New Skydrone Training & Services coming to GF
By Contributor
The City of Grand Forks is the only certified airport in British Columbia and one of two in Canada to provide advanced training and certification in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Skydrone UAV Services in partnership with Western Aviation Services, is operating out of the Grand Forks airport under a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC).
To operate a commercial use Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) legally in Canada requires the operator to have successfully completed an approved ground and flight training program meeting Transport Canada standards in order to obtain a UAV Pilots Certificate.
For each additional type of UAV to be flown, training specific to that type and model is required. Transport Canada guidelines state UAV flight is restricted inside a nine kilometer area surrounding an airport, and can be no higher than ninety metres above the ground.
Skydrone has been given exclusive authorization by Transport Canada to train in the airport environment on an actual airport at Grand Forks. The emphasis is on training pilots to identify and react safely to complex environments they will encounter in industrial flight environments.
Skydrone UAV Services provide industrial aerial inspection, services that reach challenging locations without the assistance of support vehicles. These inspections are combined with thermal and high definition imagery providing reliable, cost effective, and safe industrial inspections on complex infrastructure like power lines, bridges, hydroelectric facilities and forestry and mining operations.
Other services include maintenance, design, training and consulting. The first training session is expected to begin August 30 and will see 20 participating in the program over a 10-day period. For more information on the program go to www.skydroneuavs.com
– submitted by the City of Grand Forks
