Training and Workforce
Drone Industry Faces Talent Crunch Ahead of BVLOS Launch
FAA's Part 108 rules exposes gaps in drone talent pipeline
Mighty Fly Cento
Drones like Mighty Fly's Cento may not have a pilot onboard but their operations depend on human support teams.

Within two to three years of the FAA finalizing its long-awaited Part 108 rules for routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operations, the U.S. aviation industry could need hundreds of thousands of additional workers.

Qualified technicians, fleet operations managers, and domestic manufacturers are all in short supply, according to James McDanolds, director of the School of Uncrewed Technology at Sonoran Desert Institute, and the training programs to produce them are still catching up.