FAA Part 107 · AUVSI Trusted Operator · Santa Cruz — SF Bay Area
Aerial work,
Aerial work,
flown by the book.
Licensed, careful, and local. Listing photos delivered in 48 hours, roof reports your contractor can act on, night thermal searches when a pet goes missing — every job flown like a mission plan, cleared with the FAA, done when we said it would be.
Licensed
FAA Part 107
Photos
48-HR Delivery
Night ops
Legal & Lit
Based in
Santa Cruz
Service manifest
Five missions we fly
AV-01from $129
Listing photography and video from angles a ladder can't reach — exteriors, lot lines, neighborhood context. Delivered edit-ready within 48 hours.
Airspace
Controlled-airspace flights cleared through FAA LAANC — usually in
near real-time.
AV-02from $199
High-resolution imagery of roofing, flashing, and solar arrays without anyone stepping on your roof. Reports formatted for insurers, adjusters, and solar installers.
Deliverable
Annotated photo sets and measurable orthomosaics on request.
AV-03by quote
Pole-by-pole and corridor inspection with an RF-engineer's understanding of the asset being photographed — insulators, conductors, towers, antennas.
Method
Visual-line-of-sight operations today; BVLOS-ready as the FAA's
Part 108 framework lands.
AV-04from $149
Thermal-imaging sweeps for missing pets, flown at night when contrast is highest and streets are quiet. We coordinate with owners and neighbors before every launch.
Legal night ops
Anti-collision lighting and night-trained crew per 14 CFR 107.29 —
no waivers needed, fully legal.
AV-05coordinated
Aerial reconnaissance support for public-safety agencies and community emergency response — damage assessment, search support, situational awareness.
Coordination
SGI-aware operations: we work through the FAA's emergency channels,
never around them.
Pilot training
Pass your Part 107 — taught by a researcher
Remote Pilot Test Prep
- Full curriculum for the FAA Unmanned Aircraft General knowledge test: airspace, weather, loading, regulations, night operations.
- Practice-exam bank built and maintained in-house — drill until your mock scores clear the real thing.
- Taught by an FAA-certificated pilot with a Ph.D. in wireless communications who flies these missions commercially.
- AUVSI Trusted Operator (TOP) pathway guidance for pilots who want to go beyond the certificate.
Launch price
Course
Course
$99$149
one-time · lifetime access
Score 85%+ on our practice exams and don't pass the real test? We refund the course.
Reserve a seatStudent Research Mentorship
- Science-fair project design in drone technology and RF applications — simulation experiments students can actually run, scoped for county fair through ISEF.
- One-on-one guidance from research question to experiment, data analysis, poster, and paper — the student does the work; we teach the craft.
- Mentor has judged the Santa Cruz County Science & Engineering Fair three times and publishes in IEEE journals — you learn the standard from someone who applies it.
Mentorship
$95
per session · project packages available
Free 20-minute consultation to scope the project before any commitment.
Book a consultation
Crew & credentials
The pilot who publishes the research
Xiangjian Gao, Ph.D. (ECE) — founder and chief pilot. Doctorate in electrical and computer engineering (UC Santa Cruz) specializing in UAV communications and localization; author of IEEE journal research on drone-assisted search and rescue and aerial data collection; FAA-certificated remote pilot and AUVSI Trusted Operator; three-time judge of the Santa Cruz County Science & Engineering Fair. When your mission needs more than a camera in the sky — RF surveys, thermal search, telemetry, or a student who wants to build something real — the expertise is in-house.
FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot
AUVSI Trusted Operator L1
Ph.D. ECE — UC Santa Cruz
IEEE-Published UAV Research
Engineer-in-Training (CA)
Remote-ID Compliant
Flight requests
Tell us about the mission
Email
Service area
Santa Cruz · SF Bay Area
Include the address or area, what you need captured, and any timing constraints — we'll come back within one business day with a flight plan and a quote.