With Increased Remote Pilot Training for Commercial and Academic Clients, USI Receives FAA Part 107 Waiver to Support Growing BVLOS Safety Education and Training Requirements
AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2022 – Orlando, FL – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued Waiver Number: 107W-2022-00254 to the Unmanned Safety Institute, Inc. and its Training Director, Devin Allen. The waiver allows USI to operate small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) beyond the visual line of sight of the remote pilot in command (RPIC) and in operations in which a participating visual observer (VO) is not able to see the sUAS. The operational location applicable to this waiver is USI’s Training Center for Excellence located near Panama City, Florida where USI is performing significant UAS flight training on behalf of its academic and commercial customers.
“We appreciated the professionalism and courtesy extended to USI from the FAA representatives throughout this process,” stated Devin Allen. He added, “This waiver immediately creates value for our academic workforce development program by allowing USI to train students to levels of expertise and proficiency demanded by our commercial clients. The Censys Sentaero BVLOS aircraft that we utilized in our waiver application provided the perfect combination of performance and capability that will allow operators to maximize their return on investment in both VLOS and now BVLOS applications.”
USI utilized the FAA Part 107 Waiver Support Services offered by Censys Technologies for their application. "Helping USI get this waiver approval is rewarding,” John Lobdell, Censys CTO and Waiver Specialist said. “Having the ability to provide true BVLOS operations training is a game changer for future customers operating BVLOS with the Sentaero platform.”
USI has issued over 11,000 certifications to academic and commercial UAS pilots since 2015. These certifications are issued as digital badges, powered by Credly, and are the only UAS industry credentials that provide assurance that the data associated with each badge has been vetted and verified. USI’s curriculum and certification program is active in over 300 high schools and more than 20 colleges across the United States. In response to industry demand, USI has created its Panama City, Florida Training Center of Excellence which offers training to numerous USI Certifications and OEM authorized training Programs.
