Getting a UK PFAW without spending thousands. What i found out and I have a few questions.

I think you would have to be a member of the BFMA and a member of a club.. or one willing to do a test for you... I am sure I could help out with something...
There is someone doing it this way on a facebook group I am in.. I will keep you up to date on this as it happens...
 
For insurance, I found the BMFA offer members insurance and also another company, fpvuk.org offering public liability for £15 per year. Does anyone know if the cover they offer meets the CAA requirements?

Im not sure the Insurance would cut it as ive looked into similar type of clubs which offer Public Liability Insurance but normally its for personal use only and would not cover any commercial work.

All the commercial insurance & public liability covers I have seen are atleast £30+ a month unfortunately.
 
Hi Malakai,
I love the way your thinking, I have had to leave my day job due to a back injury and so am unable to save for my target £2300 I expected to get my pfaw, please let me know how its going for you and if you managed to get help with the manual
Regards,
Neil

Can I ask why you expected it to be that much? I am wondering if I have missed something off, I found a course with does everything you need (i think - see below) for £916 exc VAT. Then you only have to apply for CAA which is £112.
- CAA Approved Groundschool,
- Operations Manual Workshop,
- Exam and Flight Test

Or were you factoring in your Drone? Sorry to hear about your back injury.
 
@shadow81. It is not necessary to join a local BMFA affiliated club in order to join. If you check on their website you can join as a Country Member for £38 per annum. This gives you the monthly magazines with latest news about the hobby and does include some aspects about drones and the BMFA at National and European level. It also gives you the all important insurance. Joining a club is additive. A nearby club that welcomes multi rotors will cost an extra £78 per annum but can help with the Achievement Awards.


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As a bit of an update, I was looking at getting my PFAW not for the monetary side but to lift the restrictions that a hobby flier has, such as no flying in built up areas or within 150m of a congested area. For this there is a grey area between Hobby flight and PFAW. I'll update this post fully with more information when I get chance over the weekend. in a nutshell this grey area allows the BMFA extended insurance cover and removes the restrictions put in place.


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OK, here's my thoughts (based on experience)

The BMFA A and B tests are tricky with multi rotors - if your drone has any form of stabilisation/flying aid that you can't switch off (such as the Phantom's altitude hold) then you can't take the A or the B test and have to take the BPC which is in every way identical to the A test but specifically for aircraft with flight aids - The CAA will accept the BPC as an alternative to the A cert.

If you want an A certificate specifically then you need to fly something without atti mode. As you correctly said BMFA Heli certs are acceptable but of you took them a long time ago (like me) the BMFA will have (almost certainly) 'lost' your records - unless you still fly with the same club or have your original 'pass' document then you'll need to do the tests again

If you want a B certificate, you need to fly a drone with full manual control.

As you have found out, some clubs are quad friendly, some aren't but not many clubs will welcome you with open arms if all you want to do is use them to take your test.

I wasn't aware of the BMFA extended insurance but as I intend to fly commercially it wouldn't help me. My policy is with Coverdrone and cost just over £400 for a year/£34 a month - whatever policy you take out has to meet EC785/2004.

You'll also have to send in an operations manual - that's no easy task to put together.

OK, conjecture bit now but based on chats with the CAA and BMFA instructors.

To fly within 150m of congested areas etc requires extended permissions and these are granted on a case by case basis - just because you have a PFCO doesn't give you an automatic right. One of the things they consider is safety/redundancy so getting this permission with a quad won't be easy.

Good luck with your application - mine's currently in the pipeline with the CAA
 
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OK, here's my thoughts (based on experience)

The BMFA A and B tests are tricky with multi rotors - if your drone has any form of stabilisation/flying aid that you can't switch off (such as the Phantom's altitude hold) then you can't take the A or the B test and have to take the BPC which is in every way identical to the A test but specifically for aircraft with flight aids - The CAA will accept the BPC as an alternative to the A cert.

If you want an A certificate specifically then you need to fly something without atti mode. As you correctly said BMFA Heli certs are acceptable but of you took them a long time ago (like me) the BMFA will have (almost certainly) 'lost' your records - unless you still fly with the same club or have your original 'pass' document then you'll need to do the tests again

If you want a B certificate, you need to fly a drone with full manual control.

As you have found out, some clubs are quad friendly, some aren't but not many clubs will welcome you with open arms if all you want to do is use them to take your test.

I wasn't aware of the BMFA extended insurance but as I intend to fly commercially it wouldn't help me. My policy is with Coverdrone and cost just over £400 for a year/£34 a month - whatever policy you take out has to meet EC785/2004.

You'll also have to send in an operations manual - that's no easy task to put together.

OK, conjecture bit now but based on chats with the CAA and BMFA instructors.

To fly within 150m of congested areas etc requires extended permissions and these are granted on a case by case basis - just because you have a PFCO doesn't give you an automatic right. One of the things they consider is safety/redundancy so getting this permission with a quad won't be easy.

Good luck with your application - mine's currently in the pipeline with the CAA


Hi,

did you get your approval?
Can you confirm that the CAA will accept the BPC as an alternative to the A cert?
and if so how many hours experience? 2hrs within last 6 months?
cheers!
 
Hi,

did you get your approval?
Can you confirm that the CAA will accept the BPC as an alternative to the A cert?
and if so how many hours experience? 2hrs within last 6 months?
cheers!
yes, I did get my approval and yes, the CAA will accept the BPC as an alternative. It's two hours within the last three months on the class of drone you are applying for - you can self certificate but make sure you have proper flight logs (location, duration, max height etc) - using a web service like Airdata is fine or even DJI's own logs from within the app
 
yes, I did get my approval and yes, the CAA will accept the BPC as an alternative. It's two hours within the last three months on the class of drone you are applying for - you can self certificate but make sure you have proper flight logs (location, duration, max height etc) - using a web service like Airdata is fine or even DJI's own logs from within the app

Andy
thanks for the reply, good to hear you gained the approval, will go the same route, using Airdata at the moment.
Just out of intrest how did you manage to print out the logs from airdata or the go app?
 
I keep manual flight logs but I just screen grabbed the DJI go app pages as a backup
 

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