COPTRZ Launch UK’s Only PfCO Drone Training Course for Surveying & Construction

Country’s leading drone training provider launches pioneering new learning opportunity which prepares students for UAV use in surveying & construction.

COPTRZ, the leading commercial drone solutions provider in the UK, has announced the launch of a new training course – the first and only PfCO (Permission for Commercial Operations) drone training course for surveying and construction.

The course reflects the remarkable growth in drone use in the UK over recent years, with surveying being one of the industries which have capitalised on the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Currently, drones are used for tasks including 2D/3D mapping, assessing building performance and tracking construction progress. As a minimum, commercial operators are required to attend a CAA drone training course in order to obtain their permissions from a National Qualified Entity (NQE) governed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). COPTRZ have now taken this one step further with a course which will not only allow attendees to gain their PfCO, but also learn drone activities specific to surveying and construction.

The new CAA PfCO for Surveying & Construction course is also an indication of the growing requirement for more tailored PfCO training. COPTRZ have developed the content of the course following work with some of the country’s largest surveying and construction businesses including Costain, Jacobs, Murphy’s and the McLaren Group.

Among the confirmed modules which will make up the course are; Best Practice for Using Drones in Surveying; Survey Mission Planning, Trouble Shooting and Mitigating Errors in Flight and Processing, The Theory of Photogrammetry for Surveying, and Processing Data in Pix4D.

It is anticipated that the CAA PfCO for Surveying & Construction will attract a broad cross-section of professionals involved in UAV strategies, including Site Engineers, Project Managers, Surveyors and Survey Engineers to Site Managers and Health & Safety operatives.

James Pick, Surveyor & UAV Strategist at COPTRZ, said: “At COPTRZ we have been at the forefront of commercial drone growth in the UK, and we have always prioritised the education of operators.   This unique new Surveying & Construction PfCO course will offer participants priceless practical knowledge and experience which will equip them to perform key drone activities specific to surveying and construction. The construction sector is realising the benefits of commercial drone solutions to improve accuracy and efficiency, and our course will sit right at the heart of this development. This marks the first step towards COPTRZ releasing more vertical-specific tailored PfCO courses in the next 12 months.”

Heading up the course, James Pick has spent over ten years working in the fields of geomatics and surveying. James will pass on the benefit of his practical experience and expert knowledge in remote sensing, GIS Theory and Application and Advanced Survey Methodologies.