Who is attending drone school

Start your drone journey with Intro to Drones: Opportunities, Careers, and FAA Certification Readiness

Intro to Drones Coursework

  • Regulations
  • Airspace Classifications
  • Flight Restrictions
  • Chart Study
  • Airport Operations
  • Radio Communications
  • Aviation Weather
  • Maintenance and Preflight Procedures
  • Crew Resource Management
  • Aeronautical Decision Making
  • sUAS Loading and Performance
  • Hazards to Flight and Emergency Procedures
  • Aviation Physiology

  • Hardware and Software Introduction
  • Basic Manual Flight Control
  • Orientational Awareness Training
  • Line of Sight sUA Control
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Autonomous Flight Introduction
  • Overcoming Wind
  • Battery Depletion
  • Load and Performance
  • Intro Flight Techniques for Aerial Photography
  • Intro Flight Techniques for Railroad Inspections
  • Intro Flight Techniques for Utility Inspections
  • Intro Flight Techniques for Bridge Inspections
  • Intro Flight Techniques for Chimney Inspections
  • Intro Flight Techniques for Search and Rescue
  • Intro Flight Techniques for Accident Investigation
  • Intro Flight Techniques for HAZMAT Response
  • Intro Flight Techniques for Fire Ground Accountability
  • Intro Flight Techniques for Drone Delivery

  • Careers in Drone Exploration
  • Career Planning Process
  • The Drone Market
  • Drone Use Cases
  • The Future of Drone Delivery
  • The FAA’s Control Over the Future of Drones
  • Careers in Drone Mapping
  • Careers in Drone Inspections
  • Careers in Drone Search and Rescue
  • Careers in Drone Manufacturing and Engineering
  • Careers in Aerial Photography

  • Creating Your Drone Service Offering
  • Exploring Opportunities
  • Playing to Your Strengths
  • Exploring Your Network
  • How to Find Customers
  • Marketing Your Service
  • Business Operations
  • Drone Insurance
  • Legal Considerations

Turn-Key Curriculum

DARTdrones offers everything an instructor needs to get started teach their own Intro to Drones class.

Mid-Term and Final Exam

Class Discussion Guidelines

Class Activities

Grading Rubrics

Ongoing Support For Teachers

We are dedicated to your success!

Videos of DARTdrones Instructors teaching the same material

Live question and answer sessions with DARTdrones Instructors

Virtual check ins with other teachers teaching the same material

Access for teachers and administrators to track student progress and test scores in our LMS system

Take a Sneak Peak Inside the Intro to Drones Course

Access a Free Trial of Our Course

Fill out the form below, and we will set you up with an account. 

A Class Designed to Engage Students

Train the Trainers

Excel as a drone instructor by learning in-person from a DARTdrones Instructor. With thousands of hours of classroom drone instruction experience, DARTdrones instructors are the best of the best, manned aviation pilots who teach teams at the nation’s largest drone programs and fly drones in the field every day.

Keeping Students Engaged!

Student engagement was the number one priority when designing this course. We understand how important it is for teachers to be able to mix heavy content with fun activities. We have made the FAA Part 107 Certification Exam as fun as it can get!

Why DARTdrones?

We Train Enterprise Drone Programs 

DARTdrones’ core business is training and consulting for corporate and government drone programs. We have helped to build some of the largest drone programs in the country by creating plans to start and scale programs, writing pilot Standard Operating Procedures, and designing and implementing pilot training programs to take new pilots from the very basics to developing advanced skills to safely and effectively gather data to meet the goals of a client’s specific use cases, typically involving mapping, modeling, and inspections work. We know what drone employers are looking for in pilots.

Real World Instructor Experience 

Our instructors are in the field every day training drone pilots who are flying complex real-world missions. We know the use cases that are in demand, the training requirements, the necessary skills pilots need to fly the missions, the data that is being collected, and how drones are being used to save time, money, and lives. We can bring this real-world knowledge to your school so that your teachers can train the next generation of drone pilots using our ever evolving and updated materials, while being supported by our expert instructors.

Workforce Development for Drones 

DARTdrones is committed to creating a comprehensive training that aligns with our enterprise drone program partnerships. Where we differ, and shine, is in our ability to provide pilot training on real-world drone use cases. Since we train the pilots at numerous large oil and gas companies, electric utilities, water authorities, and public safety agencies, we have inside knowledge on how to build out professional curricula to support their operations.

Our Workforce Development Team

Danny Burk

Chief Curriculum Developer

Danny is a commercial pilot and drone business owner of a company called FnGravity. Prior to FnGravity, Danny spent many years as a technology lawyer and then as the owner of a computer consulting firm which was later sold to an aerospace firm. Danny possesses his commercial/instrument rating for single-engine land planes and has over 350 manned flight hours and over 500 hours unmanned commercial flight hours. Danny’s sUAS experience specialties include mapping and modeling, construction, sports, composting, agricultural, and real estate.

Kelly Longaker

Curriculum Developer

Kelly is a dedicated professional and seasoned public educator boasting a rich background with over 20 years of experience specializing in curriculum and content development, lesson design and differentiation. Kelly partnered with DARTdrones in the development of a customizable drone training program for young learners looking to establish and grow in their career and technical development training. Her main focus lies in developing engaging learning materials and strategies to enhance student learning outcomes. Her ultimate goal is to continue making a positive impact in the field of education and supporting the growth and development of students and educators alike.

Chris Speicher, Ph.D.

Co-Founder and Curriculum Advisor

Chris is one of the co-founders of DARTdrones and also the Executive Director of the School of Business and Global Innovation at Marywood University in Scranton, PA. Chris has been involved with over 30 start-up entries in his professional career, but his passion remains teaching and educating young people from around the world on how to succeed in business in an ethical manner. Chris is the 2020 recipient of the International Academic Excellence Award from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) and the 2020 recipient of the Faculty Mentor Award, X-Culture International Business Plan Competition.

Jerry White

Chief Instructor

Jerry has a background spanning various roles including flight instruction, corporate, charter, and airline piloting. Jerry has amassed over 7,000 flight hours. Notably, his expertise extends to drone piloting and executive leadership within the aviation industry. Beyond his piloting credentials, Jerry’s entrepreneurial journey as a small business owner and his role as a business consultant provide him with a comprehensive understanding of aviation operations and safety management. His experience as a flight instructor, particularly in teaching high school students to obtain their private pilot license, underscores his dedication to sharing his knowledge and skills with others.

Frequently Asked Questions

We designed this course to be turnkey for a teacher who wants to complete the course our way – a year-long course leading to taking the Part 107 exam, but the curriculum can also be broken down into smaller parts and be helpful for an intensive month long course, a semester long course, or even a summer camp. The modular approach allows for teachers to pick and choose which parts of the curriculum they want to use.

Yes! Depending on the timing of the program, we would likely recommend that the students focus on one or two of the more fun parts of our program such as the Micro Drone Flight Activities, the Career Activities, or the Steps to Becoming a Service Provider course. Talk to our team about options so we can make sure it meets your needs!

The Micro Drone Flight Activities, Advanced Drone Demonstrations, and the Career Activities are meant to get students up, out of their seats, and problem solving real-world problems of drone pilots.

Yes, teachers can see students’ progress on each portion of the class as well as test scores.

Teachers can join our Train the Trainers in 3 ways: virtual, in-person Open Enrollment, or a private training.

Technically, for a teacher to legally fly a drone outside with students, the teacher must have a Part 107 license. Don’t worry – DARTdrones has trained thousands of adults to pass their FAA Part 107 License pretty quickly. We will get you through it!

For our standard Intro to Drones course, we recommend at a minimum a few micro drones and one “advanced drone”. For example, the Holy Stone Mini Drone for $40 and a DJI Mini, Air, Mavic or similar. Our team can help you find the right drone for your needs and budget.

Our success is your success! Our instructors and team are available to help you with any questions or concerns you run into. Our goal is for this course to be turnkey. If we find something that helps one teacher, we will update the online portal to make it available for every teacher.

Most drone curriculum providers fall into 2 categories: STEM, which focuses on coding and building drones, and game playing, which focuses on topics like drone soccer or drone racing. DARTdrones is neither of these. We focus on real world drone operations professional drone pilots are flying for their career. We’ve been training pilots at some of the largest drone programs in the US for over 10 years. Now, we are bringing that same training into the classroom, adapted for younger learners.