Drone Operations- Certificate of Achievement

Drones or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are aircraft that can be controlled remotely by a pilot or flown autonomously on a pre-programmed route. 

UAS have broad applications in a number of fields. Key areas of focus in this certificate are the applications of UAS in photography, videography, mapping, remote sensing and photogrammetry. Typical employment opportunities associated with the operations of UAS include aerial photographer and videographer, mapping technician, and precision agricultural science technician.

Students planning to pursue careers in UAS operation within the aforementioned fields are encouraged to earn the Drone Operations Certificate of Achievement.  This certificate is ideal for students eager to obtain entry level employment at a number of private and public organizations by earning a career technical certificate.

11-20 annually

To help students gain employment in fields that employ aerial images and videos by giving students a thorough understanding of techniques used to process, disseminate, and integrate UAS data.

This is an interdisciplinary certificate that leverages existing courses in multiple disciplines to prepare students to become licensed drone operators. Members of our most recent advisory committee held in April, 2022 suggested that we replace the existing meteorology class (GEOG 110) in the Certificate with a photography-focused class for two reasons. Firstly, the aviation weather and meteorology topics in the FAA's Part 107 exam can be covered in the Part 107 preparatory course (GEOG 158). There is no need to go into the depths covered by GEOG 110 for the Part 107 exam. Secondly, since most drone operators will be taking photos for different purposes (e.g. mapping, real estate photography, roof inspection), they should have a good understanding of how to frame their shots and how to manually configure the drone camera's settings.