Drone Pilots November 2018
Here are some statistics on drone pilot activity in the US. I obtained all the data from publicly available sources on faa.gov. The data is current as of November 1, 2018. If this is interesting or you want more information, get in touch.
Remote Pilot Certifications
As of November 1 2018, there are at least 70,882 pilots with a part 107 UAS (drone) certificate. Following the 60% rule, that gives 118,136 112,700, an increase of 5,400 in the last month.
Part 107 Waivers
As of today, there have been 2,201 waivers granted to 2,020 individuals at 1,732 companies. That represents an increase of 52 waivers since last post.
The first waiver to expire does so November of this year. Breakdown of waivers granted by type:
| Regulation | Type | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 107.29 | Daylight operation | 2023 |
| 107.41 | Operation in controlled airspace | 106 |
| 107.35 | Operation of multiple small unmanned aircraft | 40 |
| 107.31 | Visual line of sight aircraft operation | 25 |
| 107.51(b) | Altitude | 18 |
| 107.39 | Operation over human beings | 15 |
| 107.33(b) | Visual observer | 15 |
| 107.51(d) | Minimum distance from clouds | 10 |
| 107.51(c) | Minimum visbility | 10 |
| 107.33(c)(2) | Visual observer | 9 |
| 107.25(b) | Operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft | 4 |
| 107.39(a) | Operation over human beings (part of operation) | 2 |
| 107.51(a) | Maximum groundspeed | 1 |
| 107.39(b) | Operation over human beings (covered) | 1 |
| 107.33(c) | Visual observer | 1 |
The number of total waivers granted over time:
