Passing the test

Today I took the drone pilot exam. Wow.

The exam was administered by a local company with offices next to one of the small airports in Johnson County. It was a comfortable enough location, even back in the stuffy little office where the test-taking computer was located.

The FAA supplies a study guide for this test. It outlines various rules and regulations and flying tips and so on. I assumed the exam would focus on a range of topics, probably emphasizing when and where drones can and can’t be flown.

Well, kinda. The bulk of the exam tested my ability to read sectional charts, maps that show the areas where airspace is regulated. This is actually a fairly useless skill, as the FAA and associated companies have at least two phone apps that will tell an aspiring pilot exactly how restricted the air is in his general vicinity. Further, the apps provide information about restrictions that aren’t on the maps (such as military testing flights that occur only intermittently) and allow a pilot who wants to fly in regulated space to apply for permission to do so.

So what’s the map for? In case I’m out somewhere and don’t have my phone and yet do have my exact location so I can find it on a map that I of course have with me? And on top of all that, the charts are complex and hard to read.

Which I suppose makes them an easy thing to test over, something picky that lends itself to computer-graded, multiple choice questions. The experience also came across as a hazing activity, something needlessly complex to make people endure before they become part of an initiated group.

In any event, I passed by the skin of my teeth. I was grateful that the machine was able to give me my score immediately and print out the document I needed to submit to the government as part of my license application. So now I sit and wait for confirmation that I’m officially approved.