Part 102 Pilot Certificate Course

If you intend to undertake any of the following activities, then you intend to fly under Part 102 CAA rules (CAR 102) and as such, you are required to personally hold a NZ Professional RPAS Pilot Certificate to Part 102 standard and operate in accordance with a Part 102 UAOC held by an organisation.

• Operating in the hours of darkness (and not under a shielded operation)
• Flying over people without their permission
• Flying a drone with an unladen weight greater than 25 Kgs
• Operating over property without the landowner’s permission
• Agricultural operations including spraying, fertiliser application, and bait dropping
• Other conditions that CAA may impose from time to time

This course is designed to equip you with all of the knowledge and skills required to safely operate as a professional UAV pilot in New Zealand, and is the first step on your pathway to becoming a 102-rated Pilot, and after this course we can help you through the next steps.

The course is broken up into two sections.

First is the Part 101 section, included within this course, that will teach you everything you need to know about safely operating your drone within the CAA Part 101 drone rules. This section is important because all drone pilots must have knowledge of airspace when operating within close proximity of airports. This will be covered in detail later in the course.

The second section covers the Part 102 requirements which is specific to professional drone pilots operating for an individual or organisation who has a Unmanned Air Operators Certificate (UAOC).

After completing the online theory component you will be prompted to book your practical flight assessment.  We have a network of highly experienced flight examiners located throughout the country.

Please note that this course needs to be completed within 12 months. This includes all theory modules, final open book exam and practical flight test with one of our examiners. This is to ensure knowledge gained from the course is more easily recalled for the final practical flight test and oral questioning by the examiner. A candidate who exceeds this timeframe will need to recommence with the purchase of a new course.

Course Outline

Modules covered in Part 101

• Civil Aviation Rules
• Understanding the concept of airspace
• Measuring Drone Altitude
• Airspace Categories
• Special Use Airspace
• Runways and Aerodrome Operations
• Using the Airshare Site
• How to find Air Traffic Control and contacts
• 101 Exam

Modules covered in Part 102
In this module, we look at why you need to know the Part 102 rules, the requirements to obtain the Professional RPAS Pilot Certificate, and what additional drone operations are allowed with the certificate.

• Certification
• Other UAOC Requirements
• NOTAMs and AIP Supplements
• Basic Meteorology for UAV Operators
• GPS Basics
• Plan and Document a Part 102 Flight Operation
• Currency Period and Flight Assessment
• Final exam for Part 102

Flight Assessment

Parts of the flight assessment for multi-rotor drones is performed in Attitude or ATTI mode.  For more information on ATTI mode watch our ATTI mode video.