The Oregon Department of Aviation released a training and testing template July 10 for public agencies that operate drones. This new template provides additional model standards that public agencies may adopt and customize for pilot qualifications, recurrent training and public-safety missions.
Training Beyond Part 107
The FAA requires Part 107 certificate holders to complete online recurrent training every 24 calendar months, in an effort to maintain aeronautical knowledge recency. Oregon’s document goes further by adding written test questions, practical flight evaluations, emergency drills, airspace-deconfliction exercises, privacy and public-records training, maintenance requirements and launch-decision checklists.
“This is the next step in building safe and accountable public agency drone programs in Oregon,” Oregon Department of Aviation Director Kenji Sugahara said. “A policy tells an agency what the rules are. Training and testing show whether people can actually apply those rules in the field. That matters when drones are being used near roads, bridges, neighborhoods, emergency scenes, firefighters, patients, helicopters, or disaster areas.”
Public-Agency Requirements
Oregon law already requires public bodies to register public-use drones with the state aviation department and submit annual reports. Those reports must summarize how frequently the aircraft were used, explain the primary purposes of the flights and direct the public to the agency’s drone policies. Educational institutions register as drone users rather than registering each aircraft.
The template is designed for cities, counties, state agencies, fire departments, emergency managers, transportation departments and other public bodies.
Optional sections address Drone as First Responder programs, fire and EMS support, search and rescue, emergency management, mutual aid, remote operations and FAA-authorized flights beyond visual line of sight. The department said the document does not create new flight authority, authorize law enforcement activity or permit operations beyond FAA limits.
Being a Part 107 drone operator myself for a public agency, I’m curious about whether or not Oregon had a problem with drone operations that this is intended to solve. Standardized training is good but additional red tape is not. At a high level I can agree with the need for recurrent training, practical evaluations and exercises but the devil is in the details of how they are implemented.