Renewing your Part 107 Certificate – sUAS Recurrent Certificate

 

It has been two years since you showed up to the testing center and nervously answered a bunch of questions in order to get your initial Part 107 Certificate.

Now it is time to renew. In the past, that meant another registration through CATS, a trip to the nearest testing center, and another $150 fee.

As of April of 2021, the FAA released an online course and exam that allowed pilots with their Part 107 certificate to renew to a Part 107 sUAS recurrent certificate. Best of all, it’s FREE!

Here is what you need to do for your Part 107 sUAS recurrent certificate.

Sign up for an FAA Safety Account at faasafety.gov

Once you have created an account and logged in, you will need to enroll in the course. Navigate to the Activities, Courses, Seminars, and Webinars tab and click on the button in the blue bar to show all available courses.

The courses are listed alphabetically, so you can scroll down to find “Part 107 Small UAS Recurrent.”

The course ID for this program is ALC-677. Make sure you are not signing up for the courses for Part 61 pilots (unless, of course, you have your Part 61).

Click on Enroll, and it will open you up to the training.

The course takes around 2 hours to complete.

When you first begin the course, you will be brought to the Introduction Page. It simply describes who the course is for and what it covers.

Following the introduction are three modules, a review, and the exam. The review and exam are not clickable until you have gone through all three modules.

Once you feel like you are ready to take the exam, just go ahead and click on the exam button.

It will open up a list of 45 multiple choice questions, most of which have three possible answers to choose from. You have 90 minutes to answer all 45 questions correctly.

Unlike the initial test or the old recurrent test, you need to get 100% of these questions correct. Fortunately, you will have the opportunity to correct any wrong answers.

Once you have selected a response for all of the questions, click at the bottom to grade the exam.

At the top of the page, there may be some red text indicating questions that were marked incorrect.

Change the answers to the correct one and grade the exam again.

If you run out of time before all answers are correct, you will have to start the exam over again.

Once you get all of the questions correct, you have completed the training and are given the option to view your certificate or email your credentials to someone.

Final Thoughts

You may have noticed that your old Airmen certificate doesn’t have an expiration date. FAA will not be sending you a new one after completing this training.

Go ahead and print off a copy and slide it into your drone case next to the aircraft registration.

In the unlikely event that you have to present your certificate to a FAA investigator, you’ll be happy you have it.

Denver Fire Department trains to rescue people from ice using infrared drone technology

 

DENVER (KDVR) — In a single week, the metro area experienced temperatures ranging from the high 60s to below freezing. The shifts created a heightened risk on area lakes and ponds, which can appear to be frozen but are dangerously unstable.

“We may have a false sense of security by looking out and seeing a real thick layer of ice and don’t realize that ice is not that thick” said Denver Fire Department Captain J.D Chism.

Some wrongly believe entering a frozen pond but avoiding areas of thin ice will ensure their safety.

“You go out you think ‘how bad can it be I can make this, I can swim’ not recognizing how cold that water is and how difficult it is if you fall in the ice to get back out” said Chism.

Chism also explained exhaustion quickly sets in as victims struggle to avoid slipping beneath the surface of the water.

The Denver Fire Department conducts regular ice rescue training to make sure first responders are prepared.

FOX31 traveled to Rocky Mountain Lake Park where training was conducted on Sunday.

Divers submerged to the floor of the 30 feet deep lake to practice 360 sweeps beneath the ice.

Crews conducted real-time rescues using tethers.

“It can be very, very tiresome as we’re approaching that victim, especially if that ice is breaking on our approach” said Chism.

The department uses a special drone to gain an edge against time, which is crucial.

“They can go infrared technology just so they can identify something that we may not be able to see with the human eye” said Chism.

Denver Fire performed as many as 30 ice rescues over the past year, many involving people who ran after pets that fell through the ice.

Chism emphasized that the safest thing to do is call 911 immediately.

“We have the equipment and the technology to get there safely and get your pet out of the water,” he said.

Children and pets should be closely watched if living or playing near water.

“The best option is to just stay off the ice” said Chism.

Drone Used to Find Kayaker Missing on Cuyahoga River in Summit County

 

AKRON, Ohio — A 70-year-old man who was reported missing after he went kayaking on the Cuyahoga River in Summit County was found dead Monday morning by rescue searchers.

The family of Doug Maher became concerned Sunday night after he failed to show up a preplanned location in Brecksville after he began kayaking from the Oxbow Area of Cascade Valley Metro Park.

In video of a news conference Monday provided by WEWS Channel 5, Lt. Tim Morrison with the Akron Fire Department said that Akron and Parma police and rangers with the Summit County Metroparks began searching Sunday night for Maher but efforts were hampered because of high water levels on the river.

The search resumed Monday morning with rescuers from the National Park Service and Summit County Metroparks, and from the Akron, Bath, Copley, Cuyahoga Falls, Macedonia and Richfield fire departments. Morrison said authorities used six drones to search the area and located Maher’s body.

Information on exactly where Maher was found was not available. Morrison said the water level was 4 feet lower on Monday than on Sunday night, which aided in the search. He also said it took about five hours using drones to locate Maher, estimating it would have taken three to five days without drones.

According to Morrison, Maher’s family says the victim was a “very outdoorsmen type of person” but it’s unknown if he was an experienced kayaker.

By Advance Local Media LLC. cleveland.com 

Drone Pilots: Mark Your Calendars - Drone Safety Day 2023

 

WASHINGTON—The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is inviting the drone community to be part of its 2023 Drone Safety Day on Saturday, April 29. 

This one-day national event encourages drone pilots and recreational flyers to “Fly RIGHT” by focusing on five safety elements:

 

• Register your drone 
• Interact with others
• Gain knowledge
• Have a safety plan
• TRUST and Train

The FAA launched the annual campaign in 2019 to bring attention to drone safety and best practices. Safety is a shared responsibility that requires the community and the FAA to work together.

For additional information about virtual and in-person events near you, visit the FAA’s Drone Safety Day webpage. Follow the FAA on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the latest Drone Safety Day news. 

Body found in car during drone search of a flooded area in Kentucky

A body has been found in a vehicle submerged in Kentucky flood waters, Marion County Rescue Chief Brian Smith said.

Rescue crews located the car through a drone search Thursday after flooding in southeastern Kentucky. They discovered the body while retrieving the car Friday, affiliate WKYT reported.

The vehicle was flipped on its side and submerged in water about 200 yards from South Highway 49, WKYT reported.

Four rescues were made during the flooding in the county. All were people attempting to cross flooded streets, Smith said.

There are no reports of injuries or missing persons, Smith told CNN.

The deceased has not been identified.

By Melissa Alonso and Rebekah Riess, CNN

 

11 ways police departments are using drones

 There is a paradigm shift occurring in law enforcement as drones become a critical element in almost every aspect of emergency operations

As drones continue to evolve, law enforcement agencies around the world are using them in more ways to save lives and enhance the safety of officers.

Drones have had a major impact in the areas of traffic crash reconstruction, reconnaissance before tactical deployments, SWAT overwatch, hostage situations, forensic investigations, patrol-deployed operations, searches for lost persons, tethered operations, traffic pattern evaluation and first response. Let's take a look at these specific applications.

Read More; Police 1

The Insurance Industry Requires UAS Training That Is Up to The Job

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) or drones are more and more being called into the insurance industry to natural and manmade disasters to evaluate the impact area, inspect assets, manage risk, and evaluate claims efficiently, accurately and most of all safely.

With such diverse and practical applications, it’s no wonder that some insurance industry leaders are eager to implement UAS programs. In order to get the program up and running quickly, some are opting to buy commercial-off-the-shelf UAS to do important tasks they are often not suited for. More importantly, many often overlook the most important component in a UAS, a well-trained pilot.

Members of the insurance industry are required to undertake continuing education in various subjects in order to maintain their state licenses. UAS pilot training should be of a similar professional quality well beyond FAA’s Part 107.

With the advent of UAS, thousands of companies have entered the marketplace hoping to sell their devices and/or services to commercial operators and companies. Thousands of individuals around the country are openly using UAS, with numerous others doing so discreetly. But who fosters the proper integration of UAS into these insurance organizations?

In some cases, that falls to commercial companies without any insurance industry background. Others end up having to utilize hobbyists turned entrepreneurs. Part 107 certification has lowered the barrier to entry for the technology and created tremendous opportunities, but receiving certification requires little more than passing a multiple choice only exam that's designed for a 16-year-old high school student. It falls well short of the standardized proficiency which the public expects from the men and women who we depend on.

After all, learning to fly figure 8's or an obstacle course around a park may teach you good maneuvering skills, but it doesn’t teach you how to evaluate the impact area of a disaster, inspect complex building facades or rooftops, and evaluate claims efficiently, accurately and safely.

No one wants to find out in the midst of a crisis that his or her UAS training has not prepared them for the situation at hand. To insure this never happens, when acquiring training for you or your company, look for a company that has practical training and experience in the insurance industry and UAS for the unique applications that you require like commercial and residential property, infrastructure and utilities, agriculture, automotive and more.

But most importantly ensure the company and the instructors have solid training and experience in the insurance industry and integrating UAS. A company that’s instructors actually have utilized drones for pre and post loss such as risk engineering, natural disaster monitoring, inspection, risk assessment, claims adjudication and fraud prevention.