

But that doesn’t really answer the question. Does it? More to the point though, the length of the recorded footage will depend on a number of factors. These include the capture resolution, video compression rate, video frame rate and camera’s dynamic range.

As an example, a 4K film recorded at 30fps in H264 (data rate: 100Mbps), would be over 20 times longer than the same footage recorded at 30fps in Cinema DNG raw (data rate: 2.4Gbps).

In real terms, a single 480Gb card would fit close to 12 hours of H264 footage and 30 minutes of footage recorded in a Cinema DNG format.

Thankfully, we are not limited to a single flight. And, generally, a number of flights are needed to achieve project’s objectives. So in reality, we are not limited by the amount of storage a drone carries. So we can provide you with as much footage as you think you need.

Yes, they can do. Although we would need to agree this in advance, so that we know how to plan the project.

For videos, based on your needs, we can either string all the footage together onto a single timeline. We can colour grade it in DaVinci Resolve, before submitting it to you for review.

If we are working towards an agreed creative brief, we can edit all the aerial footage, and any other footage recorded for the project. We can do that in a way that complements the story you are trying to convey. Or, we can do it in accordance with your Film Director’s or Cinematographer’s vision.

We can also provide you with original score music, should this be required.

For stills photography, we can retouch images to suit a diverse set of needs, from minor colour corrections to high end composite retouching. Please call us to enquire.