Drone Pilots Wanted: Salaries Start at $100,000

Plastics? Not quite as attractive as it might have seemed when Dustin Hoffman got that advice in The Graduate back in 1967. Investment banking? Regulation going up, compensation going down and reputation going nowhere. Coding? Everyone's doing it - or wants to.

So how does a reasonably smart, motivated, if perhaps currently somewhat directionless individual differentiate herself in this intensifying war for talent?

I know! She can become a drone pilot and make $100,000 a year. For starters.

Commercial drone usage is about to take off, as it were... From Amazon's package delivery aspirations to your local police force's need for control,  to the folks who spray your lawn, drill for oil, assess your taxes and photograph your kid's wedding, everyone wants to use drones.

And, unless the National Rifle Association decides that drone regulation is somehow a threat to gun ownership, licenses will be required to operate them. As the following article explains, even now, without Federal Aviation Authority permission having been granted, trained drone pilots are making $50 an hour, which works out to $100,000 a year.

Assuming that the projections about potential drone usage are even remotely related to reality, there may be a need for thousands, even tens of thousands of certified drone pilots. So, ahem, the sky's the limit. JL

RT.com reports:

New rules are expected to limit flights to within sight of the person at the controls, who must  have a license. Drone pilots are paid about $50 an hour.

Drone pilots and engineers are certainly careers with a future in the US. Although commercial drones aren’t legal yet, reports reveal that companies are already willing to pay unbelievably high salaries, in the expectation of rules softening.
International corporations, such as Amazon, have recently started headhunting experienced engineers, who can build the unmanned aircraft. They will also need pilots to operate them.
“Amazon Prime Air is looking for flight operations and certification personnel for flight testing our UAS technologies,” the Amazon job offer states. “You can expect to collaborate on test plans, plan the test evolution, and execute the flights while working closely with our flight engineering and flight test teams in Seattle.”
According to a 2013 report from the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, as many as 100,000 new jobs will be created in the first 10 years after the use of drones becomes legal in US airspace.
Currently, only drones used for recreational and filmmaking purposes are allowed. However, industries, such as farming, security, oil and gas exploration and construction, are eager to use them.
For the moment, federal regulations prohibit the use of commercial drones. Highly anticipated for nearly six years, new rules are expected to limit such flights to daylight hours, below 400 feet and within sight of the person at the controls, who must also have a license, The Wall Street Journal reports.
US universities are trying to meet the demand. Since 2008 the University of North Dakota has run a bachelor's degree course in unmanned aircraft systems and has received a $25 million endowment. It also trains its engineers to operate drones.
Students are lured by high future salaries and over 60 graduates are already employed at major drone manufacturers. According to Al Palmer, director of the center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems at the University of North Dakota, drone pilots are paid about $50 an hour, CNN reported.
“We keep inventing courses that have never been taught before,” Jerry Lemieux, president of the Unmanned Vehicle University in Phoenix, told the MarketWatch website. He recalled one graduate, now working as an unmanned aviation vehicle analyst at an aviation manufacturing company in Florida – and he is earning $100,000 a year.
Amazon is aiming at delivering small packages within 30 minutes flying distance. The Seattle-based company intends to test a fleet of unmanned delivery drones overseas – in the UK. Some tests will also be carried out in Australia.