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A nice endorsement for Part 107 training, More at Company News and Press Information - UAV Commercial Drone Ground School


Academy Of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Now Offering 107 Remote Pilot Test Preparation Through UAV Ground School
Program Offers 195,000 AMA Members, Preparation For FAA Part 107 UAV Commercial Knowledge Exam

(ATLANTA, GA) — The Academy of Model Aeronautics serves as the nation’s collective voice for approximately 195,000 modelers in 2,400 clubs in the US and Puerto Rico. Recently appointed to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Drone Advisory Committee (DAC), the AMA is the only community-based organization acknowledged by the FAA. AMA members have a strong safety record due to well-established safety guidelines and educational programs. The partnership with UAV Ground School offers Academy members a $75 discount towards FAA Part 107 test preparation and expands on the Academy’s long-standing safety and educational efforts.

The UAV Ground School program (UAVGS) is produced by the nation’s pilot education leader Gold Seal, who has prepared over 45,000 private pilots for their FAA Knowledge Test. UAVGroundschool.com is a program taught by FAA certified instructors and uses FAA compliant materials that are presented in an online, interactive, multimedia format allowing students to learn at their own pace. Built-in testing with real FAA test questions, an extensive documentation library, and flash card quizzes complement the program. The program is created specifically for those wanting to increase their knowledge, become a professional UAV/drone operator and wishing to gain full FAA certification. In the months of August thru October 2016, UAVGS student registrations have approached the 3,000 mark.

UAV Ground School graduates may sit for the FAA Remote Operator Knowledge Test at any FAA testing center in the United States. Passing the FAA Knowledge Test and becoming a legal and safe operator gives graduates a major leg up as commercial UAV uses continue to explode.

Dave Mathewson the Academy’s Executive Director said, “UAV Ground School, produced by Gold Seal, is an excellent online resource for UAV operators preparing for the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Knowledge Test and it’s especially useful for AMA members who want to increase their aviation knowledge. The website is intuitive, the cost to our membership is affordable, and I think the folks that created UAV Ground School truly have the best interest of AMA membership at heart.”

Cliff Whitney, COO of UAVGS recently stated, “As a long time AMA member, I am extremely happy to partner with the Academy to bring additional education to the membership. These 195,000+ members have been flying remotely piloted aircraft years before UAVs became mainstream. AMA member pilots know how to operate safely and are the best candidates for the explosive growth of commercial operations. As an aircraft pilot and longtime UAV/drone remote operator, UAVGS is dedicated to providing proper training and safe operations. I am happy that the AMA has endorsed our program and sees the value it can provide to Academy members. As of October 14th the FAA has stated that there have been almost 20,000 Remote Pilot Applications and I’m proud that a large majority of them are UAVGS graduates.”

About Academy of Model Aeronautics:

The Academy of Model Aeronautics, founded in 1936, continues to be devoted to national airspace safety. It serves as the nation’s collective voice for approximately 190,000 modelers in 2,400 clubs in the United States and Puerto Rico. Headquartered in Muncie, Indiana, AMA is a membership organization representing those who fly model aircraft for recreational and educational purposes. For more information, visit www.modelaircraft.org.

About Gold Seal:

Gold Seal was founded in 2006 by aerospace author and Master FAA CFI Russell Still, founder of Atlanta Flight, Inc. In late 2013, Gold Seal joined forces with Cliff Whitney, founder and president of UAV Experts and Atlanta Hobby, to design and promote the nation’s leading UAV Ground School program. For over 30 years, Cliff has operated as a private sailplane and single engine pilot. He knows photography and video intimately through his time spent as the president of Wolf Camera.

For more information visit UAVgroundschool.com or email cliff at uavexperts dot aero
 

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Frankly, The AMA can "get Bent!"

They haven't been fighting for quads and drones at all. It hasn't been until recently they realized they can can actually increase their number ten fold with drone users, a dying organization preying on those who they opposed. When the FAA completely blew the AMA off in the process and ignored all their suggestions, the AMA just got in line like little subserviaent pups, cowards in my book.
 
Frankly, The AMA can "get Bent!"

They haven't been fighting for quads and drones at all. It hasn't been until recently they realized they can can actually increase their number ten fold with drone users, a dying organization preying on those who they opposed. When the FAA completely blew the AMA off in the process and ignored all their suggestions, the AMA just got in line like little subserviaent pups, cowards in my book.

Hi Ryan, Actually the AMA has been doing a great job "behind the scenes" for many years now. Maybe not as public as they should of been but some actions are very delicate and need to be done slowly. I know this to be true as I sat on one of the committees for almost two years and was able to watch and participate weekly as Rich Hanson and Dave Mathewson along with a group of internal lobbyist worked very hard with and against the FAA to protect the rights of all of us (including non AMA members) to be able to fly at all.

I think we owe them a great deal of thanks for the work they have done and continue to do. What you don't know can hurt you and from my eyes as someone who has been there, due to the work of these guys the regulations you see now are far less than what they were going to be. The AMA membership is BTW at an all time high. Most folks have no clue what goes on and what our "for the people" Government wants to do to your ability to fly. Thanks again for reading our post, and good winds to you!
 
I was absolutely not satisfied with UAV Ground school as a prep course for Remote Pilot Exam...I knew nothing about this subject matter and found tons of mistakes after really getting into what they were presenting...their quizzes had wrong answers...there was a bunch of useless old tech information that had nothing to do with the 107 Test.

I then signed up for Drone Pilot Ground School...and was super-happy with this course. The guy who runs it got back to me personally several times...his name is Alan Perlman. I would totally recommend this course. I passed with a 95% score. Regardless, you have to study your *** off for the part 107 test.

Bottom line...I really think the UAV Ground School simply adapted their general pilot training toward UAV's. Concerning their prep for 107, I was absolutely not happy with this course.
 
Hi Figbar,
I appreciate your feedback and am sorry to hear that you did not feel you got the level of education and satisfaction out of our program that thousands of others have. UAVGS is the only part 107-test prep company that has been in business over 10 years specifically doing FAA test Prep.

Our program is built and taught by FAA certificated instructors who know how FAA testing works and how the FAA questions will be ask. Our testing engine is the best in the industry. We have over 400 FAA test questions in our database that are given to students after each lesson and are given in random based format on that specific lesson. We also have a very cool flash card system to help you better understand the content. No other program has all of these learning features.

We have over over 3300 who have registered with us and based on surveys to our students we have a 100% pass rate for the part 107 tests, and while our surveys are anonymous I can tell that you at least opened the email containing and asking you to take the survey on 09/29 and twice on 10/21. As of the time I am responding to your post, out of all of our students that have completed our program and taken the final exam 90.16% have taken and passed the Part 107 test with 9.84% having not yet taken it (a total pass rate of 100%).

In fact when ask “On a scale from 1 (terrible lessons and content) to 5 (fantastic lessons and content), please rate how you would classify the programming and content of the UAV Ground School.” 99.26% rated us a 4 or 5 with one response as a 1 (maybe that was your reply or a competitor looking at our program which we see a lot based on IP data).

One other question the survey ask ”After working with the UAVGS program, how likely is it that you would recommend UAV Ground School to a friend or colleague? 97.01% stated Very Likely and 2.79% somewhat Likely. Again there was 1 who selected Not likely.

With these statistics in mind and with students and the endorsements of companies like AMA, Fox News, CBS, The Weather Channel, Precision Flight Devices, Drone Hive, The Drone Girl, many State and local municipalities and others who have tried the other programs out and selected us, I am somewhat confused at the things you bring up and would like to extend an invitation for you to continue and reach out to us so that we could better understand what you have mentioned.

For instance you mention that you signed up for another school (not stating when) and were “super-happy” with that course. You also mentioned that you ”found tons of mistakes” in our program and that “their” (meaning our) quizzes had the wrong answers”.

I have pulled your lesson data and support records and from our phone and Email logs we spoke to you on the phone and answered your Emails at least 15 times during your time in our program. During the first call, just after the final rule was announced and before you enrolled, our support instructor discussed that the final 107 test was not yet online at FAA testing centers and that we were adding the last bit of quiz and test questions to our database and would not have all of the test questions until the actual test came live at the FAA testing centers in about 2 weeks. We ask for your feedback of the program if you decided to enroll.

On Saturday July 23rd you emailed our support “I just signed up for your UAV Remote Pilot Prep Course. I think it is very well done. I've just done the module on aerodynamics. My question is this...do I need to be totally familiar with the PDF reference material included with this module? Looks like it is like the Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. This stuff obviously gets into much more detail...some of it is really detailed and complex. What you guys are presenting is very well presented and the way it is broken down is very helpful for a novice like me. Thanks (name city, state omitted for privacy) ”

Again on the 23rd after we replied to you about the PHAK being a support document in our extensive library you replied.
“Russ… I would be more than happy to give you my feedback. I’ve been doing video for a living for the past 30 years now (old guy) and a ton of it has been training. From what I have seen of your first instructional module, I am impressed and elated.” You went on to talk about a chat you had to have with an FAA representative but closed with “Way too much info for sure here…but I am totally psyched about what I’m seeing with your course offering.”

On the 24th you sent a email about the battery lessons and wanted to know if it was part of the 107 test as you only wanted to study what was on the test.

We responded the same day (Sunday) “Gold Seal does believe in providing comprehensive knowledge transfer. Some of the information we teach may be beyond the scope of the test, but we believe you will be a better Remote Pilot for having been exposed.

When you’re strictly preparing for the test, lessons that contain material not covered in the FAA test won’t have quizzes. We won’t be presenting any quiz questions that don’t relate to the actual FAA knowledge test. So if you see a lesson that doesn’t have a quiz, you can determine whether or not you wish to view the lesson.

The ACS does cover Li-Po batteries in Area of Operation V, Task C. You can print out the ACS, it’s in the library. You will see this specific information covered in the upcoming “Emergency Procedures” lesson.

Is there anything else I can help you with?”
You responded the same day “No…thanks so much for the quick response on a Sunday. I’m just finding that I am reaching stimulus overload with content that I know will be included…for a novice, to fully understand and be able to react quickly and accurately under test conditions is challenging, to say the least (at least for me it is). That’s why I was whining about knowing the inner workings of batteries…although this subject relates to me in a very realistic way.

I have been sending feedback as I go through each lesson.
I am super-pleased with this course and am not so panicked about my test on 8/31.
I will continue to send feedback and ask questions, if that’s OK.
It is very helpful to know about having quizzes of not at the end of each section and how that relates to what is included on the test.
Just receiving immediate response from you makes a huge difference. I will certainly recommend you guys to any of my UAS friends who are trying to become certified under Part 107.
Thanks (name city, state omitted for privacy)


From all of your Emails it appears you were enjoying the learning process and felt the content was good and in fact stated “ I will certainly recommend you guys to any of my UAS friends who are trying to become certified under Part 107.

It also appears from your access times and the lesson scores below that you did get a lot out of our program and in fact improved your understanding of the material as you moved through the course. I cite this due to the fact that you logged in to the program 54 times during your learning progress and that you took each of the practice exams many times with scores improving each time. I doubt that someone not satisfied with the content or program would have spent this much time in the program. Even your practice Final exams which you took 5 times improved from 57% on July 29th to 95% on August 30th. and your final exam improved from 92% on Aug 9th to 98% on August 20th.

All of our instructors and content creators take pride in sharing our knowledge and teaching safe operations. Our goal (like all pilots should be) is knowledge transfer and to deliver the best of the best in content. Feedback from students like you is important and it means a lot to us to hear from you so we can continue to improve. Hopefully you have now taken and passed your 107 test.

We wish you good winds and ask that you stay safe and never stop learning.
 
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That's all well and good...your long response to me. I also made several calls and send feedback that I was not pleased with as the course went on.

The more I got into the course, the less pleased I was.

Even from the getgo...you had several modules that "were coming." No information. My time is really limited and I was scheduled to take this exam right away. So I paid a bunch of money to click on a module that had no content. Had I known this, I never would have paid for this course, period. Don't put a course out there and take money from people until it is complete...or at least make this known at the time of purchase.

I'm done with this.
 
Hi Figbar,

I have pulled your lesson data and support records and from our phone and Email logs.....

This is extremely inappropriate to call someone out on these forums like you did by describing in detail communication between yourself and one of your customers even if you take pains to remove their name/address. There are much more professional methods to refute someone's online criticism. The post you left should be removed.
 

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