If Your Kid Loves Drones, Don’t Train Them Just to Be a Drone Pilot

 The career opportunity in drones may not be where most young people or their parents think it is. 

I was recently at a trade show talking about drones when I got a question I really wasn't expecting.

Actually, I got variations of it several times. Parents were asking me about their kids.

• "My son loves drones. Is there a career in this?"

• "Should my daughter get her drone licence?"

• "How does a young person get into this industry?"

They were good questions. What surprised me was my answer. Because a year or two ago I probably would have said:

Learn to fly. Get certified. Get some experience. Become a drone pilot.

Today?

I'm not sure that's the career path I would recommend at all. I'd still tell them to learn to fly.But if I were talking to a class of Grade 10, 11 or 12 students today, I would tell them something different:

Learn to fly the drone. But learn to understand the machine.

There is an important difference.

I operate drones commercially, and here's something people outside the industry may not realize:

We don't actually spend that much time "flying."

Certainly not in the way most people picture a drone pilot flying. A lot of commercial drone work is becoming increasingly automated.

• We create missions.

• We establish parameters.

• We set flight paths.

• The aircraft follows waypoints.

• It captures images at predetermined intervals.

• It maintains overlap.

• It completes mapping grids and automated orbits.

• And this technology is only getting better.

Autonomous drone docks are already becoming part of industrial operations. Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations are growing. Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to analyze the information drones collect.

So I started thinking about those parents' questions differently.

If drones are becoming more autonomous, where is the long-term career?

I don't believe the answer is simply producing more drone pilots.

Someone still has to understand what is happening inside the machine

Imagine a company five or ten years from now operating 20, 50 or 100 unmanned aircraft.

• Some may fly from autonomous docks.

• Some may inspect infrastructure.

• Others may map construction sites, survey land, monitor mines, inspect utilities or respond to emergencies.

• Who keeps that fleet operational?

• Who diagnoses an aircraft that suddenly develops an abnormal vibration?

• Who understands why the RTK positioning isn't resolving correctly?

• Who identifies a battery deteriorating faster than the rest of the fleet?

• Who troubleshoots communications between an aircraft and its dock?

• Who replaces components?

• Who manages firmware?

• Who tests an aircraft after maintenance?

• Who maintains the records?

• Who understands the electronics, communications, sensors, motors, batteries and flight-control systems?

That's where I think there's an incredible career opportunity developing.

The drone technician

Maybe we'll eventually call them UAS technicians.

• RPAS maintenance technicians.

• Autonomous systems technicians.

• Field service technicians.

• Avionics technicians specializing in unmanned aircraft.

• Whatever title eventually wins, I think this side of the industry deserves far more attention.

In fact, we're beginning to see hints of it already.

Here in Alberta, SAIT now offers a two-year Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems diploma that includes dedicated RPAS Maintenance I and Maintenance II courses. Students learn mechanical and powerplant systems, data links, networking, servicing, maintenance, airworthiness scheduling and compliance management.

But there is another educational route that interests me even more.

Avionics.

SAIT's two-year Avionics Technology program teaches aircraft electronics, electrical systems, communications, navigation, data systems, troubleshooting, repair and maintenance. The program is Transport Canada accredited, and qualifying graduates receive 18 months of experience credit toward the "E" category Aircraft Maintenance Engineer licence.

Now imagine adding drones to that education.

• Learn avionics.

• Learn to fly drones.

• Build a small drone yourself.

• Learn electronics.

• Learn to solder.

• Learn how motors and electronic speed controllers work.

• Learn flight controllers.

• Learn GNSS and RTK.

• Learn communications and networking.

• Learn how to read logs and diagnose faults.

• Maybe experiment with platforms such as ArduPilot or PX4.

Now you're not just graduating saying:

"I know how to fly a drone."

You're saying:

"I understand unmanned aircraft systems."

That's a completely different skillset.

And those skills don't trap you in the drone industry

This might be the part I like most.

Technology is changing so quickly that I don't think we should be preparing a 16-year-old for one narrowly defined job that we hope still exists in the same form 20 years from now.

We should be helping them develop skills that can move with the technology.

Someone trained in avionics, electronics, diagnostics, communications and autonomous systems isn't limited to drones.

Those skills can potentially move into:

• robotics
• aerospace
• autonomous vehicles
• industrial automation
• defence
• advanced manufacturing
• agricultural technology
• remotely operated systems
• communications
• specialized electronic equipment

And probably industries we haven't even created yet.

That's career longevity. That's what I would want a young person thinking about.

Not:

"What single job should I train for?"

But:

"What skills can I develop that will continue to become valuable as technology changes?"

Don't fear automation. Get closer to it.

We're understandably having a lot of conversations right now about AI, automation and technology eliminating jobs. I think young people need to hear the other side of that conversation.

Technology also creates opportunity.

When a machine becomes automated, someone still has to understand the machine.

• Someone designs it.

• Someone integrates it.

• Someone installs it.

• Someone maintains it.

• Someone diagnoses it when something doesn't work.

• Someone improves it.

• Someone manages the system around it.

My advice to a young person wouldn't be to run away from automation.

Run toward it.

Become curious about it.

Take it apart.

Learn how it works.

Figure out why it failed.

Put it back together.

Then figure out how to make it better.

Those capabilities can follow you for an entire career.

Even Canada's drone regulations are beginning to reflect this change

Under Canada's newer framework, organizations conducting Level 1 Complex operations require an RPAS Operator Certificate.

As part of that structure, Transport Canada requires an operator to identify a person responsible for maintenance and maintain processes to ensure its RPAS are properly maintained.

Think about what that could mean as corporate drone fleets grow.

Today, a company might have two drones and a couple of pilots.

Tomorrow it could have dozens of aircraft, remote docks, sensors, batteries, communications systems and autonomous missions operating across multiple locations.

Flying becomes only one part of the operation.

Fleet management and maintenance become another.

And that creates careers. It could also create businesses.

I can even imagine specialized mobile UAS technicians someday travelling to industrial clients to inspect, maintain, configure and support entire drone fleets — almost like a field-service operation for autonomous aircraft.

That industry barely exists today.

Ten years from now?

Who knows.

And that's exactly the point.

So what would I tell that parent today?

If your kid loves drones, encourage it.

Buy the little drone.

Let them fly.

Let them learn photography and mapping.

Let them get their certification when the time is right.

But don't stop there.

I'd want them asking:

How does this thing actually work?

• Let them build one.

• Let them break the inexpensive one.

• Seriously.

• There's education in figuring out why something you built isn't working.

• Give them a soldering iron.

• Let them learn electronics.

• Encourage robotics.

• Programming.

• Mechanics.

• Communications.

• AI.

• Troubleshooting.

Teach them to become comfortable learning something they don't already understand. Because the most valuable skill they may develop isn't actually drone repair.

It's learning how to learn as technology changes.

I left that trade show thinking about those conversations far more than I expected to.

Parents were asking me how their kids could become drone pilots.

I think I should have been asking them a different question:

What if the better career is becoming the person who understands the drone when everyone else just knows how to operate it?

That's the conversation I think we need to start having with young people.

And it's why I've been thinking about another question:

If I were 16 years old today and fascinated by drones, AI and robotics, what would I actually do over the next five years?

I have a pretty clear idea.

And interestingly, becoming a "drone pilot" wouldn't be at the top of the list.

If there's interest, I'll map out exactly what that pathway could look like next.

Parents, educators, students, people working in aviation, robotics and the drone industry, I'd be particularly interested in your thoughts.

Are we spending too much time teaching young people how to operate today's technology instead of giving them the skills to understand tomorrow's?

 Feel free to reach out for a conversation. Or just give me a call 780-905-7371 and we can chat over coffee.

Author's Note

Darrel Pendry is the owner of Raven Drone Services Ltd. in Edmonton, Alberta, helping property owners and managers capture actionable building data through aerial imaging, mapping, and inspection services.