It is pretty clear when you ask the lawyers, to make money flying an airplane for a living, you have to be a commercial pilot. That will take a lot of time to get to that level. As a non instrument rated fresh pilot I think you are restricted to a certain distance from the home airport. Once the instrument rating is achieved you can actually go somewhere. It will be a long time before I don't have a commercial pilot flying with me, even if I pushed hard to get there. Since my partner and the guy we hire as a contractor pilot are both instructors, no big deal. The insurance we carry on the airplane is expensive because so many clients want really high coverage limits.
We will never be carrying passengers, but if I am operating the laptop that operates the camera system that makes our company money, I need a commercial pilot on board.
And the only reason I an looking at a license is it will will cost so little. A few hundred bucks in gas. The commercial pilot instructors are already getting paid the be there, and for most flights the gas will be paid for by the client we are flying a job for.
Now I just have to get educated.
