Ely Aviation’s senior drone pilot and academy instructor Ian Titchener says:
In my last article, we looked at the endemic problem of Remote Pilots who gain their PfCO and immediately consider themselves an expert on any and all things UAV related!
So today I thought I would put pen to paper and offer my opinion on why you should become an expert, and how winging it will only lead you in one direction...
It was written long ago ‘that he who thinks he knows everything knows nothing’. The commercial drone industry is one where technology is still advancing at an exponential rate, driven initially by innovation in the smartphone market and now by industry giants like DJI pushing the boundaries of the technology. Along with this ever-expanding push into new technological realms comes the need for continual training and currency to ensure that you are up to speed with the latest technology.
There are a large number of superb training organisations within the drone industry and a very small number of bad ones. Getting trained and maintaining your currency is a continual task and information can be gained from a large number of places:-
Forums: A large number of specialist forums exist that have acres of information on real-world scenarios where UAS technology is being used
Youtube: Probably the best place to find information directly from manufacturers and software houses. DJI, Drone Deploy and Pix4D have some excellent online educational videos.
Classroom-Based Training: Probably the best of the bunch if your budget will stretch that far. There are many drone academies in the UK (ours included) that offer specialist courses delivered by people who use the technology day in day out.
At our own academy, we offer courses on a wide variety of topics including:
- The 3iC Remote Pilot Authorisation Course (the best PfCO course on the market as far as we are concerned)
- Photography
- Sales and marketing 101 for drone companies
- Aerial Surveying, Mapping and Photogrammetry
- Telecoms inspection.
You can never know too much, but you can always know too little, and that can be very embarrassing, not just for you, but for your clients too.
So our advice, in short, is get learning, keep learning and don’t stop learning!