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Welcome to the IREX question and answer forum. Please feel free to post your questions but more importantly also suggest answers for your forum colleagues. Bob himself or one of the other tutors will get to your question as soon as we can.
IREX for UAV Controllers
mikeman
Topic Author
mikeman created the topic: IREX for UAV Controllers
Hi Bob,
I did your BAK/PPL full time courses at the beginning of 2013 and am now looking at the IREX course (already have your IR study guide). As a CASA certified UAV Controller I did not initially need the IREX. I would now like to go BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) so need the IREX.
You mentioned in your intro to the IREX course that "You will not be permitted to sit the IREX exam unless you hold a PPL or CPL pilot licence. It is not enough to have passed the PPL theory exam - you must actually hold at least a Private Pilot Licence." In the CASA reference it states that UAV Controllers need a ‘Letter of authorisation’ to sit this exam.
Do you have any idea what this letter is? Would my UAV Controller Certificate be sufficient?
bobtait replied the topic: IREX for UAV Controllers
Gidday Mark.
You would need to contact CASA for the letter that will allow you to sit IREX. If you have any trouble getting to talk to someone in CASA just give Lee a call on our office number 07 3204 0965. She will be able to give you the correct contact. As you may know, CASA have just introduced [in September] a new Civil Aviation Safety Regulation Part 61. It has made some significant impact on the IREX course, although the bulk of it remains the same. We have placed some downloads on the web page to give people with the current book an idea of the changes. Those downloads may be continuing for a couple of weeks. We are almost ready to go to the printers with a new version of the IREX book which will be up to date with all of the changes. People like yourself, who have already purchased the 'old' book, should be benefit from the downloads.
As usual I am completely at a loss to understand why on earth CASA thinks that guys like you passing IREX has anything to do with your duties as a UAV controller! Good luck with it and remember we are only too happy to give whatever assistance we can.
mikeman replied the topic: IREX for UAV Controllers
Hi Rich,
It's been an adventure, that's for sure. A lot of the BAK/PPL theory material has been invaluable to working in the UAV world. It was also a big help in putting together the Ops, Flight and Maintenance manuals (as part of the UAV Operator Certificate).
When I did my course with you guys there were no UAV specific courses out there yet. Now there are a number of them, at different levels. I still think it was a good option to go through a "proper" aviation theory school as some of these other courses seem to be taking a few short cuts.
We have limitations to working within Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) of our UAV at all times. In order to work Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) we need to have passed the IREX theory. It does make sense, to me, why we need to have this so I am not worried about having to go through the training. In fact I am looking forward to it. Thanks for your support.
