Should We Be Logging Drone Flight Hours?

Written by Andre Louis-Ferdinand

Recently, while browsing drone operator positions on a popular employment website, a puzzled look came across my face when I saw a particular job posting. One of the basic qualifications of this job required "1,000 UAV Flight Hours." Now, while this doesn't seem particularly surprising, it actually is. For decades, manned pilots have had flight hour minimums for particular positions and have used logbooks to keep track of their flight time. However, drone pilots haven't really had to do this. So far, in respect to flight experience, even the most highly paid positions had only required training, certification, or experience with a particular aircraft, but never a set time amount requirement that I am aware of.

Being a manned pilot, I always log my drone hours simply out of habit from flying manned aircraft. However, this possible upcoming trend is concerning, because most of the drone operators I know don't log their hours. I have friends with high-paying jobs in the drone industry, who operate large UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems), that have no idea how many flight hours they have, while many of them surely have thousands of flight hours in very large, high-end aircraft.

Initially, I thought to myself that this job posting was a fluke and it shouldn't concern me. I am not currently looking for a new job anyway. I was just kind of scoping the market. However, even more recently, I have seen several more drone operator positions that have hour requirements as well. Clearly, this is becoming a trend and it is likely that the entire industry will move in this direction soon. Logically, it makes sense, but this means guys with thousands of hours will not have any evidence supporting their claims when employers ask for it. So should we be logging drone flight hours? You bet your ass we should. Clearly this is going to be a requirement when you apply for jobs. Moreover, this is going to be important for an employer's insurance. Insurance companies that cover these employers will require that you have a set number of hours. The employers will have to make copies of your records to satisfy them. So, "I give you my word I have a thousand drone flight hours," will not cut it. HERE is a link to the drone logbook I use.