Even though I’ve been “ready” for months, just yesterday I finally was able to fit taking the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Exam and passed!  I started studying for this over the summer, and tried to fit this in all Fall Semester but just couldn’t find time to do it.  I considered doing it over the Holiday Break, but then decided that some time off without work would likely be better.  So, now it’s done and I don’t have to do it again for another 2 years.

Of course the weather didn’t want to cooperate, so I had to drive to the Northampton Airport in a pretty good storm.  The roads were snow packed most of the way, almost slid off the road once.   Then when I arrived to the Airport they had some troubles bringing up the exam.   Finally at about 12:10 the exam started, I was about as ready as I would ever be!

FAA 107 Exam Results

The exam was hard — or at least the version of the exam I got was.  Some of the questions I had studied for, latitude and longitude for example, weren’t even on the test! There were other subjects that had questions which I wasn’t at all prepared for.  Overall, it went well, and in the end I scored an 80%, not as good as I had hoped but certainly high enough to pass.  The most difficult part was that the exam doesn’t tell you your score when you finish right away, and then it took another 15-20 minutes for them to figure out how to bring up the score… that was a hard 15-20 minutes to wait to see the results!

You can lookup the codes to see the questions I got incorrect on the FAA’s website.  I’m noticing that most of the questions that I got wrong were ones that I second guessed myself on when going back to review the exam.

In 2 years when I take it again I’m determined to do even better, but a Pass is a Pass!

Over this past weekend I was able to get a quick drone flight in Saturday morning.  I noticed that while it was foggy outside, it wasn’t windy or cold, which brought an opportunity for good practice.  I have never flown in fog before, and it was a worthwhile experience.  First, here’s the video.  You will notice that I performed a hand launch and landing since the ground was wet.  Yes, I did fly in my pajamas.

Everything in the flight went according to plan, the Mavic Mini performed as it typically does.  There was one point where I saw a notification in the app that I was having some signal issues, generally I get this notification whenever I fly in this area and get some distance away. According to the telemetry data, the signal reduction occurred when the drone was about 925 feet from my piloting location, likely just being jammed by other home wi-fi’s.  As per usual just be patient and the signal returns.

Condensation on the Mavic Mini.

The only surprise in this flight was the amount of condensation that was on the drone when it returned.  I captured a photo to see.  It would have been great If I had though ahead of time and took a pre and post flight weight to see how much condensation was there.  As stated, the condensation didn’t effect the drone’s performance, however it does make one feel like flying through fog probably isn’t ideal, especially since you can’t really see anything special that you wouldn’t otherwise.  So, unless you are looking for fog in your shots, such as filming a documentary or movie, there’s really no reason to fly in fog when it comes to science. The more you know!

After six months of work and about a dozen presentations, BCC now has an official Drone/UAS Policy! Last night I presented my proposed policy to the Board of Trustees and last night and the board voted to approve the policy.  I’m super pleased as this policy provides a framework of safety based on FAA regulations for us to operate on or off campus.  It also gives the community a way to safely come to our Pittsfield campus and fly their own drones at the college if they so choose.

Here’s a link to the newly approved BCC Drone/UAS Policy.

Here is a link to my Policy Presentation.

To fly here on campus, or to fly with college-owned equipment, individuals will need to fill out a Flight Request Application.  The application will then be sent to a group of individuals, the UAS Review Committee, who will make sure that all the aspects of the policy have been accounted for within the flight plan.  If the flight plan meets all the requirements, it will be approved.  If not, then recommendations will be sent to the requestee on how to resubmit a new flight plan which meets the policy requirements.

This is incredibly exciting as now we can begin to incorporate drone imagery into our courses.  I’ve even had a few folks show interest in training students to fly drones, which would ultimately require them to get their FAA 107 Certification.  Another plan is to host a community info session on Drone safety.

Now back to work!