If I shoot drone real estate photos and provide them to a real estate agent for free and do not benefit in anyway, is Part 107 certification needed.

  
  

Thanks,

  

Rich

If you want to stick to the rules, it's not whether you charge that's the issue.
Do you already have the photos or is the real estate agent asking you to fly for him?

The 107 regulations are about commercial flight ... flying for someone else.
If you already have the photos and the agent would like to use them you can legally charge for them, but you can't go and fly for him now.
That's the official line.

But whatever you do, it probably won't matter anyway.

Hello there Rich. Good day and thank you for the inquiry. I hops that our fellow DJI co pilots who has the Part 107 Certification can give out the best information and recommendation with regards to this inquiry. Thank you and have a nice day.

Just don't post them on youtube, and you should be fine...

In furtherance of a business.
I asked the FAA if I could leave a drone shot on a review of a business .... answer-no.  It would further their business.
The only way to be within the law is if the real estate agent didn't use the images for advertising the property.

I wonder if you could just post them somewhere publicly. The agent could get them without asking as could anyone.

GaryDoug Posted at 8-25 11:38
I wonder if you could just post them somewhere publicly. The agent could get them without asking as could anyone.

He can legally give or sell the images if he already has them.
But accepting a commission to go out and fly for them now would contravene the regulation.
However, the chances of ever being caught would be so close to zero, it wouldn't matter.

Labroides Posted at 8-25 22:11
He can legally give or sell the images if he already has them.
But accepting a commission to go out and fly for them now would contravene the regulation.
However, the chances of ever being caught would be so close to zero, it wouldn't matter.

As I understand the FAA rules, even giving the photos to a charity is not allowed.

Per the FAA:
"Financial compensation, or the lack of it, is not what determines if the flight is recreational or commercial....

Note: Non-recreational purposes include things like taking photos to help sell a property or service, roof inspections, or taking pictures of a high school football game for the school's website. Goodwill or other non-monetary value can also be considered indirect compensation. This would include things like volunteering to use your drone to survey coastlines on behalf of a non-profit organization. Recreational flight is simply flying for fun or personal enjoyment."

On that last line, I once did a simple flyover video of a local deserted island just for fun, posted it on YouTube publically, and some environmental group just happened to download a copy.

GaryDoug Posted at 8-26 13:03
As I understand the FAA rules, even giving the photos to a charity is not allowed.

Per the FAA:

The FAA have no rules about photos.
All their rules are about flying.

In the scenario you mentioned, they wouldn't allow flying for the purpose of creating imagery for someone else.
But if you had legally  flown and photographed for yourself at some time in the past, they have no rules and no objection regarding what you do with that imagery.

It's a ridiculous situation where what matters is what motivates you to fly and comes down to a thought crime.
It's even more ridiculous when their ability to detect and enforce is near zero.

Labroides Posted at 8-26 16:23
The FAA have no rules about photos.
All their rules are about flying.

The so-called "no rules" I posted above come directly from the FAA web site.

Just because it is unlikely to be a problem for the flyer does not mean it does not exist. Prisons are full of people who didn't think they would get caught.

GaryDoug Posted at 8-26 18:59
The so-called "no rules" I posted above come directly from the FAA web site.

Just because it is unlikely to be a problem for the flyer does not mean it does not exist. Prisons are full of people who didn't think they would get caught.

Now go and read what you quoted again ...
Non-recreational purposes include things like taking photos
Note they say taking photos ... their rules are about flying and taking photos .... they have no rules at al about what you can do with photos you already have, because even the FAA isn't stupid enough to come up with something like that.

FAA rules would prohibit flying and taking photos for someone (without Part 107.
But they say nothing about what you can do with photos you took previously when flying for yourself in a perfectly legal recreational flight.

And since you're not going to accept my word for it or use common sense to work it out, perhaps the FAA might be able to pursuade you.
Check the fourth para in this piece from back when the FAA prohibited commercial use of drones.
https://pilot-protection-service ... -aircraft-operating

It's referring to this FAA policy document:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/264441605/FAA-Memo-on-Media-Use-of-FAA

But it's hard to find but here's the rest of the document: