Hey,

I'm just curious for those who are in Canada, did any of you guys take ground school as required by Transport Canada? If so, where did you take it from? What was your experience applying for a Special Flight Certificate afterwards?

I am also interested in this!

Check out Online Ground School

It covers what you need, but to be honest, you can go and buy the book at an aviation store and pick up a copy of CARS from Transport Canada. TC does recognize self-taught.

Currently TC is under-staffed all depending where you are. Toronto has 6 and their priority is actual aviation services. Currently people I have been working with are waiting for an SFOC to be approved, TC says it takes 20 Business Days, most are about 60-90 days. Probably in smaller centres, it is shorter.

Many are not being approved mainly because the actual application lacks detail of the operation. Don't expect TC to look at a one page document. They want detail on the operation and emergency plans and who is flying it and do they have an understanding of the current rules. I will tell you they are very close to expecting operators in canada to have a radiotelephone operators certificate. I have a relationship with TC and I can also say they are working on creating a full set of regs to be completed by 2017.

Hope this helps!

CCUVS in Medicine Hat occasionally holds ground school classes.  They go over the ROC as well.

It's not legally required in Canada yet to my knowledge. Unless your aircraft is over the weight class and Inspire's are not.

You need it though to apply for a SOFC I believe.

I flew an R/C helicopter and a camera carrying quadcopter in a feature length movie that was shot here in Vancouver, BC.  The set was located on the South side of Vancouver International Airport.  We had an SFOC from Transport Canada, permission of YVR management, and maintained live communication with NAVCANADA (the tower).  I hold a commercial pilots license, multiengine, land and sea.  I have been flying R/C aircraft since I was 16.  I have also flown full scale aircraft in both TV commercials and movies.  We had a risk manager on set and and emergency plan.  All government agencies were very helpful.

I could not have used the Inspire One on this location because it would not work at this airport.  I have asked DJI how to turn this restriction off if you have the full permission of Transport Canada and are qualified to do this type of work.  So far, I have no answer.  

Tahoe_Ed, can you help with this?

Part of the Rules are that you have training and a VHF Air band Aviation Radio.  The two day course in Medicine Hat with the CCUVS is the course I took.  SAIT in Calgary is also setting of a course on UAVs.   I started out with the 63 page SFOC then they changed it to 135 pages...Then they came up with exemptions based on weight. This made life for me and I'm sure Transport Canada a lot easier.  You also have to consider Nav Canada they look after the airports and Industry Canada which looks after airwaves and radio procedures associated with the ROC-A which you need to take a course on. Then if you are doing it commercially then you need to factor in OH&S and of course WCB and you are also required to carry a minimum of $100,000.00 in insurance However, most companies will require you to carry $2 million in insurance....And at some point you will probably need to become COR certified for Safety.   Of course at some point you will be allowed to fly ...kind of sort of...Oh and once you do start flying don't forget to look over your shoulder...The fines for non compliance are $5000,00/person and $20,000.00 for the company from Transport Canada alone let alone the fines from and jail time and court time you can get from OH&S...And no I am not making any of this up...The sword of Damocles is really hanging over your head so cover yourself with lots of toilet paper, do things systematically and document everything. This is the law in Canada...  

The problem Wildcat Willie, there are operators who don't take this seriously and will ruin it for the legit ones. As I have stated before on this forum, this unit will kill someone if it hits them. 100 feet free falling = 700lbs of force. It scares me when I read the distances people are attempting and even viewing some of the video's where they are flying.

Willie, I'm curious, you mentioned Occupational Health and Safety, do they have a course themselves or do they only require the course at say SAIT? And WCB do they have a rate for UAV pilots? Perhaps you can tell us what COR is and how to get it?

Most of what wild cat willie has said is correct . Most companies I have been working for do not ask for COR THOUGH but other than that he is dead on . Imo

COR certification is being asked for more and more...In Alberta the ACSA ((Alberta Construction Safety Assoc) looks after COR. ACSA is funded by WCB.  It is quite involved but there is a smaller version called SECOR or Small Employer COR...You have to take a one day course and come up with a Safety Manual and submit some documentation. Basically, you design your own Safety Manual and the kicker is that You have to do what you say your going to do...It is not a legal requirement but more and more companies are requiring COR or SECOR in order to work for them...Most Govt contracts and a lot of oil companies now require the certification...Your WCB payments can also be reduced.  There is some talk in Alberta that COR or SECOR will be required in order to incorporate at some point down the road. Its  worth looking into and you can make your own decisions .  Each province has there own version of ACSA.

Check out http://www.acsa-safety.org

The industry is new and I havent found a WCB category yet...I have been taking with them and am trying to use my old WCB number when I was contracting.

Goodwill Posted at 2015-3-11 13:33
You need it though to apply for a SOFC I believe.

Nope! You don't. You need to prove you are competent and at present they have no requisites. There is no course syllabus nor is there any drone pilots permit or licence. There will likely be one in the future. I contacted Transport Canada about this very thing, there response is.... This drone phenomenon is a relatively new thing, we are working on a way to simplify the process ( make things harder for you ). The application process does not have a template or form, the onus is on the applicant and success will be determined on the nature of use and the completeness of the application. Hope this helps, probably not, but neither did TC.

We had a few customers who just took the CCUVS course in Medicine Hat, Alberta. They really enjoyed it and stated it was definitely worth their time. Contact us and we can hook you up with them. Thanks!--AerialTech Inc. (www.aerialtech.com)

Dangair...Actually you do require training.  under the Exememptions as well as for an SFOC . The CARS state the following:
EXEMPTION FROM SECTIONS 602.41 AND 603.66 OF THE CANADIAN AVIATION REGULATIONS

Pilot Training Conditions

The pilot operating a UAV system under this exemption shall have successfully completed a pilot ground school program that provides instruction on the following subject areas:
airspace classification and structure;
meteorological and NOTAM reporting services;
interpretation of aeronautical charts and the Canada Flight Supplement; and
applicable content of the Canadian Aviation Regulations;
The pilot conducting operations under this exemption shall be appropriately trained on the UAV system and qualified for the area and type of operation as referred to in Transport Canada guidance material.

The CCUVS course in Medicine Covers all of this material plus Industry Canadas requirements for ROC-A VHFv air band radio...

Yes but Transport Canada at present is saying they have no course syllabus or certified accreditation yet so they are accepting self study until a TC approved course is constructed. However, that said, I was informed that Any class of pilots license such as recreational pilots permit or Ultralight pilots permit will suffice and a UAV course is recommended but not at present required. I think what they are saying is while it isn't yet law they may refuse the application based on experience alone thus bypassing the need to qualify educationally. Kinda like the difference between impaired driving vs. drunk driving either way your screwed. Myself, I have a pilots license but I still think a UAV course is worth it because it's type specific. Oh, one interesting tidbit, even though TC is federal the application process is regional and each region has it's own latitude for criteria. So what works in Alberta wont necessarily fly in BC and vise versa.