Eric Deagle started flying remote control airplanes at the age of 13. Since that time, his passion for flight has evolved into his getting a pilot’s license and now a license from the Federal Aviation Administration as a Commercial Drone Operator. 

Deagle owns Cloud 9 Digital Imagery, and offers professional aerial photography and video services for real estate agents and others across the Middle Peninsula and beyond. 

He said he started doing aerial photography around 2005 in a six-winged aircraft. However, with the rising cost of fuel, it eventually got to the point that is was cost-prohibitive. “It was a minimum of $200 an hour just to get the plane in the air and was over $300 an hour for the helicopter,” he said. “It became a real issue.”

He said he tries to get the point across to real estate agents that there are certain protocols and regulations that must be followed to fly a drone. “You can’t just do it because you want to...