Developing an Online, On Demand, FAA Part 107 UAS Certification Course

VerticalGeo created an in-person FAA Part 107 UAS (Commercial Drone Pilot) course and we took it on the road last fall to teach First Responders. It was a big success. We helped teach the First Responder community how to become more standardized and operate more safely in a very challenging environment. Many First Responders are already using a UAS in search and rescue and in other operations and the FAA has given them the option of using Part 107 procedures or developing their own standard to cover UAS operations. For liability and standardization purposes First Responders need firm procedures to follow when using a UAS. We developed our FAA Part 107 Certification Course to give them a framework to work within.

With the foundations we provided in the First Responders class we have developed an online, on-demand Part 107 Certification course to make the FAA UAS certification more accessible to a larger group of aviators. We have designed a course to take an individual or a group of individuals who are interested in becoming a FAA Certified UAS Pilot and teach them the rules, regulations, safety concerns, and knowledge that will get them certified. We believe we will have the course completed and published in the next two weeks.

A course is easy to offer online, but what is more difficult is to create an online community centered around the FAA Part 107 Certification where we can raise awareness of UAS capabilities, provide information to UAS enthusiasts, form a chat-based help desk, host online meetups, and foster community engagement to discuss current FAA Part 107 regulations.

We will have more details on our course as we get it ready to publish it, but it should be very comprehensive and worth the investment in resources we have dedicated to it to try to create a new community.