Drone Pilots October 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 October 1, 2018. If this is interesting or you want more information, get in touch.
Remote Pilot Certifications
As of October 1 2018, there are at least 67,631 pilots with a part 107 UAS (drone) certificate. Following the 60% rule, that gives 112,700, an increase of 4,700 in the last month.
Part 107 Waivers
As of today, there have been 2,149 waivers granted to 1,977 individuals at 1,685 companies. That represents an increase of 129 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 | 1975 |
| 107.41 | Operation in controlled airspace | 106 |
| 107.35 | Operation of multiple small unmanned aircraft | 38 |
| 107.31 | Visual line of sight aircraft operation | 24 |
| 107.51(b) | Altitude | 17 |
| 107.39 | Operation over human beings | 14 |
| 107.33(b) | Visual observer | 14 |
| 107.51(d) | Minimum distance from clouds | 10 |
| 107.51(c) | Minimum visbility | 10 |
| 107.33(c)(2) | Visual observer | 8 |
| 107.25(b) | Operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft | 4 |
| 107.51(a) | Maximum groundspeed | 1 |
| 107.39(b) | Operation over human beings (covered) | 1 |
| 107.39(a) | Operation over human beings (part of operation) | 1 |
| 107.33(c) | Visual observer | 1 |
The number of total waivers granted over time:
