Open more job opportunities with a Remote Pilot Licence

When your job requires you to fly a larger drone or fly in areas prohibited under the Standard Operating Conditions, you are required to have a Remote Pilot Licence (RePL) and operate under an existing Remote Operators Certificate (ReOC). Having these unlocks a multitude of job opportunities in agriculture, wedding photography, Real Estate photography, surveying and many many more.

Advantages of having a RePL

There are many advantages to having a RePL and ReOC, some of these are:

• Operate drones which weigh more than 2kg
• Operate more than one drone (swarm, say for, agricultural work)
• Permissions to fly in areas prohibited by the SOC (Restricted areas such as Sydney harbour!)
• Permissions to fly above 400ft, or within 5.5 km of a controlled airport
• Permissions to fly further than visual line of sight
• Permissions to fly a tethered drone
• Allowed to fly up to 15m of people, rather than 30m (under the SOC)

Specialised drones often weigh more than the 2kg limit of the excluded category. These permissions, and flying specialised drones give you a competitive advantage.

If you take a look at an air chart you will notice how many controlled airports and restricted airspaces prohibit drone operations under the SOC.

Being allowed to fly up to 15 m of people is a great advantage on its own, especially in built up areas involving weddings and Real Estate photography.

You can also consider upskilling with specialised courses such as agricultural spraying or survey work to enhance your work opportunities.

Professionalism

The greatest advantage of having a licence from a reputable training organisation can be summed up in one word: professionalism.

Even if you plan to operate within the SOC, as a professional company, you will appreciate having a professional team. It only takes one slip, and your company reputation could be tarnished.

Companies which have professional drone pilots are more likely to be respected by the aviation industry, and CASA. As a company having professional drone pilots on your team, you will have peace of mind, and you will be able to promote yourself as safe and reliable.

We understand this, and that is why we go out of our way to deliver professional training. Professional training to give you a professional edge.

Beware of cheap RePL courses, they are cheap for a reason. We have customers call us wishing they hadn’t based their choice on price alone.

The requirements for operating under a licence

The first thing you will need is the licence, a Remote Pilot Licence (RePL).

The second item is a Remote Operators Certificate (ReOC), simply because you must operate under a ReOC to gain the privileges of the RePL. For the ReOC you have two choices:

1. Operate under another entities Remote Operators Certificate
2. Operate under your own Remote Operators Certificate

A Remote Operators Certificate (ReOC) consists of procedures and information relevant to the safe operation of RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System). It contains exemptions and permissions granted to that Operator. So you will need a ReOC which will cover the type of operations you intend to carry out. You could begin operating under another entities ReOC, and later obtain your own once you have worked out the market. Of course you may run the risk of loosing business to that entity! You have to weigh the options up yourself. Most people choose to operate under their own ReOC.

You can develop your own ReOC using the template provided by CASA, or have our team of experts develop your own ReOC for you, tailored to your company requirements.