07/04/2025
🎥🚁 Finally posting about the Head In the Clouds festival at The Rose Bowl! Huge shoutout to Chris Heinrich – without you, chaos would reign.
Ever wonder what goes into drone coverage at a music festival? Buckle up. Here’s the behind-the-scenes scoop:
First, my crew—Eric Bergez , my long time partner and local 600 camera op syncs with the truck and nails the shot. Michael Jennings the FPV master safely flying sub 250 drones over crowds, and Walker Graham down the VO position, and moi: Drew Cobb your friendly neighborhood aerial DP putting all the pieces together.
Then comes paperwork mountain—Part 107 licenses, drone regs, aircraft insurance, POA, questionnaires and permits. I used to be a graphic designer, so ours look slicker than most. 👍
Pre-event tech walk? Check. Signal tests? Uhhh no ... Had to wait till officer was there to fly, meaning testing signal strength “on the fly” as event started. Crazy stressful, but the law was laid down. We literally have a Pasadena helicopter pilot looking over our shoulder the entire time. Not just on site. Watching our every move.
Night drone flights over crowd? We were initially told no because other crews had crashes, but thanks to some diplomatic charm and exhibiting top shelf pilot skills, we got to keep flying till the end. 🚀
Flying the Inspire 3, navigating preset paths over trees, stages, and parkways—like a drone ninja. Waaaaaahhh!!!
And when we see our footage on the giant screens, and all over the social and awesome EFX wrap movie? That’s the real reward.
Feeling grateful for this wild, 36 hour ride and the rad people I get to work with. 🙌✨
❤️ 🐉
