A GVC to PfCO conversion course does not exist

Many people are emailing me regarding the deadline requiring holders of an Operational Authorisation to have a GVC certificate before the end of 2023.

Lots of people are saying they require a “PfCO to GVC” upgrade which is technically incorrect.  Sadly this incorrect terminology is all over the internet, so hopefully this text will give guidance in relation to the old and new UK drone certification system.

 The Old Regs

Let’s go back 5 years to the old regulations, let’s pretend we are in 2018, the year of the Beast from the East & the Salisbury Novichok attack.

The drone regulations were all about earning money or commercial gain with your drone, so if you wanted to fly a drone commercially for money or commercial gain you would undertake a course with an NQE (National Qualified Entity).

At the end of the course you would be given a:

Certificate of Recommendation for issue of a CAA Standard Permission

You would then apply through the CAA online application portal for a:

PfCO – Permission for Commercial Operations

And with your PfCO you could fly your drone commercially – easy!!!!

The New Regs:

Then on the last day of 2020 a new set of drone regulations came into force.   The basis of the new drone regulations concentrated on the risk the drone presents to uninvolved people on the ground rather than focusing on commercial flying.

As there where new regulations in force, a new drone course was required to cover the new syllabus, and on completion of the course a GVC certificate would be issued by the RAEs (Recognised Assessment Entities).   The NQE name was replace by RAE!!!!!!!

So now we had a two tier system.

1.      Anyone who came on a course post 31st December 2020 gained a GVC from an RAE and applied to the CAA for an Operational Authorisation – PDRA01.

2.      If you had a existing old style PfCO it was still valid but on your next renewal you would have been issued an Operational Authorisation – PDRA01.  

Now for those annual renewals you would of used your old   Certificate of Recommendation for issue of a CAA Standard Permission as part of the application process and everything was fine.

Over the years to the present day anyone renewing their old PfCO would have been given an Operational Authorisation in its place so therefore everyone now has an Operational Authorisation and all PfCOs are invalid.

Even though everyone now has an Operational Authorisation from the CAA there is still inconsistency in the certificates people hold as some have a GVC and some have the Certificate of Recommendation for issue of a CAA Standard Permission.

The CAA want everyone to have the latest certificate (The GVC) so they have ruled that the old Certificate of Recommendation for issue of a CAA Standard Permission will become invalid from the last day of 2023 therefore forcing anyone with a old Certificate to go on a course with an RAE to gain the GVC.

So you do not convert your PfCO to a GVC.  You convert your Certificate of Recommendation for issue of a CAA Standard Permission to a GVC.

You cannot convert a PfCO to a GVC, it’s a technicaly impossible!!!!!

 I hope this clears up the confusion.   Now I understand this is a heavy topic and I am more than happy to discuss this on the phone

07889 767 398    or via email:   info@commercialdronetraining.co.uk

 I hope you enjoyed this text and remember Commercial Drone Training is a UK CAA approved RAE offering both online and face to face A2 CofC and GVC courses and we can certainly help you with your conversion to a GVC if required.