Getting My UAS License

I am now a pilot as I got my UAS license. I pursued the license as a result of the XGEM project. Getting the UAS license was much easier than I expected. I purchased a copy of the ASA test prep booklet and spent about a week learning the rules. I can see why people want to take a class prior to pursuing the UAS license, but a committed individual can learn it all in a short time. I admit that I had a leg up on the radio encoding from my amateur radio license. That said, it was very easy. The only questions that gave me a challenge were related to the maps. Some of those airspace maps are insane. I can’t imagine how pilots in the vicinity of major hubs deal with the daily mess. I suppose I feel that about lots of big cities though.

Field Studies with UAS

I was in such a hurry to learn and pass the UAS license test so I could immediately perform field work. My XGEM team was scheduled to fly at partner sites almost immediately. This includes a flights at the same site our team visited previously. We conducted some preliminary data collection at that site. I flew a borrowed UAS owned by OU to collect methane values above equipment. We found some interesting plumes to track with our equipment. I will save the rest of that story for future publications!