Hey Canadian's reading this!! As you may know already it will be mandatory to have a drone license in our "free" country to operate any drones between 250grams and 25kg! All consumer drones for photography and videography gets in that range. If you have a custom built FPV drone which weight less than 250g, well you can do whatever you want anywhere you want as long as you don't damage property of hurt anyone (which is great great news), you will need a friend with you at all time for watching purposes tho. As for the quads over 250g issue, you have to pass a 10$ basic test on the gouvernements website and register your drone from 5$. Failure to do will get you a 1000$ fine as per June 9th 2019.., if cought obviously. This said I passed the test today successfully and it is hard. Let me give you 3 websites to search for answers as the questions comes.

1. http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p ... sor-dors11-eng.html
these are the news laws, you can CTRL+F and look for keywords while doing your exam

2. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-96-433/
this is the complete canadian aviation regulation directory, there is a search toolbar saying ''search withing these regulation'' up top..this is real helpfull

3. GOOGLE

Don't be affraid of googlin, google the answers, google the key words of the questions, try your best! you have enough time to execute a bit of searching while doing the exam, I finished mine with 20 minutes to spare and searched for almost every questions.

There is some hard trap questions but you'll figure it out! If you don't succeed first try with these sites, you'll do it the next one!

Don't be shy to ask me questions on here if you want to know anything ill do my best to help.

Hello and good day Nicoricosancho. Thank you for sharing this information with us today. This will be a very good help and thank you for your support.

I presume this would also apply to visitors from south of the border - US "guests"

DJI Stephen Posted at 1-14 07:34
Hello and good day Nicoricosancho. Thank you for sharing this information with us today. This will be a very good help and thank you for your support.

Yup welcome! Need Canadians to know before they end up giving their money on fines

ff22 Posted at 1-14 07:58
I presume this would also apply to visitors from south of the border - US "guests"

Actually not sure if any of these rules apply to foreigners! I'll get back to you on this one! How does it work in the states for me for example? Do I need to register to FAA?

Nicoricosancho Posted at 1-14 17:23
Actually not sure if any of these rules apply to foreigners! I'll get back to you on this one! How does it work in the states for me for example? Do I need to register to FAA?

I think I read that you would need the permit.  I think it was $5.  

ff22 Posted at 1-14 21:10
I think I read that you would need the permit.  I think it was $5.

Yup I read that as well on FAA website, no info on Canada tho :/ I guess you gave to follow rules and that's all but not sure, kinda dumb , these rules are new there will be adjusted

I was planning a trip the Vancouver Island this summer and researching this topic also. Reading about the Special Flight Operations Certificate isn't very promising.

https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services ... -outside-rules.html

"You are not a Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada or a corporation incorporated by or under the laws of Canada or a province"

"You must have an approved SFOC to fly a drone for any purpose."
Keith

Nicoricosancho Posted at 1-14 17:21
Yup welcome! Need Canadians to know before they end up giving their money on fines

You are very much welcome Nicoricosancho. Have a safe and happy flying always.

Flyingcougar Posted at 1-15 08:35
I was planning a trip the Vancouver Island this summer and researching this topic also. Reading about the Special Flight Operations Certificate isn't very promising.

https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services ... -outside-rules.html

oh wow.. what a bummer..i guess it will change in the future, if you really want to be legal you can pass your certifications on the TC website, for 10$, then license your drone for 5$ (if foreigners are allowed to, don't know about that)...but if you come over and fly in canada and follow all laws, i don't see anyone coming to you asking for your certificate..canada is trying to regulate but some points are just dumb.

Nicoricosancho Posted at 1-17 09:33
oh wow.. what a bummer..i guess it will change in the future, if you really want to be legal you can pass your certifications on the TC website, for 10$, then license your drone for 5$ (if foreigners are allowed to, don't know about that)...but if you come over and fly in canada and follow all laws, i don't see anyone coming to you asking for your certificate..canada is trying to regulate but some points are just dumb.

they [the governments} are going overboard in my opinion.

Picanoc Jack Posted at 1-22 10:31
they [the governments} are going overboard in my opinion.

Yes I guess, but I always wanted to start my company and be more of a professional operator. Before I could'nt because of all COAS request and such..now no more of this! Quite happy I'll be able to get some paid contracts! (Already have a few customers interrested)

Nicoricosancho Posted at 1-22 11:28
Yes I guess, but I always wanted to start my company and be more of a professional operator. Before I could'nt because of all COAS request and such..now no more of this! Quite happy I'll be able to get some paid contracts! (Already have a few customers interrested)

The basic operations certificate is actually a pretty good deal. You can can fly commercially within Class G airspace legally for 10 bucks. I'm happy with that.

jyc Posted at 1-22 12:24
The basic operations certificate is actually a pretty good deal. You can can fly commercially within Class G airspace legally for 10 bucks. I'm happy with that.

Good stuff !

Foreigners need not apply!

ff22 Posted at 1-22 15:34
Foreigners need not apply!

Actually if you have your part 107 you can ask for a SFOC and fly professionally, there's nothing in the law that says you can't.

jyc Posted at 1-22 15:43
Actually if you have your part 107 you can ask for a SOFC and fly professionally, there's nothing in the law that says you can't.

That's all fine, but what about those who just want to fly leisurely for a week. I would imagine there's quite a contrast in the numbers between leisure and professional foriegn pilots who visit Canada.

Flyingcougar Posted at 1-22 17:49
That's all fine, but what about those who just want to fly leisurely for a week. I would imagine there's quite a contrast in the numbers between leisure and professional foriegn pilots who visit Canada.

Yes you are right, everyone will need a Special Flight Operations Certificate. So for ordinary use it's a bummer.

Hm, that's actually going to cut down on my tourism to Canada. (I live 20 min. away)

DJI, Please make a 250g pocket drone! The Spark 2 / Spark Air all of a sudden has a MUCH bigger market!!!

ff22 Posted at 1-14 07:58
I presume this would also apply to visitors from south of the border - US "guests"

To register your AC you  (apparently) by a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident! and also for the certificate!

fans49b741e6 Posted at 1-25 14:54
Hm, that's actually going to cut down on my tourism to Canada. (I live 20 min. away)

DJI, Please make a 250g pocket drone! The Spark 2 / Spark Air all of a sudden has a MUCH bigger market!!!

I fully support the move.

Hi from Waterloo Ontario Canada ! Just recently passed my Basic Flight Certificate with help from a great YouTube channel ( all credit to : Don Joyce ) posted the link below.
Don does a great job of providing links and an option to download his complete pdf guide ( not endorsing this just saying it helped me get 88% on the exam after 2.5hrs of review ).

Now , taking more time to review, and study to try for the advanced certificate. A tip that may help is I downloaded all the docs or converted them to PDF . Then used latest version of Adobe Reader and uploaded all docs to adobe cloud .. this is useful as it allowed me to bookmark, highlight parts of the info that helped me to find the info quickly and PDF's are searchable !

Cheers and Good Luck on taking the exams !

I passed my basic yesterday.......    They've got to get a handle on the stupid useless questions they throw in that have absolutely nothing to do with flying a drone...   I had one on hypoxia and another one dealing with isogonic lines on a map.

Been a Drone operator forever and I am very carefull.  But theses questions on the basic test are non related i think.  Failed the 1st time.  Got a score of 63%. I will have to study more since I didnt know half of the questions.  Any advise on where to study

You can't really study for the test. The questions come from over 1000 pages of material.    The video in post #22 above explains where to look and how the exam is organized.    What I did was open a browser on the exam page..  Then I opened four more browser tabs with each tab containing one of the links below.   

From there it was just a matter of going to the correct tab and using the browser (Control F) search function to find the answer.   You might want one more tab open to the general Google search page in order to look up the few questions that have absolutely nothing to do with flying a drone.

http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p ... sor-dors11-eng.html

https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services ... tions/tp-15263.html

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/SOR-96-433.pdf

https://www.tc.gc.ca/media/docum ... 018-2_EN-ACCESS.pdf

Ok thanks…………….i ve tried it again today and failed again…..even worst got a 55%.  Dammit…….Everything to make a buck.  I will try tomorrow with your guidelines

Thanks

Sold my Spark. I ordered a Micro drone 4.0 ... 125 grams. DJI take notice.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/micro-drone-4-0-small-intelligent-autonomous/x/15704243#/

marcovth Posted at 3-9 03:36
Sold my Spark. I ordered a Micro drone 4.0 ... 125 grams. DJI take notice.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/micro-drone-4-0-small-intelligent-autonomous/x/15704243#/

It looks cool, but there is no RC for it yet.  Let us know how performs once you get it.

It seems to me the entire setup for the “basic” test was to take out as many drones as possible.

I will ask my MP to take the test and pass it if it is so “basic”.

jyc Posted at 3-9 03:47
It looks cool, but there is no RC for it yet.  Let us know how performs once you get it.

This should be the link to buy the controller for $75 extra (see update #3) The drone should ship in June.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/micro-drone-4-0-small-intelligent-autonomous/payments/new?perk_id=4721842

marcovth Posted at 3-9 03:52
It seems to me the entire setup for the “basic” test was to take out as many drones as possible.

I will ask my MP to take the test and pass it if it is so “basic”.

Transport Canada considers anything over 250gr to be an aircraft. So the requirements are those that you need to pilot an aircraft in Canadian airspace. The basic certificate allows you to conduct any operations commercial or not within Class G airspace for $10, it's a pretty good deal.

90% Of current drone users are doing this occasionally maybe 5 6 times a year on a day out, and they absolutely don't care about commercial operations.

I can tell you now that half of those will not fly anymore next year or fly illegally in remote enough areas.

I am totally convinced that this was designed to get rid of as many hobbyist drone users as possible.

Many of the BS questions tossed in, you don't see them asked you if want a drivers license. They have nothing to do with flying a drone.

Have some questions are you able to chat somehow offline? Didn't study got 74% and Just want to get this done

What no one has posted all the answers anywhere yet?
Here I thought thats what the internet was for lol.

Gazoo Posted at 3-17 11:21
What no one has posted all the answers anywhere yet?
Here I thought thats what the internet was for lol.

illegal to do so my friend. the exam is quite easy to pass with the tips i gave in thread 1

Nicoricosancho Posted at 3-17 12:16
illegal to do so my friend. the exam is quite easy to pass with the tips i gave in thread 1

Illegal actions on the net.......nnnnnooooooo say it aint so!

Nicoricosancho Posted at 3-17 12:16
illegal to do so my friend. the exam is quite easy to pass with the tips i gave in thread 1

Illegal actions on the net......nnnnoooooooo say it aint so!

Wrote the  exam today and got a 74%.
Used the links provided above as well as google but mostly just  used my common sense.
A lot of really stupid questions that really are pointless to know as a drone pilot but hey what do you expect from the Government.
$10 to write the exam then another $5 to register my drone.

Gazoo Posted at 4-7 15:04
Wrote the  exam today and got a 74%.
Used the links provided above as well as google but mostly just  used my common sense.
A lot of really stupid questions that really are pointless to know as a drone pilot but hey what do you expect from the Government.

Totally agree. I also took the test today and I passed with 82%. I used the tips offered right here.

Took the tips here, and I passed with a 74%.

Some really dumb questions on it, though.