Strat Aero plc (LON:AERO), an international aerospace company focussed on the rapidly emerging Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (“UAV”) sector, has today announce that the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (‘CAA’) has granted Strat Aero National Qualified Entity (‘NQE’) status. This is an important development in the commercialisation of Strat Aero’s training programmes as in order to apply for a UAV pilot’s licence, individuals need to show that they trained at an NQE certified centre. The Board believe that the grant of NQE status is an endorsement of the Company’s training programmes and confirms the quality of Strat Aero’s suite of commercial teaching courseware.
The grant of NQE status coincides with the launch of several new training initiatives including the Applied Unmanned Technical Qualification (‘AUTQ’). Unlike many training organisations, Strat Aero flies its own commercial UAV fleet to deliver inspection and survey services to clients – which means that real-world learnings can be embedded directly into Strat Aero’s training materials.
The driving factor behind the development of Strat Aero’s AUTQ programme has been the need for high level training for operators providing professional services to commercial clients. Strat Aero’s training has an emphasis on hands on flight training and a unique focus on training operators for their chosen commercial application.
The AUTQ has therefore been designed to provide a level of knowledge and skills development not currently provided by commercially offered training courses. It is focussed on developing all the flight skills that operators need to control UAVs safely and effectively in a commercial environment, based on Strat Aero’s own experience of several thousand hours of UAV operation.
Strat Aero provides a broad range of UAV training solutions, including specialist training for military and law enforcement users. These customised programmes not only teach the basics of UAV operation, but are specifically tailored to mission objectives. These can include surveillance and intelligence gathering, border patrol, anti-piracy, counter-insurgency, search-and-rescue and high value asset security.
Iain McLure, CEO of Strat Aero plc, said “As UAV technology matures and devices become both more cost-effective and more capable, individual users and organisations are looking for training solutions that enable them to operate UAVs in a broad range of settings. We are delighted that our training operation has now been formally recognised by the CAA, one of the world’s leading National Aviation Authorities.”
