Blue View – Drone Pilot’s License

“All recreational flyers must pass an aeronautical knowledge and safety test and provide proof of test passage to the FAA or law enforcement upon request”

My inbox recently had an interesting email from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that informed me that “… The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST) is now available. TRUST is a required safety course and test for all recreational drone pilots and should be completed before your next flight”. Uh-oh. I knew this was coming from previous communications from the FAA and I wasn’t looking forward to the day when it was required. Would it be expensive? Time-consuming? Difficult? Beyond the ken of this septuagenarian?

The email provided a supposed link to their website for more details about TRUST. I’m always wary of links provided by unsolicited emails, no matter how legitimate they look, so I went directly to the FAA website. Sure enough, TRUST is a course and test developed by the FAA that “provides education and testing for recreational flyers on important safety and regulatory information. If you fly your drone recreationally … you must pass the test before you fly.” The FAA doesn’t administer the course and test itself, however, but does provide a list of third party organizations that work with them. These organizations may have ads and promotions for other services and products they offer, but are obligated to provide online access to the TRUST program free of charge. No charge? Yay! One question answered.

There were 18 organizations on the list, and I picked one at random – Drone U. I followed the link to their website, created an account, then clicked on the TRUST button. The course started with a brief introduction, then it led me through the entire course.

First step is to create an account and enroll in the online class

One caveat – one of the very first pages states that I am required to show proof that I passed the test to law enforcement and/or FAA officials on request by showing a ‘TRUST Completion Card”. I could purchase the card from them, with or without my picture and with or without a nice FAA monogrammed lanyard. It sort of implies that the only way you can get this card is by buying it from the FAA, but in actuality, I found that I could print it myself at the completion of the course. There is no doubt that their laminated card is much nicer than my printed/home laminated version, but either will serve the purpose.

This page implies I needed to buy the course completion card

But I discovered I could print my own card

The Welcome page

and overview

There are four sections to the course

Each of which is followed by a short quiz

You must get a 100% on each section to pass, but you can retake the exam if necessary

Amazing… I passed!

I printed both sides of the card

and laminated it using packing tape. Not as nice as the purchased version, but it works

Overall the course and test were easy and took about a half hour to complete, even for someone of my advanced age. I felt I was fairly knowledgeable about my drone and how to safely fly it, but I will admit that I did learn a few new things, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. And I now have a card that should keep the drone police from locking me up.

One last comment… I did a YouTube video called The Beginner’s Guide to Flying A Holystone 720HS Drone a while back. I still get a lot of favorable comments, but every once in awhile I get one that goes something like “On my first flight, my drone hit the living-room ceiling, ricocheted off a lamp and hit me in the head! You should advise people to wear a helmet and goggles when flying these dangerous things!!”. Yeah – or you could read the half dozen warnings about flying the drone inside a house… or even better – take the TRUST course.

Good advice!

See you next time...