Certifying UAS Operators

More and more, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are migrating from hobby drones and military intelligence gathering machines to the commercial sector, where they are being used for commercial photography, surveys, and various other tasks best accomplished from the air. Most commercial UASs are of the "small" variety (less than fifty-five pounds), but that will more than likely change in the future as large unmanned craft take to the sky to transport both humans and cargo. 

As UAS operations become more commercial, the selection and training of the crew that fly them will become more stringent. Here is how I would hire and train drone pilots for my imaginary company. 

Selection, Training, Certification

The best way to select someone for a job is to hire a person who already has experience working that job. Ex-military UAS pilots and pro civilian drone pilots would be my first-round draft picks. I'd also happily hire manned craft pilots since they know their way around controlled airspace. Barring all that, I would interview hobby drone pilots who were serious about their craft and had the flight time to prove it. 

If none of that was available, I would hire based on a standardized aptitude test, similar to the written flight test given to military flight applicants. Education is fine, but I need someone who demonstrates the ability to do the job. 

Training would come next and would come in the form of a simulator. A UAS control module is basically a screen (or multiple screens), sensor readouts, and flight controls. That is easily replicated. I would have my prospective pilots log at least fifty hours in the simulator before they tested for certification. I think that is the minimum amount of hours required to safely fly a UAS in the NAS, and it would be an easy number to hit in a simulator. 

Certification would come via an exam of a real flight. Fly the actual drone in controlled airspace and execute several simulated scenarios and emergencies. Pass, and you can go for your drone license. Fail and it's back to the simulator (or back to the street if you don't have the right aptitude). 

One important thing to keep in mind: the bigger the drone, the more crewmembers it will need, and the more the pilots will have to train. Flying a quadcopter drone within visual line of sight to do a construction survey is one thing. Flying a fixed-wing drone beyond line of sight in controlled airspace is quite another. If I were to utilize large drones in my business, and have them be flown beyond line of sight, I would require pilots to get one hundred simulator hours to fly them. At that point, you're flying a plane in busy airspace. Your training and skills should be absolutely top notch as the safety of everyone flying in the same space as the drone depends on it.