Hi folks,
My name is Ben Fenigsohn, I am a Client Solutions Engineer at Censys Technologies, a BVLOS drone manufacturer out of Daytona Beach, Florida. My responsibilities primarily are working with the public sector, so I get to look at both sides of the drone market, but also with an ear to the different types of ConOps. I'd like to explain a little bit why BVLOS is such an important skill to have.
Currently, "UAS Pilot" is not listed in the IRS' SOC code, so instead jobs like these fall under more generic "pilot" or "engineer" classifications. In my encounters with schools, this omission is a big hinderance to adoption since it's so difficult to measure the job expectations upon graduation. Instead, schools must rely on their own empirical data, or figure out another way to measure success.
Nevertheless, Part 107 curriculum adoption is booming. Time and again, I'm finding enterprising department heads who see drones as a gateway to job security: not "the same accounting job for 40 years," security, but instead as a skillset that empowers pilots to choose where they work, and how, for as long as they're active.
BVLOS represents an even more exaggerated version of this power shift. Indeed, one must first be a Part 107 pilot before receiving BVLOS training, but the waiver system in USA is dependent on the pilot. Coupled with the fact that BVLOS trained pilots are already hard to come by, companies large and small are incentivizing BVLOS pilot retention not just to maintain their competitive edge, but to also keep their waivers in place.
This is the scenario we give schools to encourage BVLOS adoption. Censys' Sentaero 5 has been described as "the Cessna 172 of BVLOS," which is a nerdy way of saying it's great platform on which to both learn and work. We try to position it so students are matriculating from their private or public training academy into a large corporate job using the same equipment. To us, that means longitudinal success career-wise.
My point here is not just a hardware discussion. Curriculum initiatives that are forward looking in support of BVLOS are paying off for institutions, employers, and most importantly, students, in a way that is rare to foresee. We all know the regulations are opening up in the direction of greater access, so it's only a natural that getting a head start puts these parties at an advantage.
A Futurama scenario will be here soon enough. Not tomorrow, but when it does come, we'll rest comfortably in the truth that the pilots are trained appropriately by mutually invested administrators. At that point hindsight will indeed be 20/20.
