FR
← Blog
Video production

Industrial drone video in Quebec: what to ask before anyone flies

September 2026 · Video production · Quebec

An aerial shot earns its place when the buyer needs to grasp a scale the ground cannot show: the footprint of a plant, the run of an outdoor conveyor, the progress of a site. The rest of the time it is a decorative shot priced like a technical one. And since 2025, who flies and under which certificate is no longer a formality. The Canadian rules changed in two phases, and most of what you will read online still describes the old regime. This page is written for the person buying the shoot, not for the pilot. The wider frame is on the video production and content page.

What changed in 2025, and why old articles mislead you

Transport Canada sets out two phases in its own summary of the changes.

Two consequences for a buyer. First, there are now three pilot certificate levels, not two: basic operations, advanced operations, and Level 1 Complex operations. A text that describes two is stale. Second, the weight ceiling is no longer 25 kg. Transport Canada writes that "all pilots of drones or 'Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA)' with an operating weight of 250 g up to and including 150 kg must hold a pilot certificate." Operating weight excludes the controller and includes everything attached to the aircraft.

The three levels, in plain terms.

  1. Basic operations, minimum age 14. The flight has to stay in uncontrolled airspace, more than 30 metres from any person, more than 5.6 kilometres from the centre of a certified airport and more than 1.9 kilometres from the centre of a heliport, with a drone of 25 kg or less kept in sight at all times. In my opinion those conditions make the basic certificate unusable on an active industrial site.
  2. Advanced operations, minimum age 16, a $25.00 fee and an online exam. This certificate allows flying closer to people, closer to airports and aerodromes, and in controlled airspace with air traffic control permission. It also covers medium drones, sheltered operations and extended visual line-of-sight.
  3. Level 1 Complex operations, minimum age 18, a $125.00 fee. This is the new certificate for lower-risk flight beyond visual line-of-sight. The path runs through the advanced exam, at least 20 hours of ground school at a flight school and a Level 1 Complex exam. The flight stays in uncontrolled airspace, at 400 feet AGL or below, and more than 9.3 kilometres from the centre of aerodromes.

Medium drones, over 25 kg up to 150 kg, are now flown within visual line-of-sight under the advanced certificate. Above 150 kg you leave the certificate categories entirely and need a Special Flight Operations Certificate.

Sheltered operations, the change aimed straight at your site

This is the most useful development for an industrial shoot. Transport Canada defines a sheltered operation as follows.

Flying a small drone around a building or structure without direct line of sight.Transport Canada, advanced operations

That is exactly the case of filming around a plant, a silo, a tower or a warehouse: the drone passes behind the structure and the pilot loses sight of it for a few seconds. Before November 4, 2025, that flight required a Special Flight Operations Certificate, applied for case by case. Since then it is an advanced certificate privilege. If a supplier told you last year that a full orbit of the building was off the table, the answer has changed.

Two caveats. The pilot's certificate is not the only condition: each of these operations requires the drone to meet the safety-feature requirements for that specific operation, evidenced by a manufacturer Declaration or a Pre-Validated Declaration. The aircraft matters as much as the person. And height is still capped: 400 feet (122 m) above ground level, and no more than 100 feet (30 m) above a building or structure when the aircraft is operating within 200 feet (61 m) of it. You do not simply climb a tower because you are hugging it.

The rules that apply to every flight

In Quebec as everywhere in Canada, drone operation is governed by the Canadian Aviation Regulations, administered by Transport Canada. The sources verified for this page are federal ones. I verified no provincial or municipal rule, so this page asserts none, in either direction.

The penalties fit in one line: $1,000 to $5,000 for an individual and $5,000 to $25,000 for a corporation, depending on the offence. In more than one scenario, the corporation is the company that ordered the footage.

On insurance, only one thing is verifiable and it is narrow. Section 606.02 of the Canadian Aviation Regulations, the liability insurance rule, applies to every owner of an aircraft other than a remotely piloted aircraft registered in Canada. Its minimums therefore do not reach drones. That is not the same as saying no insurance is required anywhere in law or in your contracts. Confirm the requirement with your own insurer and with the site owner, then ask the supplier for a certificate. Nothing further is verifiable on an official page.

One last point, so nobody sells you equipment on a false deadline. On June 8, 2026, Transport Canada published a Notice of Proposed Amendment covering remote identification, with public feedback due September 9, 2026. It is a consultation, and nothing in it is in force.

Five questions to ask the supplier

  1. Which certificate does the pilot hold? Basic, advanced, or Level 1 Complex. A valid certificate, printed or electronic, must be carried at all times while operating, so it can be shown to you.
  2. Is the drone registered, and is the number marked on it? That is a ten-second check on site.
  3. Is my site in controlled airspace? And how far is the nearest certified airport or heliport. If the airspace is controlled, authorization goes through NAV Drone and has to be settled before the day. No official page publishes a processing time, so treat it as planning, not as a same-morning formality.
  4. What is the plan for people on site? Under the advanced certificate the regulation sets tiers: for a small drone, less than 30 metres but more than 5 metres from any person, or within 5 metres of a person not involved in the operation. For a medium drone, more than 152.4 metres, between 30 and 152.4 metres, or less than 30 metres. Each case requires the matching safety declaration for the aircraft. No official page consulted today explains how those categories apply to your employees on the floor, so settle it in writing before the day, with the list of zones cleared during the flight.
  5. Is the event advertised? If it is, a Special Flight Operations Certificate is required, even for an aircraft under 250 g.

When a lift or a locked-off camera is the better answer

Say it plainly: in a corporate video, the aerial shot lasts a few seconds. It is not what convinces an industrial buyer. What convinces is the process, the finished part, the operator explaining the gesture behind it.

Three cases where the drone is the wrong tool. A roof detail, a weld at height or a structure to inspect: a boom lift gives a closer, steadier image, with no airspace authorization and no dependence on wind. An ordinary building in an industrial park: seen from above, a beige rectangle next to a parking lot proves nothing. A warehouse interior: a camera on a pole or a gimbal goes everywhere and does not require clearing an aisle.

Then there is weather. An exterior shoot in Quebec between November and March loses daylight and sometimes the whole day to wind. If the aerial shot is the one essential element of the mandate, you have a schedule risk with no fallback.

The drone earns its budget when geography is the argument: a materials yard, a quarry, a rail spur, a site that visibly advances month to month, a linear installation several hundred metres long. There, no other camera position says the same thing.

I shoot the videos myself and work mostly with industrial and technical SMEs in Quebec, after more than 20 years producing visual content. An aerial shot earns its place when it explains something the ground cannot. The shape of a shoot day is described in what a real shoot day looks like, and what moves the invoice in corporate video pricing.

Sources

If you are wondering whether an aerial shot deserves a place in your next video, we can look at your site and settle it in fifteen minutes.

Book my call
Home · Portfolio · Case Studies

B2B Marketing · Industrial Marketing · Uncompressed · ClientGallery

© 2026 MarketingSTRAT