Canadian UAV Flight Training

[EyeWingsuit]

I'm just studying this course for the simple fact that the SFOC is a system that you earn TC trust and they allow you more permissions over time. You need to show them you know the rules, respect them.

I never said it covers IFR but in the airspace there are others than UAV aircraft, there are some basics covered to understand who is around you.

Here is a link about information on Transport Canada (TC) exam :
TP 15263 – Knowledge Requirements for Pilots of Unmanned Air Vehicle Systems (UAV) 25 kg or Less, Operating within Visual Line of Sight - Transport Canada

I agree to be an overkill but the program vs TC requirement are identical.

They do not sell anything else than their course. Everyting else come from Nav Canada. I chose not to go with free charts because there are slight differences and I have enough.

Beleive me I agree this is an overkill but it comes from TC.

BTW I filed a request with Peru's goverment to bring a drone and their regulation is about the same as here, all their accronyms are based on english words, It really looks like there are international commities that are suggesting rules that countries choose to adopt or not. Thankfully for pilots flying international the rules are about the same. The aviation industry is not sure where the drone market will go. They base their first set of rules from the aviation world they know. If we want to share the ski we nee to know what is around us.

Anyone can ignore to learn all this and simply file SFOCs permissions will come slower for them I think.

I'm happy to share a templated, successful SFOC with anyone in Canada, pre-filled for Solo, Phantom, or Cinestar. FWIW, none of them contain any "unusual" acronyms. The standard charts work just fine. SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts is what we use for UAV and aircraft flight. Yes, they're SIGNIFICANTLY more detailed than the government charts for UAV but for SFOC purposes, the government charts suffice to know where one can and cannot fly without an SFOC.
AFAIC, EVERY UAV pilot/operator should know the basics that a 40-hour PPC would know, but Transport Canada is not at all requiring it, and until the final rules are in place, it's likely overkill for the vast majority of Canadian operators.
We're on the same page, I'm just pointing out that for recreational use, the school and TC exam you're pointing to is far beyond the TC expectation.

 

[EyeWingsuit]

I did some shopping on insurance becaus my company does not cover hobby or professional activities.
The price were way high for company that had no experience in this field (typically home and carr insurance) but found cheaper price from company already doing business in the aviation, usually they cover only under SFOC. If you show you have training and experienmce than it's really cheap (less than 500.00). I was quoted over 2000.00 from a major home insurance company.

Without an SFOC, I don't know that one can be insured. It's the caveat in my homeowners policy, which is why I went down the SFOC path.

 

[Ggirf14]

I'm happy to share a templated, successful SFOC with anyone in Canada, pre-filled for Solo, Phantom, or Cinestar. FWIW, none of them contain any "unusual" acronyms. The standard charts work just fine. SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts is what we use for UAV and aircraft flight. Yes, they're SIGNIFICANTLY more detailed than the government charts for UAV but for SFOC purposes, the government charts suffice to know where one can and cannot fly without an SFOC.
AFAIC, EVERY UAV pilot/operator should know the basics that a 40-hour PPC would know, but Transport Canada is not at all requiring it, and until the final rules are in place, it's likely overkill for the vast majority of Canadian operators.
We're on the same page, I'm just pointing out that for recreational use, the school and TC exam you're pointing to is far beyond the TC expectation.

Thank you for offering a known template, Transport Canada are apparently going nuts handling the sfoc mainly because people fill them the best they can with no aviation background and because it is mostly free form writing.
I often think studying do we need to know coriolis force to fly a 15 minutes mission over a football field? You are right this is an overkill from Transport Canada but the reality is those rules are in place. For recreational flyers this is even more an overkill.
The exception allowing to fly without an sfoc comes with a list of restriction the do's and don'ts include away from populated area, people, animals, aérodromes, etc. The fine for a person can be 5,000.00 and 25,000.00$ for a business.
Ref:
Expand "How does Transport Canada enforce the regulations?" on
Flying a drone or an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) for work or research - Transport Canada

Bottom line is the rules are asking to fly in a no where field (hoping a dear won't come by) or request an sfoc. The only group who could act to enforce the rules are peace officers who would hand what we should have at flying site over transport Canada who would decide if a fine would apply. Police officers would be most likely be the only peace officers that could do this but they are not aware. This leads to nothing will happen until something really bad happen than the poor guy involved will be find out.
I'm looking at comercial opportunities and I need to look into it seriously. Recreational flyers may save the trouble of knowing and assume the risk. It's a free country and we make personal choices.
Most important thing:
Happy flying, the sky is the limit kind of

 

[AirCanada]

well I am one third the way through the ground school course. Yes I dont think I need to check NOTAM's or that I will need to "swing the compass" or worry about turbulence separation. I do find alot of interesting info on navigation, how Navstar satellites work. How to fill out a propper log book for flights, legal requirements and how UAV's fit in. Did you know that you can calculate civil "twilight" from your exact position?... I had no idea, and these are the basics. (blink blink)

There is an entire section just on UAV maintenance Requirements. There are also a couple of sections on "Exemptions from SFOC" for the 2.0Kg Solo hobby guys.

Very interesting stuff!

Yes I agree, there are some areas of overkill. Do I see value in it? Heck yeah I do! I'm out only 250 bucks and its all worth it!

IMOO.. Much better than spending a grand + to have some outfit give you Coles notes on UAV law and show you some tricks with your controller over a day and a half.

That being said, I dont have any experience with any UAV flight school outfit in person, but did get an idea from several oulines of courses avaliable across Canada.

Has anyone been through one of these Canadian or US classroom courses so to speak? How was your experience?

 

[EyeWingsuit]

well I am one third the way through the ground school course. Yes I dont think I need to check NOTAM's or that I will need to "swing the compass" or worry about turbulence separation. I do find alot of interesting info on navigation, how Navstar satellites work. How to fill out a propper log book for flights, legal requirements and how UAV's fit in. Did you know that you can calculate civil "twilight" from your exact position?... I had no idea, and these are the basics. (blink blink)

There is an entire section just on UAV maintenance Requirements. There are also a couple of sections on "Exemptions from SFOC" for the 2.0Kg Solo hobby guys.

Very interesting stuff!

Yes I agree, there are some areas of overkill. Do I see value in it? Heck yeah I do! I'm out only 250 bucks and its all worth it!

IMOO.. Much better than spending a grand + to have some outfit give you Coles notes on UAV law and show you some tricks with your controller over a day and a half.

That being said, I dont have any experience with any UAV flight school outfit in person, but did get an idea from several oulines of courses avaliable across Canada.

Has anyone been through one of these Canadian or US classroom courses so to speak? How was your experience?

I have been in both Canadian and US courses, at Humber in Toronto and UVU in Arizona. I am also an FAI Examiner, and have attended FAI-issued courses in Britain.
Humber's program is the first I've seen not adapted from CFI programs; it's quite good.

 

[AirCanada]

I did look at this course. Duration: 24 Hours (18 hours in-class, 6 hours online) Fees 645.00 plus registration fees.

Recommended Prerequisite: CINE 001 UAV (Drone) Filmmaking and Image Capture - Introduction

This was the part that I had a hard time with....
*Upon passing the final exam, each student will be given one supervised flight session on a training UAV.

So after passing the ground school part, you get a supervised session with a P2?

As i did mention I have no experience with any class courses, but I am looking at all options with both eyes.

It is covering all the requirements from TC, but for someone say out in BC, it might be cost prohibitive

 

[AirCanada]

I have been in both Canadian and US courses, at Humber in Toronto and UVU in Arizona. I am also an FAI Examiner, and have attended FAI-issued courses in Britain.
Humber's program is the first I've seen not adapted from CFI programs; it's quite good.

FAI examiner... is that skydiving?

 

[EyeWingsuit]

FAI examiner... is that skydiving?

I'm rated in Skydiving and Gliders.
All airsport competition formats (powered, unpowered, balloon, models, skydiving, paragliding, parachuting, hanggliding, paramotors, rotorcraft, multi-rotors, microlights, aerospace) including world/continental records are judged and governed by FAI.

 

[kylemacdermit]

I don't suppose there is any chance we could see the "templated, successful SFOC with anyone in Canada, pre-filled for Solo"?

Thanks.

 

[EyeWingsuit]

I don't suppose there is any chance we could see the "templated, successful SFOC with anyone in Canada, pre-filled for Solo"?

Thanks.

Check your inbox.

 

[AirCanada]

Check your inbox.

yeah gotta luv this group!

 

[RPM]

I could go for that too @EyeWingsuit I have some templates, but nothing Solo specific and would love to see your successful format!
Thanks!

 

[dbaribault]

How can we see the template?

 

[EyeWingsuit]

How can we see the template?

If you've been active in the forums and I "know" who you are, I'm open to sharing over PM as I've shared with several others. The template contains a small amount of personal info that can't be easily removed without making the template challenging to first-time applicants.

 

[dbaribault]

That would be great.

 

[1ozzyabroad]

My Professor and I have done the course out of Humber and we can thoroughly recommend it!! Yifei is very knowledgeable and Alex really knows his stuff(hardware). No one has mentioned that they will also look over your first SFOC application for free!!
@EyeWingsuit, our college (Sheridan) has purchased a solo and the SFOC you are offering would be invaluable to us! I would appreciate it I could send me a copy too?!?!

 

[EyeWingsuit]

My Professor and I have done the course out of Humber and we can thoroughly recommend it!! Yifei is very knowledgeable and Alex really knows his stuff(hardware). No one has mentioned that they will also look over your first SFOC application for free!!
@EyeWingsuit, our college (Sheridan) has purchased a solo and the SFOC you are offering would be invaluable to us! I would appreciate it I could send me a copy too?!?!

Did you pick up your Solo from Henry's? If so, Russell should be able to provide you with a copy of the SFOC I gave them, templated for the Solo. I'm not really "offering" it, as much as sharing it with people that are active on these forums/this community.
Yifei and Alex are terrific people. Have you/I met at one of the Humber events/Saturday meetings?

 

[lawrence.jessejames]

Has anyone had experience with the SFOC - PNR (Prairie and Northern Region) Specifically Option 2?

 

[1ozzyabroad]

@EyeWingsuit
No, we got ours from Great Hobbies through Ken, the manager there, who is fantastic to deal with!
We haven't met, as my course/research work load this term is sucking all of my time away (the problem with getting older)-not even getting to my monthly flying club meetings :-(
How do I find out about the meetings at Humber?
Could I see Russell to get a copy of the SFOC, even though we didn't get our solo from them?

 

[mudman]

@EyeWingsuit would you mind sharing you template for solo and Phantom with me
Thanks