About the pilot

I’m Joel Galam. I fly drones in Chicago for venues, restaurants, small businesses, and events — aerial photo and video, and FPV fly-throughs for rooms that sell better in motion than in stills.

Before this I spent nearly thirty years as a registered nurse, most of it in cardiac care, with a master’s in health information management. That’s a strange line on a drone pilot’s bio, so here’s why it matters. Nursing is three decades of planning a procedure before touching anything, working in tight spaces where a mistake is expensive, and staying calm when the plan changes halfway through. FPV flying is the same job with a different set of risks.

In practice that means I show up early, walk the space before I fly it, check the airspace, and bring a visual observer when the shoot calls for one. I fly multiple takes, because the first one is rarely the one. And I tell you before the shoot what I think will and won’t work, rather than after.

FAA Part 107 certified and insured. Serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.