If you hold a commercial pilots licence then you are exempt the theory examinations. You will still need to complete the practical test though. Although we were exempt the theory we still paid to complete an abridged course, as there is a lot of RPAS specific stuff that we weren't aware of with over 50 yrs of Helicopter Flying and Instructing between us. I would recommend doing this as it was invaluable. I would suggest giving Aerial Motion Pictures a try for the training. They are a fairly new accredited provider and based near RAF Benson in Oxfordshire. Really friendly bunch and they follow the policies laid down by the CAA. Once qualified you can fly any airframe within your required weight range so they don't charge for you loads of money for extra tests on different frames. These are the people we used. Highly recommended!
Worth it. We gave them a call as they are ex military helicopter instructors. Like I said fairly new as a training provider but a real nice bunch of guys! The qualification you gain is called ' Icarus' which is there own equivalent of the Euro-USC BNUCS one.
As far as I am aware, people have been getting a quick turn around lately with the CAA, 2 people I know of have had to wait a max of 2 weeks or less to get their PFAW certificate which is amazing. From what I understand its due to an agent assisting someone in the CAA to catch up with the backlog. Whether this continues I have no idea, but I really hope it does.
That's good news on the PfAW issue! I've heard that from a few different sources now. It's a shame they don't run a similar scheme to getting your commercial pilots licence. You can pay an extra premium and do a one day collection service from CAA HQ Gatwick. Turn up in the morning, pay your money, give them your paperwork and get your licence in the afternoon. Mind you, I suppose the licence dept has a load of people working in it and they don't have to read through massive ops manuals either!
I'm reading these posts whilst watching Country File and hey presto there's a Phantom 3 doing a bird survey for the RSPB at Bempton cliffs.......another plus for drones !!!
I'm reading these posts whilst watching Country File and hey presto there's a Phantom 3 doing a bird survey for the RSPB at Bempton cliffs.......another plus for drones !!!