Question about Part 107

[O6-Hammerhead]

I am a Police Officer in a small town in CA. We (by way of a grant) have received three new drones for use by our department.

We have been training most of our officers and reserves on operations to support search and rescue or other operations over the past month.

My question is: Will each of our officers each now be required to be Part 107 certified in order to operate the drones?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.

 

[rubyfocus]

You're in law enforcement and don't know the answer? Curious....

 

[Yenrab]

You're in law enforcement and don't know the answer? Curious....

He has asked a legitimate question and you answer this way? He is not an aviation officer. I am 20 year retired USAF. You think I know also? Sorry Rubyfocus. You can check FAA guidelines or call Phoenix PD and they will gladly help you.

 

[btrussell]

The correct answer will depend on the agency desire to operate with or without a certificate of authorization from the FAA. If one is obtained or already possessed then pilots may be trained and “certified” under the terms of the COA. If no COA is obtained, then certification under part 107 is required. The other way of looking at it is law enforcement is hardly a “hobby” so that Avenue is not available.

 

[N42742]

btrussell is right. You either operate under a Public COA or under Part 107.

If you want to go the Part 107 route, here's a sample test that will show you exactly what to expect. Explanations for wrong answers are provided:
FAA Part 107 Ground School

 

[BigAl07]

You're in law enforcement and don't know the answer? Curious....

This is NOT the type of response we expect to see on this forum. If that's the best you can do, the option of not responding is probably your best option.

Allen

 

[Plane Mack]

As a Public Use Agency, if your pilots don't already hold Part 107 certificates, your department needs a COA to even conduct training flights. Public Use Agencies can use either 107, COA or both (not on same flight), but must have at least one of them to conduct any type of operations.

 

[BigAl07]

I am a Police Officer in a small town in CA. We (by way of a grant) have received three new drones for use by our department.

We have been training most of our officers and reserves on operations to support search and rescue or other operations over the past month.

My question is: Will each of our officers each now be required to be Part 107 certified in order to operate the drones?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.

That's an excellent question and the appropriate answer has already been given above but I want to delve a little bit deeper into it. The drone (sUAS) is a but another tool for your Department to use and depending on HOW that tool is used will determine whether you utilize a Public Use COA or Part 107.

We train sUAS operators in Emergency Services and LEA operations and we highly suggest the Dept start out utilizing Part 107 for all operators and use that training as the "Training Fundamentals" to include in the COA. Without some form of training established (assuming no prior sUAS/Aviation background) I don't see how a dept can set up that aspect of the COA and get it approved. With the COA your dept "Self Certifies" it's pilots and you need the basics to build upon.

Also it's important to understand that a Part 107 and a COA have different restrictions and allowances. While the COA is a GREAT tool to have under your belt there are times when a COA can not be utilized and the same for a Part 107. An instance of this would be "public demonstrations". When you take the sUAS out into the public to show off what the Dept has done/is doing unless you word it very carefully that operation does not fall under the allowances of a COA. In that instance you would utilize your Part 107 for that. Another instance would be Advertising/Marketing. You couldn't utilize the COA for operations strictly for taking pictures to use on FB/Website type of flights because again that's outside of a COA's allowances. There are times when a COA does things Part 107 does not. With a COA you build additional "allowances" into it from the beginning. Things like Flying at Night, being able to fly over the people in your mission (officers, responders, etc) and other nuances can be approved within the COA and not require a separate Waiver for each event and operator.

To decide whether a flight is COA or Part 107 you (or whoever is asking) can look at it like this: If the City/County/Department did not have a sUAS could a Part 107 operator be hired to do this particular flight and do it safely and efficiently? If you can say YES then this could be a Part 107 flight. But if you say NO then hopefully the terms of your COA can allow flight. Examples A) Flying around the city/county/station taking video and pictures to use in marketing? Part 107 B) Flying in direct support of a SWAT situation with an Active Shooter? You wouldn't want Johnny down the road flying in such a high stakes high stress environment until he had been trained in such. Public Use COA here.

For the above reasons we strongly urge the departments to go ahead and get each of their sUAS operators operating under Part 107 and then build that achievement/training into your COA applications (there will be two). We only recommend Gold Seal UAS Ground School to all of our clients. Not only is it a LIFETIME subscription they also offer the dept Leader Admin access to the program so he/she can track/monitor each of their individuals progress along the way. It's a Top Notch program designed and taught by FAA Certified Flight Instructors. They teach you the subject matter as opposed to teaching you how to pass a test. There is a BIG difference in those two aspects. HUGE!

One last point I want to VERY strongly get across... the quickest way to ground a Public Use sUAS program is to not get a solid publicity campaign in the works EARLY ON! You want the public to know about and understand what the dept is doing with the sUAS long before you take the program LIVE! If John Q. Public learns about the program after-the-fact it will appear to them that the Dept is trying to pull a quick one over and has something to hide. This has permanently grounded several well intended and well funded sUAS programs across the country over the last few years. Regardless what your intentions are, if the public perceives it as a bad thing the program will die a quick death. Get the Publicity Campaign started YESTERDAY and get in front of the public and announce what you have and what your intentions are. Take TRANSPARENCY to a whole new level and nip the nay-sayers in the bud before they can even get started.

I want to encourage you to join our Commercial sUAS group (very new forum) which has a special section dedicated especially to Public Safety sUAS talks and discussions. Here's a direct link for you to follow:
Commercial Drone Pilots Forum

 

[O6-Hammerhead]

Excellent feedback, all. I should have mentioned, we do have a COA under review, but I felt that Part 107 may also be needed.

Thank you again for all the insight.

 

[O6-Hammerhead]

No hard feelings RubyFocus.

I have the honor of meeting ‘experts at everything’ like you every day in the field.

Thank you for your patience with my question.

I’m sure it was deeply frustrating for you to have to read and for that I, and all of those who work so hard to keep you safe, apologize.

 

[O6-Hammerhead]

To everyone else, thank you so much. This is exactly the depth of detail we needed to make sure we are on the right track.

Thank you all so very much!

 

[Soldierboy1986]

I too, work for a Police Department in Florida, and we are in the initiating stage of a drone program! We have take the part 107 approach, where as, all of our pilots will be certified! COA’ s are used to obtain exemptions such as operating at night, special events, where flights will be conducted over people, flying in certain control zones, near airports.... It’s a learning curve for us all, and legalization, and adherence to all rules fall to the FAA. The applications for police use are wide and vast, but legalities tend to confuse things a bit. Best rule of thumb, ensure all of your pilots are certified, or it’s no different then operation of glock, without departmental training! Lawyers would have a field day with that!

 

[BigAl07]

.....it’s no different then operation of glock, without departmental training! Lawyers would have a field day with that!

Nailed it!!

COA’ s are used to obtain exemptions such as operating at night, special events, where flights will be conducted over people, flying in certain control zones, near airports.... It’s a learning curve for us all, and legalization, and adherence to all rules fall to the FAA.

Make sure your dept and attorneys read over the COA carefully. They may allow flights over people but that doesn't mean John Q. Public... it means your responders/officers on scene. I've seen that misunderstanding in a Dept just a few miles from where I'm sitting right now. They "thought" they could fly over anyone at anytime because their COA "said so". A few phone calls made by John Q. Public to the FAA got a review started and some "Educational Moments" came to light.

 

[Nightwolf]

This may muddy the water but technically can't someone fly commercially under someone else's 107 as long as they are present and identify as the Pilot in Charge (PIC)?

 

[BigAl07]

This may muddy the water but technically can't someone fly commercially under someone else's 107 as long as they are present and identify as the Pilot in Charge (PIC)?

Yes that's possible. As long as the Part 107 holder is there, not flying another aircraft, not acting as VO on another aircraft, and they are able to take control should the need arise another person can fly under them (not literally LOL). This is how we are allowed to teach/train non Part 107 operators before they pass their test.