Spread the word. This will be the last chance before the summer I think to get trained. It’s a great course and if you want to instruct we’ll invest in a training qualification for your own development as well.
This project is being massively supported by the Air Cadet Charity and it is through their support of the vision, that we will see cadets and RAFAC staff flying across the U.K. this Summer.
Is this open to all - there was a previous call out via Regions but maybe for a different one?
My gast is flabbered. For once in the corps, as it should be. 
Was always open to all, with the exception of the first course which was for supervisory staff. You can express an interest through your RAvnO.
Thanks - it will have been that first course I saw advertised then.
Already have been 
Same, although that makes me a little nervous . . . With a “go live date of Aug/Sept” and only 12 instructors trained, plus however many people were on the earlier course, the autumn will be a busy time for those qualified.
I’ve certainly not seen anything about follow up courses - apart from, as ever, on here!
Being nervous is for me to worry about….
These instructors will only deliver silver and gold training, the regulated areas. Blue and Bronze will be delivered through other means.
Flying coaching and instruction are different things.
Never did see this distributed via our chain of command
There is a course in May that has a few representatives from every region, so I’m not sure where the disconnect is.
We are nearing the point where we can start to allow some cadet flying in those regions that have suitably trained adults, and surveyed flying sites, hopefully in a month or so.
The wider launch will be at NASC and will hopefully have been worth the wait. The CAA recently (a few weeks ago) changed their qualifications for drone pilots moving forward, so we have had to adapt to that new framework. Which has been a lot of work, which isn’t quite there yet, but almost.
There will also be an advert shortly for more CFAVs to support the national effort. As it grows, it obviously needs more people to make it work. These are a great opportunity to be part of a small team that will support the national delivery of this exciting and high profile project. To get involved in these you need not be interested in flying drones either, although some of the roles would suit those who have.
More to come through official channels shortly.
Anyone got an exact date on when we were stopped from flying any drones/RPAS outdoors? I recall 2021? So a 4/5-year wait.
Ahh, one of our shorter “pauses” then - all for what is in the most part a childrens toy 
That depends on the soze of the drone, some small drones can carry quite a deadly payload.
And this perception is where you are wrong.
The CAA or the law doesn’t see it as “for the most part a children’s toy” and they, as well as the MAA, see it as an aircraft. The organisation had ‘dropped the ball’ on this and we had to start from scratch.
We are building a foundation that will allow the organisation to fly some sophisticated (and costly) drones and this needs proper training to be legal and safe. The drones we have are not toys and neither should we treat them as such. If we want to be able to deliver the highest levels of CAA qualifications we need to demonstrate that we can do this appropriately and safely.
I cannot comment on what has gone on before my tenure, but since taking over we are the first and only MoD organisation to have a CAA Operating license, allowing us to fly drones up to 25kg. We will shortly be the first and only MoD organisation to be able to train the CAA qualifications, including the new ones only announced two-weeks ago.
Whilst I am as frustrated by the delays as the next person, we only had a tiny team who were working on this for 2-years and during that time the CAA has moved the goalposts on us twice. This is taking a huge amount of effort to get right and a massive investment from the Air Cadet Charity and public funds. It has taken this long as I didn’t want to deliver a product that isn’t finished and/or is so cumbersome in terms of admin, that is unusable.
This has involved us bringing in new software and getting this MoD approved to lessen the admin burden and make it automatic in most cases, training people to the highest CAA standard available to help launch the product, buying dozens of new state-of-the-art drones to allow everyone to have the opportunity of flying them as often as possible. I won’t apologise that this has taken a long time, because it is better to do it once, than give you something that isn’t fit for purpose.
Which is fine if we want the all the cadets experience to be flying these uber drones. However when we could use them in the past I had the cadets flying obstacle courses with them giving them the freedom of flight with small and cheap drones for inter-flight competitions. Gold plated is great, gold plated is good BUT gold-plated is also complex and limiting. I’m doing an event at weekend where arial photos would be great. Last weekend I was out flying my Mini 2 SE doing filming in difference area, but this weekend I can’t do that because reasons.
Nothing stopping you if you have the CAA qualifications and insurance, etc.
You just need to email me with the RA and need and I can see what can be done. I have authorised competitions etc in the past two-years. There is a caveat that allows flying authorised by me to take place. I am happy to look at it tomorrow if you send me through the stuff.
I should stress that this is not ‘gold plated’ but is as safe as we can make it and as practical as we can be if we want to deliver the CAA higher level qualifications to our staff and cadets at some scale.
We are hobbyist flying here, we are trying to build up the cadets experience and skill to be able to gain a professional qualification that allows them to fly as a paid RPAS pilot. The new RPC (L1) qualification, which 2 FTS will provide, is the gateway qualification to the new commercial uncrewed systems licensing framework, which allows beyond visual line of sight flying and much more. A really tangible qualification that we will teach through a building blocks approach.
I’m not an educator, and neither are the team, so having to design this is taking us time and huge amounts of effort.
Im just dismayed that i sent in an email to my RAvO to bid for a space on the initial CFAV course and didn’t even get an acknowledgment, let alone a thanks but no thanks.
I thought anything under 250g without a camera is literally defined by the CAA as a toy. So you don’t need registering or a flyer ID etc.
The gold plated because it is about flying 25kg drones etc. Most squadrons don’t want / need / can access etc that kind of drone. Most just want to do fun activities with small toy (and yes, I’m sorry but I stand with my original post as the CAA website lists TOYS as a category) drones. This is the grass roots; some cadets may want to do more, some will just be happy doing that. It’s great that the work you have done gives us options, and credit to you for picking it up and doing it, but it’s still overkill for what squadrons want.
It might be worth talking to other HQ training teams who have educator and training design backgrounds to help.