How does a uav operator

You will work outdoors, and some of this work may be done in adverse weather conditions. You may also be required to spend nights away from home. The current minimum age to gain a CASA certificate is 17 years. UAV operations is a developing industry, which is showing strong potential for growth. Opportunities are likely to develop in two main areas- for dedicated pilots with strong technical skills, and in more traditional industries now being assisted with UAV technology, such as surveying, engineering, cinematography, photography, and agriculture.

Work activities. Intel both creates drones and the systems required for other companies to create their own drones. Search for jobs at Intel here.

Kespry manufactures drones made specifically for capturing, viewing, and analyzing aerial imagery and survey data. Their customers include aggregates, mining, construction, and surveying companies. Search for jobs at Kespry here. Aloft formerly Kittyhawk is a one-stop-shop for flying, logging, and coordinating UAV operations. They have a strong focus on providing value for their pilots, which manifests in the usability of their platform and the fact that they allow for unlimited logging of hours.

Search for jobs at Aloft here. Matternet is a UAV manufacturer that builds world-class flying vehicles and intelligent software. They developed the Matternet One, the first smart drone made exclusively for transportation. Search for jobs at Matternet here. Measure offers cost-effective mapping and aerial imaging solutions for customers worldwide. Search for jobs at Measure here. Parrot makes some of the best drones on the market. Their Bebop drone is always a favorite in lists around the web, and the 2.

Parrot also designs, develops, and markets consumer products for smartphones and tablets other than consumer UAVs and drones. Search for jobs at Parrot here. Pix4D is a commercial leader in photogrammetry software.

Founded in with years of scientific research, Pix4D software uses images taken by hand, drone, or plane and creates customizable results that complement a wide range of applications and software. Search for jobs at Pix4D here. PrecisionHawk offers everything from data processing to 3D terrain mapping. Search for jobs at PrecisionHawk here. Their data collection and processing tools are employed by customers around the world in fields such as surveying, agriculture, GIS, industrial inspection, mining, and humanitarian aid.

Search for jobs at senseFly here. SkyWard is a flight operations management platform designed for drone operators. Search for jobs at Skyward here. Their WingtraOne drone takes off and lands like a multicopter, but flies in the air as a fixed-wing aircraft. This technology eliminates the risk of damaging the aircraft while landing, lets the drone carry heavier and thus better sensors, and still allows mapping of large areas.

Since its market entry in early , Wingtra has partnered with more than 50 of the biggest equipment dealers and has been selling mapping drones globally ever since. Search for jobs at Wingtra here. Yuneec first started innovating in the aircraft industry before creating the first commercially successful, ready-to-fly fixed-wing RC airplane. Eventually, they transitioned into their increasingly popular aerial video quadcopters. They also sell a drone made primarily for commercial drone work called the H Search for careers at Yuneec here.

Zipline is one of the biggest startups using drones to provide medical equipment and services to remote areas. In they delivered over 7, units of blood to people living in rural areas of Rwanda through a partnership with UNICEF and the Rwandan government. Search for careers at Zipline here. Every day people are posting drone jobs and jobs at companies in the drone industry—use our jobs search tool to help you look for work throughout the industry. You have 0 items in your cart.

Please complete the order. Buy Now! But before we go any further, we want to ask you a question: Why are you here? A drone hobbyist curious about what opportunities are out there for drone pilots?

Not a drone pilot, but curious about the non-pilot work opportunities that might be available in the drone industry? The below video is a great place to start, but please check out more information below. Types of missions drone pilots typically fly in work related to construction, mining, or aggregates Pre-building site inspections of the earth, possible drainage spots, and other factors to determine the best places to build, dig, or stockpile materials.

Measuring stockpiles of earth, sand, clay, or other aggregate materials. Progress monitoring—Photos, videos, and maps to show exactly how much progress has been made across an entire site. Safety monitoring—Capturing videos and photos to ensure proper safety precautions are in place throughout a site.

Aerial footage for chase scenes, fight scenes, and other action sequences. Aerial stock footage. Aerial foundation, chimney, and other building feature inspections to verify insurance claims Aerial inspections of grounds and related ground features i. Breaking news—Filming active shooter or hostage scenarios, collapsed buildings, and other live reporting events.

Traffic reporting—Aerial footage of traffic and accidents. Investigative reporting—Using a drone to collect key information for a story i. Photojournalism—Artistic, high-quality stills, and video capture to tell a story. Best Agriculture Drones and Recommended Software Drones Parrot has a drone made specifically for agricultural drone work, which is called the Bluegrass Fields. Creating orthomosaic and other maps to track turf management in a field.

Using drone data to conduct studies on the health of various plants under various conditions. Creating drainage and floodplain maps to understand where water will run off, and also where pesticides might be diverted by the natural shape of the land.

Best Drones and Recommended Software for Work in Transportation Drones There are a wide range of drones that can be used for transportation inspections, and they come at a wide range of price points.

Software When it comes to software for transportation work with drones, again the go-to choices for mapping with drone data would be Pix4D , Agisoft , and DroneDeploy. Monorails—Inspecting and surveying concrete support beams, rails, and other critical components. Roads—Using drone data to mitigate risks posed by rockslides, landslides, and flooding. Rivers—Regularly surveying rivers to prevent flooding and damage to roadways. Bridges—Inspecting bridge decks, support beams, girders, and other critical components in bridges.

Best Drones and Recommended Software for Work in Energy Drones Because of the electromagnetic interference power lines give off, you want to use a drone for power line inspections that has ferromagnetic protection. Wind turbines—Using aerial data to find damage to wind turbines. Power lines—Using aerial data to find places where lines have been severed or otherwise damaged by weather or other objects. Pipelines—Using aerial data to find leaks or cracks in pipelines.

Infrastructure related to any of the above items—Using aerial data to inspect stations, support beams, and other infrastructure related to the above items. Best Drones and Recommended Software for Work in Telecommunications Drones Because of the similarities between energy inspections and telecommunications inspections, our recommendations are the same here. Types of Missions Drone Pilots Typically Fly in Telecommunications Work Cell tower inspections—Looking for faulty equipment, damage to the tower itself, or wildlife living in the tower i.

Radio towers inspections—For the same purposes. Transmission towers inspections—For the same purposes. Monopole telecom towers inspections—For the same purposes. Other types of towers—For the same purposes. Here are some of the top college drone programs we know about: Middle Tennessee State University Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Kansas State Polytechnic University of North Dakota Another thing to note is that we offer scholarships here at UAV Coach for high school students interested in becoming FAA certified to fly drones commercially , as well as high school students interested in becoming FAA certified to fly drones commercially for students looking for college funding.

Instead of soaking in sensory information through their eyes and ears and fingers, drone pilots spend hours watching their crafts through their computer screens — their only physical link with the craft they fly. Over the last few years, the military has been taking on drones faster than it can train pilots. The old guard, airmen and women who clocked flight hours in regular aircraft before taking control of a Predator, is being replaced by a generation of cadets with basic flight training and hours and hours of video game time.

Drones themselves are evolving into complex automatons, making novel demands on their minders' brains and bodies. Scientists who study how machines and humans work together are only just filling in our understanding of what it really means to be a drone pilot. A drone operator who has a flying history will tell you that switching gears to remote control takes some getting used to. But drone pilots today rely on a computer screen, system status updates and a map, sometimes continents away from the craft they are flying.

Some of the hardest lessons to teach new drone pilots? For example, in the case of a lost data link, a drone is programmed to return to either a pre-programmed location or its original launch point. When that happens, "A pilot needs to know what the programming is if they need to manage it," so the programming can be changed if needed, Miller said.

Boredom an issue Drones like the Global Hawks are so sophisticated that they need more minding than flying. In other words, flying a drone doesn't suck up every drop of a pilot's focus every second they are at the controls. This makes boredom a unique but very real problem among pilots, and it cuts into their performance, a study published last year found.