Scan overnight maintenance logs and flag any drones needing repair before today's missions.
Check wind, visibility, and NOTAMs — decide which sites fly and which get scrubbed.
Assign pilots to missions, confirm airspace authorizations, and walk through the day's flight plan.
Audit two recent flight logs against FAA Part 107 rules; catch a waiver gap before it becomes a violation.
Radio active crews mid-mission; one site reports a sensor glitch — ground that drone, reassign the pilot.
Pull last week's flight metrics and spot a battery degradation pattern across three units.
Price replacement batteries and weigh buying a newer model drone against stretching the current fleet.
Review today's footage with pilots; drill one crew on emergency landing procedures.
Log completed flights, update maintenance tickets, and set tomorrow's mission schedule.
- Decide which drones fly where, when, and with which pilot.
- Check that every flight follows FAA rules and airspace restrictions.
- Review maintenance logs and schedule repairs before problems ground the fleet.
- Dig into flight data to spot patterns and make operations run smoother.
- Train and supervise drone pilots to keep skills and safety standards sharp.
- Is this weather risky enough to ground the fleet, or can we fly safely?
- Should I ground this drone for maintenance now, or push it one more mission?
- Do I need to file for airspace authorization, or does this flight qualify for an exception?
- Should I buy newer drone models now, or squeeze more life out of what we have?
- Is this incident serious enough to report to the FAA, or handle it internally?
UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Mission Specialists are highly skilled professionals who plan, coordinate, and execute drone operations across various industries. They combine technical expertise with strategic mission planning to operate sophisticated unmanned aircraft systems for purposes ranging from aerial surveying and agricultural monitoring to search and rescue operations and infrastructure inspection.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Operators, commonly known as drone pilots, are skilled professionals who operate remotely piloted aircraft for various applications including aerial photography, surveying, inspection, delivery, and defense operations. This rapidly growing field combines technical expertise, situational awareness, and adherence to aviation regulations.
UAS Systems Engineers design, develop, test, and maintain Unmanned Aircraft Systems (drones and unmanned aerial vehicles). This role combines aerospace engineering, software development, and systems integration to create innovative solutions for commercial, military, and research applications, working at the intersection of hardware and software to ensure unmanned aircraft systems operate safely, efficiently, and reliably.
