The following is an excerpt from “Safe Always: Standard Operating Procedures for Drone Operations and Secure Data Collection,” a whitepaper that reviews the risks associated with drone-based data collection and the processes, policies, and procedures we apply to mitigate those risks. Download the whitepaper to learn how we help keep your data and your technicians safe.
We don’t assume any knowledge from our incoming pilots, even though they come with experience and are highly recommended. As Ed Hine, VP of Operations explains, “We put them through training as if they had never flown before, not because we don’t trust them, but because we want them to fly with our methodology. We have specialized techniques, and we want to make sure that we are operating with safety as our highest priority.”
From the day a new flight operator walks in our door, we instill in them our culture of “Safety Always.” The first step in the onboarding process is meeting with our Safety Coordinator, who ensures that the new team member has the required safety equipment and is current on certifications. In addition, she schedules them for a bevy of required training and compliance courses, including:
By instituting a common onboarding curriculum, PrecisionHawk’s flight organization adheres to a universal set of standards. As a result, our pilots follow a common protocol in the field: they take off the same way, fly the same way, and manage to the exact same risk mitigation standards. And they do so regardless of their prior aviation experience. Our attention to this kind of detail helps to eliminate the potential for miscommunication or misunderstanding. It also means that our pilots and sensor operators can immediately work together from the same set of procedures, even if they are teamed with one another for the first time, not unlike how a flight crew functions on board a commercial passenger jet.
“PrecisionHawk Aviation Operations has all of the hallmarks of a professional aviation organization, in that we have routine and rigorous training, standards that are consistently applied, and a professional aviation mindset. That yields consistent, repeatable, safe flight operations,” says Ed Hine.
We expect our pilots to display consistently good decision making, and they must master certain maneuvers within a specific timeframe, or we rescind the offer of a position. Once they pass the first level of training, they begin their work as sensor operators, rather than drone pilots, which gives them the opportunity to work alongside seasoned PrecisionHawk pilots and to further their understanding of the operation. After they have demonstrated a full understanding and aptitude as sensor operators, they then undergo further training before they are graduated to piloting our drones, first under the watchful eyes of veteran pilots once again, and ultimately on their own.
To learn more about how our rigorous training and onboarding curriculum ensures redundancy and safety in operations, download our whitepaper “Safety Always: Standard Operating Procedures for Drone Operations and Secure Data Collection.”