Meet Tom Sanfilippo of Inside Out Aerial in East Valley, Ahwatukee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Sanfilippo.

Tom, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
About 3 years ago, I had acquired an interest in the technology behind drones and the photography aspect of the devices. I was also about 4 years out from retiring, I always had an interest in photography even before I started my present job over 28 years ago. So I purchased my first drone, which was basically a toy compared to what I fly now.

About 8 months after my first purchase, I purchased a bit of a higher end consumer drone, a DJI Phantom 3 4k, and was just stunned by the technology. This was the real beginning of thinking about how I can leverage the technology using some of my life’s passions, experience and dreams to come up with an alternative to a second career after I retire in October of 2018. So, in late 2016, I signed up for an online class to gain the knowledge I need to pass the FAA’s Part 107 Airmen test, so I could become a licensed remote pilot and go commercial. I past the test in May of 2017 and became licensed.

Not long after, I registered as an LLC with the State of Arizona and started to setup shop. I also realized to have a viable product to market, I need much more skill then simply being licensed to fly with the FAA as a remote pilot. I’ve since acquired enough working knowledge of video production to finally put together and edit my own material in a successful and professional manner.

I started training myself in real life situations by filming the progress on a local freeway being constructed in Arizona known as the LOOP 202 South Mountain Freeway and then posting those productions to a local Facebook Group, Ahwatukee411. A local newspaper and editor for the Ahwatukee Foothills News reach out to me back in October of 2017 and ran a story about what I was doing in documenting the progress of the construction and labeled me the “Aerial Historian”. Not long after that, I began contracting out with this paper as a freelance aerial photographer and other local papers, in this group, to capture stunning aerial images for their stories, most of which ended up on the front page! I’m still about 6 months away from being able to truly branch out and expand but for right now, I’m at a pace that is easy for me to manage and keep up with. I’m still fine tuning my skills and suspect I will be with no end in sight as the needs and technology is constantly evolving for this industry.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part, it’s been rather smooth. The roughest part about starting up is find the time to balance this with still working a full-time job. The other rough part was to actually do what I do commercially, which requires a FAA Remote Pilot License, that took about 8 months from study to passing the test. Getting the word out in a such a new industry is also a hurdle that I’m currently working on and preparing a social media presence.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Inside Out Aerial – what should we know?
The business is basically drone photography and videography for hire and contract. Most of the work will be freelance and my focus was on building a more business/commercial presence doing inspection and construction progress recording. I had a request early on just after my license was issued to do a 280′ Radio Tower Inspection for a local radio station. Which was challenging and a great learning experience. The tower was located inside the boundaries of South Mountain Park which is a no-fly drone zone. I had to approach the City of Phoenix Parks to request permission to fly within the park. After touching base, I also learned that because of all the local news and radio towers located at this site, it was also protected by Homeland Defense. It took about 2 months of coordination, but I was granted permission with the restriction to only releasing the footage to the radio station, with the strict guidelines that none of the footage could be used for marketing and only for the inspection of their new tower. This was a jolt to my confidence and solidified that I was on to something. I was the first person with full permission to do such a job and unfortunately, I’m one of only 4 people that will ever see the footage… I must admit though, I have a few images of the flight that are part of my computer desktop background at my home office!

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Determination and understanding. The technology is new, and you have to be familiar with the rules and regulation that are set by not only the FAA but also local jurisdiction as well as property owners. This is not an area where you can get away with saying I didn’t know. You must be determined to make sure you put due diligent in finding out if you will be in violation of any laws and regulations at any level, for every flight. After that, it comes down the product itself. I set my standards high and if I don’t like it, I can’t expect someone else to pay for it!

Pricing:

• $99 for the first hour without any production work

Contact Info:

• Website: www.insideoutaerial.com
• Phone: 602-644-9966
• Email: info@insideoutaerial.com

Image Credit:
Kimberly Carrillo, Ahwatukee Foothills News

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