Do I have to start from scratch? (UK)

[dilby]

Hi all -

Back at the end of 2019 I completed a GVC course and got my license and pfco here in the UK. However - a long story made a short - covid hit soon after and my freelancing business took a huge hit and I'm only now starting to get back onto it and getting work through. As my attention was forced elsewhere I'm only now catching up with all the changes in requirements and I'm worried I've let things run far too long.

My GVC has an expiry of 2025, but from what I can understand my PFCO which was issued in October 2020 would have long since run out and now to reapply for it I need to sit a completely new GVC exam/flight test. Is that correct?

In terms of the new categories from what I can understand i can now fly my drone (mavic 2) in the open category without this, but if I want to get close to people or property (with permission and risk assessment of course) then I'd need the GVC.

Thank you for bearing with my daft questions - I have a lot of catching up to do and I'm finding all the official documentation extremely confusing.

 

[old man mavic]

@dilby your PFCO is no longer a requirement for commercial flying
the GVC replaced it ,the only thing you will probably have to do to stay current with your GVC will be to put some flight time into your flight log and then submit that to the CAA for approval
if you contact them ,or the provider that your took your GVC with, then they will be able to give you more accurate up to date information on this
hope this helps