How to become a professional drone pilot

Introduction 

Do you want to start a career as a drone pilot? 

We have put together a guide for you on how to start your journey in the world of unmanned aviation! 

We interviewed FlyingBasket’s first Commercial Drone Pilot/ Training Instructor, Philip Rubatscher, who shared his valuable insights into what it takes to advance your skills as a drone pilot, choose the right drone, license training and much more. 

Philipp started flying drones in 2013 and today he has already gained multiple years of experience as a professional drone pilot both in the filming and load transportation industry. As part of FlyingBasket he has completed several missions for clients from many different industries, such as telecom, energy, forestry, and others. He is also an instructor for the FB Academy, our own drone pilot school. 

We wanted to know why Philipp decided to choose this career:  

“What excites me the most about drones is that they have made the impossible- possible! Not so long ago, capturing high altitude footage was possible only with helicopters and now anyone can use a drone for filming and, more phenomenally, for transportation. They are quite convenient, safe, and cost-effective. Moreover, becoming a pilot of drones is a gateway into the aviation world, that is very rather demanding and requires expensive training. With drones, there are several new opportunities for those who are interested in this field.” 

Which drone to buy 

Starting your journey as drone pilot starts from a basic first step: buy a drone. There are many types designed to cater to the different needs of the pilot. Since it starts with a considerable initial investment, we asked Philipp to share some tips on making a conscious decision. 

“As a beginner you should avoid buying a drone that has all the sensors because those do not force you to build extensive skills. They are hard to crash even if you try to. 

If someone would like to become a test flight pilot or a pilot for bigger aircraft (25kg upwards), I would suggest buying a drone that has different flight modes: such as position mode, altitude mode, stabilized mode, or rate mode. It is difficult to find an on-the-shelf product that has all modes in one; hence you could go for a drone with different flight modes. And if you are really motivated, you can build your own drone by following online tutorials. 

When buying a drone to start your career you can look for a professional grade UAV. With an investment of 500-1000 euros, you can make a long-lasting purchase, and start accumulating enough experience.” 

Other tools needed to operate the drone are the remote control, batteries, and a support screen (which can be the phone screen for some drones that support this feature).

Commercial drone pilot license 

The next step after buying your drone is to get a Drone Pilot License. Following is a summary of the different license certificates that you can pursue as a drone pilot in Europe. 

Open Category – The Open Category of Drone Licenses allow flying in a Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) circumstance. This means that the drone must always be in the visual perception of the pilot. It comprises of the A1, A2 and A3 Certificates.  

The A1/A3 Certificate allows the pilot to fly drones under 25 KG weight in sparsely populated areas. The A2 certificate on the other hand, allows flying in inhabited areas with drones up to 2 KG. 

Specific Category – The specific category of Drone Licenses grant authorization to pilot drones heavier than 25 kg in Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) conditions. This category demands a higher level of competency from the Pilot. 

The exams can be taken with the independent aviation authorities such as ENAC (Italy), Austrocontrol (Austria), AESA (Spain) etc. If language is not a boundary for you, the exam can be completed in any of the EU countries, as the certificate is valid all over the European Union. (Click to learn more about limits and regulations in Italy, In Austria, in Germany)

And what about the level of difficulty? 

“You can achieve the A1/A3 Category with a short and structured preparation for the online exam. If you have never flown with a drone before, you can begin with a course at a flight school, for example at FlyingBasket (FB Academy), there are introductory courses that give an overview of the different flight modes, different commands, navigation basics and use cases. 

For the A2 category, that involves more advanced modules such as meteorology, additional hours of preparation are necessary to attain the relevant knowledge and piloting skills. There are many specialized courses in training schools, where you can spend dedicated hours learning unique tricks and tips on navigation and communication from a group of experts. 

I personally obtained all the required training at Flight Schools, as this helped me to filter out information, which is quite difficult to do by yourself. “

How to practice drone flight skills

Now that you have the necessary equipment, it is important to start planning how to improve your skills as a drone pilot. Start by building your fundamentals:   

“Start by practicing basic maneuvers by going to an open area, as empty as possible, that is not a “no-fly zone”. Another possibility is to start with a flight simulator that has integrated software which lets you fly the drone through your controller. Some training exercises that can be done to practice different skills are flying without the support of a camera. You can understand the drone orientation and practice basic maneuvers: doing a pitch, then doing a combination of pitches while increasing and decreasing height, making a 360 degree turn with the camera (always pointing forward) and the last step would be doing the same while moving up and down and creating a spiral. If you can do this with GPS, then you can try without it and if you achieve it, you are already past the beginner level!” 

(To better understand these maneuvers Philipp sent us a useful link to check out) 

The key to excel is simple: Practice as often as possible and every time, you will be better than the last. 

Drone pilot training courses

There are many types of courses to prepare for different exams (A1, A2, A3, Specific Categories). These categories allow you to pilot drones with different weights and different flight limitations as seen previously but what is the best drone piloting course for you? 

“Following different training courses to support the preparation for your license exam, is not as expensive as before and they can help you acquire important skills needed for commercial operations.” 

Different countries call for different requirements when flying but the certification needed does not change. Let’s hear from Philipp: 

“In general, the certificates obtained in any European Union country are valid in the whole of EU. This applies to the Open and Specific category licenses. However, airspaces and no-fly zones are different for every country and should be carefully observed. The FB academy provides training for pilots in German language, which is useful for the local community in South Tyrol, and it can help with informing yourself on how to fly in other countries.”