Why Do You Need Section 333 Exemption?

If you fly your drone in the United States and plan to do anything commercial at all with your photos like selling your photos, doing real estate photography or something else, you'll need a Section 333 Exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The FAA has come down hard on a few photographers who sought to skirt around this rule.

It took me days and days to figure out how to do the section 333 exemption and to research all the laws and I'm a lawyer! If you're wading through the laws right now, I can likely save you a bunch of time.

I made a template to help you get your Section 333 Exemption. You can easily fill in your information and submit it in less than 15 minutes!

If you'd like to see a sample of the template, you can check out this sample. The rest of the exemption is only available after purchase.

IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE: By purchasing this product, you understand and agree that Improve Photography LLC is not a law firm and no part of this transaction constitutes legal advice. These contracts are offered merely as templates for you to customize for your situation and to match applicable law in your jurisdiction. Jim Harmer is a lawyer, but is not your lawyer, and you should seek individual legal advice from a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before making important business decisions such as writing a legal contract. This is provided merely as a template for you to adjust to your needs.

Common Questions

What format is the template in?

After you buy, you'll download a zip file with the file that you can easily edit in your personal information and submit. The dowloaded file will be in three formats so it'll work on ANY word editor (.doc, .odt, and also .rtf). Those formats will make it readable in Microsoft Word, Open Office, Pages for the Mac, or Google Docs.

Any other important information I should know?

Improve Photography LLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal services. Improve Photography LLC merely provides legal information that readers may use as a reference in investigating legal issues. Although Jim Harmer is an attorney–he’s not your attorney.

This template is the basic form that I used to apply for my Section 333 exemption to use my drone for commercial aerial photography. Improve Photography LLC does not warrant nor guarantee that you will succeed in receiving your exemption. This form should not be relied upon as meeting all requirements for an exemption.

Your choice to use this template is your own, and you are responsible for making sure you meet the legal requirements. By using this template, you agree that Improve Photography LLC is not responsible or liable for any loss, damage, failure to secure an exemption, or other harm that may occur out of your denied or delayed application.

Improve Photography LLC is not liable for your use or misuse of an unmanned aerial vehicle for photography. You are responsible for following all laws and safety guidelines to fly safely. Do not rely on the information Improve Photography LLC gives as a safety standard. Always fly responsibly.

Improve Photography LLC is a Georgia limited liability company.

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About Author

Jim Harmer

Jim is a world renowned photographer, once listed as one of the 10 most popular photographers in the world. His landscape and portrait work has been featured in some of the world's most popular publications.

He famously graduated law school, passed the bar exam, then gave up law to pursue his passion for photography. Next, he founded Improve Photography and has helped millions of photographers improve their photography over the last decade.

This puts him in a very unique position to protect photographers from possible litigation by providing extremely valuable resources to the Improve Photography community.

(Not Legal Advice: Read Important Legal Notice)

Important Legal Notice

By purchasing this product, you understand and agree that Improve Photography LLC is not a law firm and no part of this transaction constitutes legal advice. These contracts are offered merely as templates which you must customize for your situation and to match applicable law in your jursidiction. Jim Harmer is a lawyer, but is not your lawyer, and you should seek individual legal advice from a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before making important business decisions such as writing a legal contract. This is provided merely as a template for you to adjust to your needs.

These contracts are being made available without any guarantee that they cover all legal questions your business may face. These contracts are not guaranteed in any way. By downloading these contracts, you agree that you will never host these contracts online, distribute them to any third party, transmit them to any third party, or sell these contracts. By downloading these contracts, you are granted a license to use these contracts for you personally, or for a photography business that you own. You are not authorized to sell these contracts or to publish or transmit these contracts to any third party except as provided in Fair Use. Basically, I want you to be able to use these contracts for your business, but understand that I still own the copyright to these contracts. These contracts are written and published and owned and distributed by Improve Photography LLC.