GVC Conversion courses – what to look out for / avoid the pitfalls!!
You would have seen over the last few months the ramp up in advertising from the RAEs for the GVC conversion course. The offers vary massively in pricing but as a responsible RAE I want to point out some of the things you need to be aware of:
First of all, some of the RAEs are advertising no flight test is required if you hold an old NQE certificate of recommendation. This is partially true:
To qualify for omission of the GVC flight test then you must have the following:
· (A) Hold a current in date Operational Authorisation
Or
(B) Be listed as a remote pilot in the Operations Manual of an operator with a current in date Operational Authorisation
And
· Two hours flight in the last 3 months
Secondly most of the RAEs are only offering the GVC and not the A2 CofC included. During the GVC course you study the A2CofC syllabus so its wrong not to include it. At some point in the future you may decide to relinquish your Operational Authorisation and fly in the Open category, if so, you would have to do the A2 CofC course if your drone with between 500g and 2kg which you guessed it, most prosumer drones are!!!
The Commercial Drone Training combined A2 CofC / GVC online course is £379, if you are thinking of converting to the GVC, then including the A2 CofC in your training is the sensible option.
For those of you who dream bigger than drones, British Airways is offering fully funded airline pilot training courses to join their company, click on link below.