As you might have seen from an earlier blog post I have a drone. It’s not a top of the range drone as there are far more expensive drones out there, but even so, the quality of the footage and images is pretty impressive.

As a film maker the drone can give me some great options for camera angles that will really add interest. I used it to good effect when I filmed the tree surgeons working behind my house.

However a look at the current regs regarding drones, and discovering that you need to be Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved, with a Permission to Fly Commercial Operations (PfCO) certification, to be able to charge for drone filming prompted me to go for the training. As I discovered the rules are changing in July this year (2020) but there will be still rules about being able to fly in built up areas. The new certification will last me 5 years.

Once you get your drone and switch on your DJI Fly App you soon realise that there are a lot of areas on the map that are restricted. Obviously you would be crazy to fly in the vicinity of an airport. That would be sure to get you on the news and 5 years in jail! As it turns out Southampton and the coast has a lot of restricted airspace.

I booked my training with iRed Academy who have a training centre in nearby Emsworth. On signing up to the course I received a link to their online training portal. The material on here is pre-course learning. It took me a solid day and a half to work through the 50 or so sections and mini tests.

The time spent online was worth it though as it made the classroom materials easier to take in. I always pick things up better if I see something twice. There were more topics and more detail in the classroom though. The in-class training took 3 days that culminated in a 60 question test. I re-read through the material each night I was on the course so by the time the exam came around I wasn’t too nervous. Happily I aced the test and now have the theory part of the certification out of the way.

The course tutor was excellent and extremely knowledgeable having worked in the TV industry for many years. The course materials were excellent too. I can highly recommend the iRed Academy for your drone training.

The course goes in to a lot of depth and you learn a lot about airspace, map reading and weather forecasting as well as what you would expect about drone operation and safety considerations. My class mates all passed as well. It was great to meet some new people and hear about their work and their reasons for coming on the training.

I have a way to go yet as I need to write up and submit an operations manual and then take the practical test. I will also need to get some safety kit in time for that including a high vis vest, a fire extinguisher, some cones to make a cordon, a helipad and a gadget to measure wind speed. I need to have insurance in place too.

The costs quickly add up so it is a fair investment. Overall though I feel it is a developing and emerging technology and I am very glad I have the knowledge about airspace restrictions and how to gain any permissions to fly. Worth doing for sure.

The iRed Academy website:
https://ired.ac.uk/

Written and published by
Steve Hogg