21st Century Profession: Unmanned Aircraft Operator

Every day, more than a hundred ZALA drones take to the air all over Russia. Not by themselves, of course, but with the help of qualified UAV operators.

This profession for some people seems something new and unusual, for others it is commonplace and a very real and developing field of work.

A UAV operator is a professionally qualified person who manages and controls the aircraft and whose duties also include downloading and decoding data from the drone. Often operators have related experience in engineering, surveying or surveying. But in reality, anyone can become a drone operator.

The duties of an operator can be divided into several parts, working with machinery, software and information data.

The UAV operator must prepare the aircraft for flight, including pre-flight testing, setting up photo and video equipment, launching and controlling the landing. Modern ZALA unmanned aerial vehicles are highly automated systems, and the role of the UAV operator is to control the aircraft and the target load, as well as to manage the flight task.

The job of a BVS Operator requires personal computer skills, the ability to learn quickly and work with unique software products developed at ZALA.

The main tool of the operator's work is the ground control station of the BVS, which is used to perform a full cycle of work with the aircraft: pre-flight preparation, control and monitoring of the BVS in the airspace, control of target loads installed on the aircraft.

Using the image displayed from the camera, the operator surveys the ground situation and creates electronic graphic reports to promptly inform the Customer about detected deviations in the area of responsibility. For an uninitiated person, perception of the image received from the UAV turns out to be a non-trivial task, but an experienced operator is able to see quite small objects on the ground measuring less than 1 square metre.

After the flight, the operator uploads the photomaterials to specialised software based on artificial intelligence for automatic data decryption and creation of report cards with detected violations. The introduction of the software in 2018 allowed to reduce the time of material processing while increasing the efficiency of the tasks to be solved. At this stage, the operator enters data into the system and checks the final result of processing.

You can learn to work with unmanned aircraft systems and obtain qualification as a UAV operator at the ZALA AERO Training Centre in Izhevsk. The training centre offers professional training and advanced training programmes. Training includes theoretical, ground and flight training.

The trainees can learn to operate all types of ZALA BVS, study their technical characteristics, peculiarities of flight performance, minor repairs, master data processing in specialised software and get acquainted with the requirements of the Russian Federation legislation in the field of airspace use and BVS application.

During ground training, the trainees will be able to apply the acquired knowledge in practice, performing training flights under the supervision of experienced personnel of the training centre.

Upon completion of training, graduates become part of our team in one of our flying squads and are assigned to active projects, the geography of which covers the whole of Russia. Since a significant part of the customers requiring constant aerial monitoring are located far away from the central part of Russia, BVS operators are sent to the areas where the Company provides the necessary conditions for the employees' livelihood.

ZALA unmanned systems can be operated in all geographical and climatic conditions, so working as a UAV operator gives you the opportunity to visit all corners of the country, from the Caucasus Mountains to Sakhalin. Our employees are ready to perform tasks at any time of the day, as an urgent request for flights can be received both day and night, but most often flights are carried out in a scheduled mode.

It is important to emphasise that a BVS operator must be attentive and highly efficient in order to perform the job correctly, even in extreme situations and difficult weather conditions. For this profession it is important to possess such personal qualities as the ability to quickly learn new information, responsibility, attention to detail, and the ability to maintain concentration for long periods of time.

If you would like to become part of the ZALA AERO team, we are recruiting on an ongoing basis. Read more: https://zala-aero.com/vacancies/