Aerial Drone Services

Here is how this works in practice. Our aerial drone services in New Zealand operate under Civil Aviation Authority NZ Part 102 commercial certification — the unrestricted licence needed for filming above gathering thresholds, beyond visual line of sight, at night, or with heavier cinema payloads. Standard inventory spans DJI Inspire 3, Freefly Alta X carrying Ronin 4D / RED Komodo / Sony Venice 2 / ARRI Alexa Mini LF payloads, DJI Matrice 350 RTK with X9 / X7 cinema cams, and FPV cinewhoops (DJI Avata 2 and custom 5" builds) for through-the-rotors interior and proximity work. Coverage spans North Island (Auckland CBD with Sky Tower context shots, Hobbiton at Matamata, Tongariro National Park UNESCO with Mt. Ngauruhoe doubling as Mt. Doom, Lake Taupo, Rotorua geothermal, Mt. Taranaki, Bay of Islands, Cape Reinga) and South Island (Fiordland UNESCO, Aoraki/Mount Cook 3,724m, Queenstown, Wanaka, Glenorchy / Lothlorien, Mount Sunday / Edoras, Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve, West Coast glaciers Franz Josef and Fox, Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, Stewart Island/Rakiura).

Here is the short of it. Department of Conservation permits are mandatory for any commercial drone flight inside national parks and the conservation estate — which encompasses nearly all photogenic NZ wilderness, including Tongariro and Te Wāhipounamu UNESCO sites. We handle DOC concession paperwork, RPAS Operating Manuals, and iwi/hapū consultation under Te Tiriti o Waitangi where culturally major subjects are involved — specific Aoraki (Ngāi Tahu), Taranaki, and Tongariro (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangi, Whanganui iwi). The country's drone filming heritage runs through Andrew Lesnie's LOTR Mt.

Here is how this works in practice. Doom helicopter passes with Helilink, Mortal Engines, Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner), Avatar Way of Water at Stone Street Manukau Wellington, Thor: Ragnarok, and ongoing Rings of Power Amazon Prime production. Where gyro-stabilised heavy-drone filming is needed, we set up with Shotover Camera kits Queenstown (makers of the F1 and K1 used on Bond and Mission Impossible) and helicopter operators Heliworks Queenstown, Helilink, Aspiring Helicopters, Wanaka Helicopters, and Helipro nationwide. NZSPG 20% + 5% productivity uplift records runs through the New Zealand Film Commission.