DRONE PILOT

Qualifications of a drone pilot in India
While the DGCA merely expects a drone operator to have passed the 10th standard and have taken a DGCA-approved drone piloting course, to make drone piloting your full-time career, you will have to be equipped with ample expertise in some other areas as well. There are plenty of niche job verticals for drone pilots, and each one requires a specific kind of expertise. Drone pilots are in demand in sectors such as filmmaking, construction, mining, real estate, agriculture, transportation, energy, telecommunications and more. So, in-depth knowledge for each of these fields is a must. Say you want to get into the filmmaking sector as a drone pilot, you will have to possess the knowledge about different types of shots, montages, angles, lighting, and the works.

The curriculum of your course must include theory subjects surrounding these – 1) Basic Radio Telephony 2) Flight planning and ATC procedures 3) Regulations specific to the area of operations 4) Flight and aerodynamics knowledge 5) Airspace structure and airspace restrictions 6) Basic Aviation Meteorology.
Firstly, the policy classified drones in different categories based on their weight. The categories include – Nano drones (up to 250 gms), Micro drones (250 gms – 2 kg), Small drones (2 kg – 25 kg), Medium drones (25 kg – 150 kg) and lastly, Large drones (anything higher than 150 kg). Under this policy, all drone sizes apart from Nano drones, are required to be registered by the pilot/operato on the Digital Sky Platform. Therefore, civilians can no longer simply buy any drone and fly it.
Apart from this, pilots/operators require an Unmanned Aerial Operator’s Permit (UAOP) or a Remote Pilot License which costs around `25,000. However, drone operators from the National Technical Research Organisation, Central Intelligence Agency and Aviation Research Centre are exempt from this, and so are Nano drone operators (flying under 50ft). Drones also need to apply for a Unique Identification Number (UIN), which is equivalent to a number plate. This costs the operator about `1000 and the number will typically be engraved on a fire-resistant plate which is embedded 

The average pay for a Drone Pilot is INR 612,286 a year and INR 294 an hour in India. The average salary range for a Drone Pilot is between INR 441,486 and INR 769,121.



Popular posts from this blog

Rights of Animal

Evil-super hero