Part 107 online coarse, are they worth it?

[KyserPhoto]

I have owned a photography business for 15 years and going to add drone services so want to not only get the part 107 exam done but also want to learn as much as possible about laws etc.
Are these online courses worth buying, or are they a waste of time? If you can recommend one or other educaation I would appreciate it.

 

[Wade L.]

Many members, myself included, will recommend Pilot Institute. That you want to learn as much as possible makes PI a particularly good choice, imo.

 

[vindibona1]

It depends on your learning style. It would take me forever to go through the video so I just got study materials and used YouTube vids to fill in where needed. So I can't say for anyone if the paid courses are "worth it". I relied on as many free pre-tests to show me where the "holes" in my knowledge were and then just studied those sections more. When I started getting more than 90% on the pre-tests I knew I was ready to go.

 

[Vic Moss]

Do you want to learn to pass the test (i hope not), or learn to fly safe and utilize your drones to their fullest ability (I do hope so).

If it's the former, there are plenty of free ways to learn, including straight from the FAA's website.

If it's the latter, I can't recommend @pilotinstitute enough. They have phenomenal support, and love the aviation industry. The love and dedication to safety show in every aspect of their classes. They also have some free content on their site that gives you a good idea of the quality of their offerings.

Take a peek here (Pilot Institute: Drone and Airplane Pilot Courses - Aviation Made Easy), and check out their free contect. That's just a sample of the quality of their classes. You can also join the online community as a perk once you do sign up. That's another incredible resource for not only knowledge, but support.

I am not associated with Pilot Institute (although I am part owner of another online school), but I don't recommend anyone else.

You can't go wrong with Pilot Institute.

 

[Big Bro]

Anyone suggesting that you can only learn to fly safe and utilize your drones to their fullest ability by spending a lot on a paid course is just waving cheerleading pom pom's. If you have a passion to learn and are willing to put forth the effort, you can learn to be a well informed pilot without spending a lot of money! The internet is a great resource and I feel very lucky to be living in a time when information on any subject is available to those who search.

 

[Vic Moss]

Anyone suggesting that you can only learn to fly safe and utilize your drones to their fullest ability by spending a lot on a paid course is just waving cheerleading pom pom's. If you have a passion to learn and are willing to put forth the effort, you can learn to be a well informed pilot without spending a lot of money! The internet is a great resource and I feel very lucky to be living in a time when information on any subject is available to those who search.

Your opinion only.

There is a ton of nuance and learning that goes into drones. It’s best to learn it from someone who knows it.

And I only wave “poms-poms” of companies I believe in. Pilot Institute is one such company.

Differing opinions are one thing. Putting people down who believe otherwise is folly.

 

[BigAl07]

Anyone suggesting that you can only learn to fly safe and utilize your drones to their fullest ability by spending a lot on a paid course is just waving cheerleading pom pom's. If you have a passion to learn and are willing to put forth the effort, you can learn to be a well informed pilot without spending a lot of money! The internet is a great resource and I feel very lucky to be living in a time when information on any subject is available to those who search.

with all due respect, that comment is WAY off base my friend. Some people actually NEED the guidance of a structured course to help keep them motivated. I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of new UAS operators and unless you are VERY self motivated and an excellent self study the structured classes (especially the one suggested above) will almost force you to learn the ins and outs of UAS regulations better. I can almost tell you just by talking who has been through one of the structured courses and who self studied simply by their depth of knowledge and ability to use that knowledge in real-world scenarios.

While a Self Guided course many not be required by some, I am confident anyone with no aviation experience will get a much better set of fundamentals from them.

 

[Big Bro]

with all due respect, that comment is WAY off base my friend. Some people actually NEED the guidance of a structured course to help keep them motivated. I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of new UAS operators and unless you are VERY self motivated and an excellent self study the structured classes (especially the one suggested above) will almost force you to learn the ins and outs of UAS regulations better. I can almost tell you just by talking who has been through one of the structured courses and who self studied simply by their depth of knowledge and ability to use that knowledge in real-world scenarios.

While a Self Guided course many not be required by some, I am confident anyone with no aviation experience will get a much better set of fundamentals from them.

Well, I certainly seem to have hit a nerve! My apologies for wandering off base, but Vic was suggesting that anyone who passed their 107 without having taken an expensive study course, was somehow less of a pilot. That's just not true! If you need a paid structured course and have the money, go for it. Just type in "part 107" in a Google search and you'll get two pages of paid ads of companies willing to take your money! My point was simply that you can acquire the fundamental information online by providers and resources that offer it for free. You know FREE, the way information for a generation was dispersed on the internet, before greed and capital gain motivated all.

 

[Vic Moss]

Well, I certainly seem to have hit a nerve! My apologies for wandering off base, but Vic was suggesting that anyone who passed their 107 without having taken an expensive study course, was somehow less of a pilot. That's just not true! If you need a paid structured course and have the money, go for it. Just type in "part 107" in a Google search and you'll get two pages of paid ads of companies willing to take your money! My point was simply that you can acquire the fundamental information online by providers and resources that offer it for free. You know FREE, the way information for a generation was dispersed on the internet, before greed and capital gain motivated all.

So it’s greed and capital.

At least we now know where you stand.

 

[Big Bro]

So it’s greed and capital.

At least we now know where you stand.

I stand opposed to the other six deadly sins as well!

 

[Vic Moss]

I stand opposed to the other six deadly sins as well!

 

[Defens]

One thing to keep in mind is that the Part 107 and study guides and courses for it relate only to flying regulations.

As a pro photographer, you already know the various guidelines for good photo composition, exposure, etc. Pretty much all of that applies to any photography, either terrestrial or aerial. But there are some nuancesfordronephotography and particularly videography, that are specific to drones. You can also learn that on your own, or take a structured course like that offered by Stewart Carroll through his Drone Fil Guide. He also offers tons of free tips on his YouTube channel.

 

[The Drone Ranger 1]

The Pilot Institute is not just about passing a test. And after you pass the test the Pilot Institute is there for you forever to inform, educate and mentor throughout your career at NO EXTRA COST, whether commercial or recreational. Absolutely worth the $150 or so you will spend. I passed my Part 107 cert test last April, 2021, and still connect with the group almost daily.

 

[JC in New Hampshire]

To save some money consider Drone U Online Training
They charge $47 a month for access to everything they offer. I studied hard for a month and dropped the membership after passing the test - for a total cost of just $47.

For drone photography, Vic Videopic https://www.youtube.com/c/VICVideopIC
is amazing. This guy knows his s**t and freely shares his knowledge in detail with many excellent videos.

 

[Bryce steiner]

I watched online videos, read fAA resources, and took notes. I passed with no problem. That gets you the basics. The real learning happens when you start flying. The knowledge that you learned from studying will be applied once you get behind the "wheel", and find out that it's not quite what you expected. If you've already been flying the drone then took the test you learn a lot that way too. Everyone is different.

 

[Duncanc]

I have taken the course at Pilot Institute and consider it to be an exceptional course. Not only do they have excellent presentations, but they also have a ton of extra materials than you can download. The price is not steep ($149), and for the price, you cannot go wrong. Just the download materials make it a worthwhile course. could not have been happier with the whole experience, plus the knowledge to pass my 107 exam.

 

[BigAl07]

Well, I certainly seem to have hit a nerve! My apologies for wandering off base, but Vic was suggesting that anyone who passed their 107 without having taken an expensive study course, was somehow less of a pilot. That's just not true! If you need a paid structured course and have the money, go for it. Just type in "part 107" in a Google search and you'll get two pages of paid ads of companies willing to take your money! My point was simply that you can acquire the fundamental information online by providers and resources that offer it for free. You know FREE, the way information for a generation was dispersed on the internet, before greed and capital gain motivated all.

Good morning.

No you didn't hit a nerve at all and I apologize if my reply came off that way.

I just have seen students go both routes suggested and for most (absolutely not all) the Structured Course seems to promote more knowledge and is better at building a solid foundation of the Subject Matter. I've found most (again NOT all) "self guided" students are doing the bare MINs just to pass the test to get the "Card" in their wallet and that just creates a snowball of questions, issues, and mistakes going forward trying to operate in the NAS.


Again no nerve hit just trying to share my opinion and some real-world teaching/training experience in this arena.

 

[Skwirl]

This question has been occupying some of my time as well. I've been considering getting a 107 license. Heres a few things I've learned so far.
Theres a thread on here about self study listing guides, videos, info needed to pass. Found a couple videos on utube also.
Then theres Pilot Institute class. Yeah, it costs more money, but I think I'll learn more. Ofcourse that's my opinion only.
My reasoning is to learn the rules/regs required and be prepared for a confrontation, either law enforcement or a "karen".
Hopefully that wont happen, but I feel it's better to prepare before hand. Knowledge is power, lol.
Especially if it's in writing from an acknowledged source and up to date.

There you have a complete noob opinion, lol. Worth everything you paid for it, lol.

 

[Deleted member 154956]

I'll give an example. I flew a lot in the Pacific Northwest as a FAA private pilot for years. But before that I flew mostly in Southern California. I had read about and studied "free" information available then such as the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM), navigational charts, etc and some specific information about "mountain" flying. Washington has the Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges that are around 8,000 to 14,000 feet tall.

Knowledge wise, I understood the words written and comprehended their meaning. Practically though, I felt it wasn't enough. So I decided to add one more item to my study, a Mountain Flying Course video provided by aviation safety gurus, King Schools. Even though I had been a former employee of John & Martha King, I ponied up about $129 for their Mountain Flying videos, where a huge part of the curriculum is watching John or Martha actually fly the lesson and provide instruction and commentary.

My study of King Schools materials actually saved my life when I had gotten caught in my first (and last!) "mountain wave" at 10,000 feet over the Cascades. Despite applying full throttle to my 301 HP airplane, I could not out-climb the winds that were pulling me down towards the face of the mountain. Instinctually I wanted to turn the plane around, but I remembered the instruction of the King video and just "rode the wave out" and continued up and over the face of the mountain safely. That one video made all the difference.

Now I get it, these are drones we are talking about here, and very rarely, if ever is it a life or death situation. But I do have thousands of dollars invested in just the hardware and there are people on the ground that could get hurt if I make a mistake, or I hit their property and damage or destroy it. When I took my FAA private pilot check ride decades ago, I'll never forget what my check ride pilot said to me as she signed off my logbook, "Now you have your license to learn!" And no truer words were ever spoken.

So whatever methods you chose to help you be a better, safer drone pilot, we should all support their choice. But for me, the more the merrier, no matter a cost or not.

 

[Dbez1]

Pilot Institute did it for me and I passed with a very high score. I think I’m a safer pilot now because I’ve been indoctrinated with Greg’s safety conscious teachings and attitudes. Passing the test is only part of the process.