Hey flyers,

  I posted a while back about Canada's new regulations to implement licenses for RPAS operators. You need to pass the Small Advanced Operator's exam with an 80%.

  I have now completed the exam 7 times (at $10 per attempt) and have received marks between 70-78% (4 times I've gotten 78%).

  Of the 50 questions you have to answer in 60 minutes there are probably 20 that apply to quad-copter operators. There's about 5 questions on how to control your "flight staff", 5 questions on the parts and functions of an aeroplane, 5 questions directly related to your radio operator's license, and there's at least 5 questions that have nothing but wrong answers of which you need to choose 1.

  No one at Transportation Canada is responding to the results of the exams, they don't even tell you which questions they got wrong, and you're not allowed to dispute the results.

  Just wondering if anyone has actually passed this exam and wondering how they got over 80% when they throw in false questions?

  Also does it now seem wrong that they take money but don't have a customer service department? There's no way to verify that they're actually checking the result of the actual exams, you just receive a notice by email stating you didn't pass.

  Interested in speaking to any of you who have passed!

Hello and good day Moxie Aerials. Thank you for reaching out and I am sorry to know what happened to your exam. I hope that you will get the best recommendations from our valued DJI co pilots who had taken the Small Advanced Operator's exam in Canada. Thank you.

None of the answers are "wrong".  You need to find out the correct mental perspective of why they consider it to be right.  I used to think Any answer could be right in a multiple choice, but it's not.  The tests are to weed out who is supposed to be licensed and who isn't.  The more complaining we do, the harder it is for us.  My quest is to understand all the "right" answers in life and stick to them even if most people would disagree about some of them being "right" as well as the difficulty of sometimes me being "wrong" even though some things are still in the state of being classified as right or wrong and no one really knows, for example, religious questions.

Life is pretty much like a railroad track where someone else is controlling where the tracks go and you decide where to fork.  You think it's you, but in fact, it's the "God system".  If you aren't supposed to pass now, you aren't supposed to pass now for a reason.  Timing is also another factor to consider and that alone has Many unknown possibilities that we cannot see for being setup to.

If possible, share all the questions you got wrong so we can decide too.

How frustrating......  keep going !

AntDX316 Posted at 7-7 21:57
None of the answers are "wrong".  You need to find out the correct mental perspective of why they consider it to be right.  I used to think Any answer could be right in a multiple choice, but it's not.  The tests are to weed out who is supposed to be licensed and who isn't.  The more complaining we do, the harder it is for us.  My quest is to understand all the "right" answers in life and stick to them even if most people would disagree about some of them being "right" as well as the difficulty of sometimes me being "wrong" even though some things are still in the state of being classified as right or wrong and no one really knows, for example, religious questions.

Life is pretty much like a railroad track where someone else is controlling where the tracks go and you decide where to fork.  You think it's you, but in fact, it's the "God system".  If you aren't supposed to pass now, you aren't supposed to pass now for a reason.  Timing is also another factor to consider and that alone has Many unknown possibilities that we cannot see for being setup to.

Interesting perspective Ant, although I assure you when it comes to aeronautical laws, you can only be either right or wrong

I wish I could share the questions but there's a specific disclaimer when taking the exam that states you must not share or post any of the questions - which just further exemplifies how sketchy this whole licensing system is.

In speaking with a few commercial pilots about the exam and about aeronautical law, a couple of things became apparent:

1. Transportation Canada is doing its best to squash commercial UAV operations.

AND

2. Commercial pilots only require a 70% on their exam to pass, where as UAV advanced operators require 80%.

I did eventually pass, but with no customer support and with no ability to review the exam, the entire process is rather pointless.

Moxie Aerials Posted at 7-15 05:33
Interesting perspective Ant, although I assure you when it comes to aeronautical laws, you can only be either right or wrong

I wish I could share the questions but there's a specific disclaimer when taking the exam that states you must not share or post any of the questions - which just further exemplifies how sketchy this whole licensing system is.

Exactly, some laws are you are either right or wrong and this is what I strive to get right in all areas of life with the help of computers of course.

If you do things slow enough you can do it upside down and backwards and it would still work but in real-life people don't know any difference until you take things to the Extreme, that is when things really separate.  I had motion sickness after riding the Wonderwoman ride at Six Flags multiple consecutive times.  If I did less than that, I do other rides too w/o issues for hours, I would never know that I can not handle Extreme motions for a long long duration.  It's like that for me with everything.  If I stick to something longgg enough it's not the same as using it for a while.  This is where people break, get crippled, or die under.

AntDX316 Posted at 7-7 21:57
None of the answers are "wrong".  You need to find out the correct mental perspective of why they consider it to be right.  I used to think Any answer could be right in a multiple choice, but it's not.  The tests are to weed out who is supposed to be licensed and who isn't.  The more complaining we do, the harder it is for us.  My quest is to understand all the "right" answers in life and stick to them even if most people would disagree about some of them being "right" as well as the difficulty of sometimes me being "wrong" even though some things are still in the state of being classified as right or wrong and no one really knows, for example, religious questions.

Life is pretty much like a railroad track where someone else is controlling where the tracks go and you decide where to fork.  You think it's you, but in fact, it's the "God system".  If you aren't supposed to pass now, you aren't supposed to pass now for a reason.  Timing is also another factor to consider and that alone has Many unknown possibilities that we cannot see for being setup to.

Ha ha! Yes: "select the MOST correct answer from the list of POSSIBLE answers" -- AHHHHH! Just like the SAT!

All answers are correct, but one (or more) are MOST correct!

"Select all that apply"

I am in the same situation as you Moxie. I tried it some many time, the best I had is 74%

I took a 40h class (3000$) at idronemontreal at the end of 2018. The class and the 200pages manual is way to basic for the advanced Operator - Exam.

It's frustrating, there's so many questions in this exam that make no sense for a drone pilot.

lolaalol Posted at 7-20 10:18
I am in the same situation as you Moxie. I tried it some many time, the best I had is 74%

I took a 40h class (3000$) at idronemontreal at the end of 2018. The class and the 200pages manual is way to basic for the advanced Operator - Exam.

They just want to keep the Canadian airspaces clear of drones but if people do fly, only those who are supposed to will make it.  Just as it takes 6 years to be allowed to do land surveying and 1 year of Over-the-Road truck driving to Day Cab in the United States it takes a lot more than just passing a bunch of questions to fly in the United States than to fly in Canada.

Just as the varying degree of punishment someone has been given doing the same exact "crime" within different territories is the same as putting the same amount of physical and mental effort into something but the financial payout being completely different.

I passed it first attempt, got lucky.  My son failed for second time.  Some of the questions do not have answers.  One in particular shows the boundary of Department of Defense CZ but that is not one of the choices.  Also, there were many questions about landing at airports, taxi way lighting.  Bizarre.  I doubt if he will ever pass it so I guess he can operate with his Basic License under my direct supervision.

Just saying: do you really need this? Are you planning on entering controlled airspace or flying up on someone within 5m at their level?  You can't fly over them with any DJI drone so that's about all an advanced license gets you. Also, my guess is 99.999999% of recreational drone flyers are flying illegally anyway (I mean - are you really keeping a log of your flights?).  These rules have been put in place to discourage you to get people not to fly drones at all. The advanced exam is a complete joke and has almost nothing to do with flying a drone.

pawnie Posted at 9-25 20:02
Just saying: do you really need this? Are you planning on entering controlled airspace or flying up on someone within 5m at their level?  You can't fly over them with any DJI drone so that's about all an advanced license gets you. Also, my guess is 99.999999% of recreational drone flyers are flying illegally anyway (I mean - are you really keeping a log of your flights?).  These rules have been put in place to discourage you to get people not to fly drones at all. The advanced exam is a complete joke and has almost nothing to do with flying a drone.

Just gonna reiterate this after failing the advanced exam again as well (70% twice now) and that is about all the time feel like putting into this.  Don't need it and I have my Mini if I want to fly over someone or fly over my roof without VLOS so screw it, I'll stick to my basic license for my Air 2 and use the Mini for more advanced stuff.

Edit: Just thought I'd say I passed it tonight (84%). Still don't think I need it but I can be a very stubborn person sometimes.  Exam seemed easier this time for whatever reason and I bought Don's study guide for the advanced exam and for sure I got 2 or 3 questions right directly from the material in this guide (which made all the difference).

Have fun.

pawnie Posted at 9-26 09:06
Just gonna reiterate this after failing the advanced exam again as well (70% twice now) and that is about all the time feel like putting into this.  Don't need it and I have my Mini if I want to fly over someone or fly over my roof without VLOS so screw it, I'll stick to my basic license for my Air 2 and use the Mini for more advanced stuff.

Edit: Just thought I'd say I passed it tonight (84%). Still don't think I need it but I can be a very stubborn person sometimes.  Exam seemed easier this time for whatever reason and I bought Don's study guide for the advanced exam and for sure I got 2 or 3 questions right directly from the material in this guide (which made all the difference).

Hey congrats Pawnie!

  To answer your previous question, I fly commercially for real estate and do inspections in the construction and agricultural industry, so yes I needed to pass.

  As for the flight log - thankfully DJI does that for you in the app, actually the app includes a bunch of good stuff that gets done automatically which covers off a lot of the recommendations for pre-flight and in-flight stuff.

  All good now though, I had my flight test booked before COVID so unfortunately didn't get that part done yet, will be re-booking as soon as I find an open testing facility.

markm2ad.ca Posted at 9-29 04:31
Hey congrats Pawnie!

  To answer your previous question, I fly commercially for real estate and do inspections in the construction and agricultural industry, so yes I needed to pass.

Thanks. But really, what does the advanced license get you that the basic doesn't for inspections? You still can't fly over people since none of the Mavic drones are certified for that and you'd need to apply for a special flight operations certificate every time to fly out of VLOS which seems onerous but I guess you could do that. The only other you could do is fly within 5m of people.  Just curious what your plan is.

pawnie Posted at 9-29 05:01
Thanks. But really, what does the advanced license get you that the basic doesn't for inspections? You still can't fly over people since none of the Mavic drones are certified for that and you'd need to apply for a special flight operations certificate every time to fly out of VLOS which seems onerous but I guess you could do that. The only other you could do is fly within 5m of people.  Just curious what your plan is.

I don't fly a Mavic, nice rig though! And I live in a very urban area, there's practically no uncontrolled air space in the regions I fly (I also have my radio operators license).

Also Basic operators are very limited in general as to where they can fly. You pretty much have to be a member of an avionics club or live in the middle of nowhere.

But the big reason you need an Advanced license is if you want to make $$$! A Basic license can't be used for commercial productions as you'll negate your insurance coverage.

As for VLOS, I've been operating DJI models since the beginning and have seen how untrustworthy they can be, so VLOS is the only way to go with them in my books - unless maybe you get the RTK rig.

Hey buddy, @markm2ad.ca Thanks for starting this.

I just failed 3 exams in as many days (78,78,76). It's addictive

It is  odd that a lot of the material needed is not offered for free through the CARs standard."available for order"

Anyways did you finally get a shot at the flight review?

niyemit@yahoo.com Posted at 5-3 17:24
Hey buddy, @markm2ad.ca Thanks for starting this.

I just failed 3 exams in as many days (78,78,76). It's addictive

Hey niyemit,

  I had my flight review booked early on in 2020 BUT COVID.

  Haven't been able to rebook, but really, now with the new Mavic mini's being under weight, it's not a priority anymore.