page_title: Aerial photography
section_title: Radio-controlled model aircraft
hierarchical_section_title: Aerial photography / Platforms / Radio-controlled model aircraft
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial Drone and a Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin Close Call photo D Ramey Logan
context_page_description: Aerial photography is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flying object. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, balloons, blimps and dirigibles, rockets, pigeons, kites, parachutes, stand-alone telescoping and vehicle-mounted poles. Mounted cameras may be triggered remotely or automatically; hand-held photographs may be taken by a photographer.
  Aerial photography should not be confused with air-to-air photography, where one or more aircraft are used as chase planes that "chase" and photograph other aircraft in flight.
context_section_description: Advances in radio controlled models have made it possible for model aircraft to conduct low-altitude aerial photography.  This had benefited real-estate advertising, where commercial and residential properties are the photographic subject when in 2014 the US Federal Aviation Administration, issued an order banning the use of "Drones" in any commercial application related to photographs for use in real estate advertisements. The ban has been lifted and commercial aerial photography using drones of UAS is regulated under the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. Commercial pilots have to complete the requirements for a Part 107 license, while amateur and non-commercial use is restricted by the FAA.
  Small scale model aircraft offer increased photographic access to these previously restricted areas. Miniature vehicles do not replace full-size aircraft, as full-size aircraft are capable of longer flight times, higher altitudes, and greater equipment payloads.  They are, however, useful in any situation in which a full-scale aircraft would be dangerous to operate.  Examples would include the inspection of transformers atop power transmission lines and slow, low-level flight over agricultural fields, both of which can be accomplished by a large-scale radio-controlled helicopter.  Professional-grade, gyroscopically stabilized camera platforms are available for use under such a model; a large model helicopter with a 26cc gasoline engine can hoist a payload of approximately seven kilograms (15 lbs). In addition to gyroscopically stabilized footage, the use of RC copters as reliable aerial photography tools increased with the integration of FPV (first-person-view) technology. Many radio-controlled aircraft are now capable of utilizing Wi-Fi to stream live video from the aircraft's camera back to the pilot's or pilot in command's (PIC) ground station.
caption: Aerial Drone and a Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin
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