Any concept what number of licensed drone pilots are on the market within the U.S. with a Distant Pilot Certificates? On the finish of 2020, there have been 199,018 Distant Pilot Certificates issued, in line with the Federal Aviation Administration.
A Distant Pilot Certificates is a requirement to have the ability to legally function drones for business functions within the U.S. So as to get that Distant Pilot Certificates, you will need to pass an in-person written exam, which many individuals seek advice from because the “Half 107 check.” (It’s referred to that as a result of the check rule is written beneath the FAA’s Half 107 rule.) The test, which consists of about 60 a number of selection questions, could be taken at certainly one of about 700 testing facilities unfold throughout the nation.
Learn extra: Passing or failing your Part 107 test: 5 factors that could make the difference
That 199,018 determine for licensed drone pilots consists of individuals who took the preliminary information check and present manned pilots who took on-line coaching in lieu of the information check. Manned pilots (those that maintain a pilot certificates issued underneath 14 CFR part 61 and have accomplished a flight assessment inside the earlier 24 months), don’t have to undergo the entire strategy of taking a written check particular to drones. As an alternative, their course of is far easier, merely having to go to the FAA FAASTeam website and full the web coaching course referred to as “Half 107 small Unmanned Plane Techniques ALC-451,” which takes lower than two hours to finish.
In context, how many individuals is 199,018? That’s about the identical because the inhabitants of mid-size cities together with Frisco, Texas; Huntington Seashore, California; or Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah.
That’s about half the dimensions of the populations of New Orleans, Louisiana or Tampa, Florida.
Nonetheless, the variety of licensed drone pilots continues to be smaller than the mixed complete of pilots who're licensed to function manned plane. The FAA acknowledged a complete of 689,331 lively U.S. pilots as of Dec. 1, 2020. Right here’s what number of manned pilots are within the U.S., damaged down by classes of licenses:
- Scholar Pilot: 220918
- Sport Pilot: 6,614
- Leisure Pilot: 111
- Personal Pilot: 172,637
- Business Pilot: 118,804
- Airline Transport Pilot: 170,247
The FAA additionally this month launched different end-of-year figures for 2020, together with knowledge round Half 107 waivers. Half 107 waivers are required to execute flights which might be in any other case banned by the FAA, reminiscent of flying a drone from a shifting car.
The FAA has issued four,893 waivers as of the top of 2020. Right here have been the prime 5 waiver requests accepted, together with what number of approvals have truly been given for that sort of waiver:
- Night time Operations: four,489
- Operations Over Individuals: 167
- Past Visible Line of Sight (BVLOS): 88
- Operational Limitation: Altitude 110
- Ops from Shifting Car: 6
Complete Airspace Authorizations Issued: 71,134
The most typical waivers are for permitting drones to fly at night time and over individuals. These waivers are so widespread, in reality, that the FAA is about to cease issuing lots of them, to a sure extent. That’s as a result of the FAA in December 2020 introduced a brand new Operations Over People and at Night rule, which permits Part 107 remote pilots the power to fly over individuals and shifting automobiles, contingent upon “the extent of danger” of the drone operation.
In distinction, one thing like a Part 107 BVLOS waiver is notoriously troublesome to get. In truth, over 99% of BVLOS waiver purposes have been rejected by the FAA, according to a 2018 PrecisionHawk analysis of Part 107 data.
The publish Any guesses how many certified drone pilots are in the U.S.? appeared first on The Drone Girl.
Comments