Spectral Aviation will be accepting its first cohort of unmanned aerial system operators in October.
The company, in partnership with the Unmanned Aerial System Centre of Excellence in Alma, Quebec, has developed a 40 hour program spread over five days that is based on manned aircraft pilot training criteria recognized by Transport Canada.
The course is aimed at helping pilots understand “the necessary elements to safely operate UAS, such as meteorology, theory of flight, Canadian aviation regulations (CAR), instrumentation, radiotelephony procedures as well as the various existing systems on the market,” the company said in a release.
“Due to our certification, we can provide official radio operators certificates to each attendee who will passed the exam, as well as a UAS pilot certificate,” said Mathieu Boulianne, president of Spectral Aviation. “We have decided to focus on the theoretical part of the training as we deeply believe that the practical side of it should be provided by the manufacturers to ensure a safe operation of the platform used. In regard to that, we are about to conclude agreements with manufacturers in order to complete the training with the practical side.”
Spectral, which will accept up to eight operators in the first cohort, wants to become the main UAS pilot training services provider in Canada.
Marc Moffatt, executive director of the UAS Centre of Excellence, said this type of UAS pilot training meets a growing need in industry. “More and more people acquire UAS for recreational use or for commercial purposes, and many of these new operators have a very little knowledge about the regulations surrounding this type of systems. Incidents are reported every year in conjunction with UAS operations, which most could have been avoided if pilots had been aware of the rules related to the use of these system in the Canadian airspace.”
