China has been one of the world’s undisputed technology powerhouses for the past few decades, and the rate at which new technologies are getting adopted at the Asian nation has been simply incredible. The use of remote controlled drones for leisure, agriculture and commercial services, in particular, has seen quite a growing market, and tech companies are pulling out all the stops to ensure the local demand is sufficiently met. In correspondence, investors are putting up new drone schools all across the country in a bid to exert a pull on current and prospective drone users for various enterprises.
China is currently coercing special licenses for anyone wishing to fly a 7kg drone for commercial purposes, and this could be the prime pull behind the growing popularity of drone schools. According to Wu Haining, senior exec in Shandong Qihang Surveying and Mapping Technology Company, there is an overwhelming number of drones in China’s atmosphere right now, and as a security measure, the government restricts flying of drones beyond the height of 120 meters to licensed pilots only. Shandong Qihang uses drones to take aerial photographs of urban areas and agricultural fields, which are used for city planning, housing, agricultural and public service purposes by various governmental departments.
Statistics show that in almost every town in China, there are at least two renowned aviation schools that offer rc drone flying courses. What’s more, the new schools are not toiling to find students; classes are brimming actually, and new investors are obviously taking note of this. What is basically spurring new enrollments each day is the incredibly low tuition fee range and short time to complete the course. In one of China’s most famous drone schools – TT Aviation Technology Co. – for example, it only takes you two weeks and $1,200 (8,000 yuan) to earn a certificate in drone flying. You can then earn the China’s Civil Aviation Administration license, and be deemed qualified to fly commercial drones. Other colleges charge as little as USD 700 per student, as a gimmick to attract more impoverished students, who make for the majority, while others offer this just as a side course at a very fair additional outlay.
More than 10,000 qualified drone pilots were needed in Q3 2015 across the country, according to an article on ctvnews.ca, but only around 1,000 of them were in possession of licenses. This year both figures are expected to rise, that’s for sure, and if the current rate persists, we might even have the number of qualified job-seekers surpassing the available vacancies.
Drone use upsurge in China is not going to ease anytime soon if 2015’s gen is anything to go by. Statistics not only rank China as the biggest manufacturer of drones in the world, but also as an unmatched market for the doodads. Of course a population of close to 2 billion people can perfectly validate this, but then the kind of activities carried out in large scale in the country are heavily weighing in too. China has a lot of land set aside for agriculture, for instance, and with the farmers looking for more and more capital intensive practices to reduce costs, maximize profits and compete favourably in the international market, drones, which can amply replace up to ten workers in the farm, are becoming a seamless way of doing away with heavy payrolls.
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