Aerial work is where a production's budget and its safety exposure are both at their highest — and where the right operator either delivers the shot the director imagined or burns a day failing to. If you're hiring a helicopter or aerial operator in Australia or internationally, here is what to weigh.
This is the one factor that decides whether you get the shot. A camera pilot flies the aircraft as part of the camera system — reading the frame with the DOP, holding a precise line, repeating a move take after take; a stunt pilot adds the choreography for chases, lifts and low-level pursuit. Think of it like driving: almost anyone can hold a car on a quiet road, but you wouldn't put that driver in a rally car, at race pace, on a closed stage. Flying a helicopter and flying it to the frame — inches off the deck, in formation, take after take — are different skills entirely. A licence gets the aircraft airborne; craft gets the shot.
Aerial filming runs on paperwork as much as flying. The unit should hold the right civil-aviation certificates for film and aerial-work operations and — critically — be able to secure the difficult approvals: low-level, night, over-water, over-crowd and genuinely first-of-kind sequences. Ask who writes the risk-management plan and who liaises with the regulator, air traffic control and location authorities. "We'll sort the permits" is not an answer; "here's how we got approval for X" is.
Look for stabilised cinema systems and the right aircraft for the job — single- or twin-engine, turbine, fixed-wing or a specialist camera ship. But look past the shot in front of you: productions change. Weather closes a location, the schedule shifts, or the director dreams up a new sequence on the day. A pilot and operator carrying more ratings, more aircraft and deeper experience can pivot with you — gaining the approval, satisfying the insurer and keeping everyone safe. One with a single rating and a single airframe hits a wall exactly when you need them to move.
This is where operators differ most. Some just fly the helicopter; the best take on the aerial unit's planning and logistics as one accountable point of contact — multi-aircraft coordination, stunt and SFX liaison, sourcing the right crew (aerial DOPs, camera operators, safety crew) and the safety-and-approvals work. Stitching together a pilot here, a coordinator there and a rig from somewhere else is where schedule and safety gaps appear.
Total hours matter less than low-level hours, because that is where film work lives and where the risk concentrates. Ask for the incident history plainly. A long, genuinely accident-free low-level record is the strongest signal there is.
Have they done work like yours — your genre, your conditions, your scale? Ask for named productions and the producers who hired them. A unit confident in its work will put you on the phone with the people who have used it.
Vague on approvals; no written risk plan; little or no low-level experience; a single airframe or rating; reluctant to give references; quotes a price before understanding the shot. Any one is worth a second conversation.
Have a production coming up? Get in touch to talk through the shot, the schedule and the approvals.