Soaring Higher

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I haven’t blogged in a few weeks because I was deep down the drone rabbit hole. I have been toiling away behind the scenes trying to improve my drone flying skills and I think I’m starting to make some progress. I started by practicing flying indoors for a few weeks at work using a smaller, simpler drone than my own. I got much better at maneuvering, so, then I took my drone outside and had my first really great day of flying. I feel like I know my drone much better now!

The day I flew, I was teaching part of a 6-week drone program to a group of 18-21year old students and we were going outside to fly their drones for the first time. I brought my personal drone to try and get some pictures and video of the students flying their drones. It was the first time I felt really confident flying my much bigger drone. As you can see, my photography skills while flying could some work, but it is a definite improvement from the first time.

Another part of this program included receiving a test prep course from Vaughn College to take the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification Test, which I took with them. Now, that part was tough! It was an hour and a half session at the end of each day of the first two weeks of very dry lecture about laws, airspace, weather and more.

In the beginning it was looking pretty bleak, the sectional charts were very confusing and the professors couldn’t really answer many questions in person (oh yeah – it was via zoom) since the course was so short, they had to just keep moving. I was scrambling to get anyone I could think of (pilots, drone pilots, Air Traffic Controllers) who knows this info to answer some questions during a study session with us, but no luck. The FAA is very busy right now working tons of overtime and none of my ATC friends could help out. So, we muddled through and while I haven’t taken the test yet, I do think I will pass first try, based on my practice tests.

That being said, do any of you commercial drone pilots out there have any advice for a remote pilot candidate, either for the test or for pursuing drone pilot work? It would be nice if we could get a little exchange of info going for others to benefit from our experiences. I will be sure to update on the blog when I do take the test to let you all know how it went. Until then keep soaring higher with your aviation goals.