UAV / sUAS (Drone) Consulting & Training

UAVs and sUAS are changing how we see and interact with the world around us. That includes how we tackle various tasks in our day-to-day jobs. That’s where Sundance Media Group comes in. Download our full training brochure here.

Sundance Media Group offers UAV/sUAS education and consultation throughout the United States and Canada, including specialized applied training for various segments of this exciting new industry. Our mission is to provide expert training and support to new UAV pilots and to ensure a smooth transition as you integrate sUAS as a tool into your commercial workflow.

Our sUAS training philosophy, no matter the vertical, concentrates on creating a culture of safety and risk management. Our instructors have an intimate knowledge of the FAA FARs and FSIMs and our vision is to train new UAV pilots to become efficient, effective, and safe remote pilots using sUAS as a tool in the field and within the national airspace.

SMG’s collective experience with instructors and UAV pilots nationwide is our foundation to facilitate new UAV pilots into this burgeoning industry and ensure that best-practices are engrained within your organization.

Click here for a full list of drone training courses.

Steps for Standing up a CommercialsUAS Program

The process to standing up a sUAS (drone) program for day-to-day operations is three-fold:

Standup the program with updates to the organization’s current policy and procedures manual to include sUAS
Create an internal sUAS operations manual (Standard Flight Operations Manual)
Practical training to ensure the safe and effective implementation of sUAS technology

The importance of including a practical training component when standing up an sUAS program cannot be under estimated.

Participating within the commercial sUAS (a.k.a. drones) industry means participating in a federally regulated industry; it’s vital that key players within the organization implementing the sUAS program understand this. It is also the key to setting up a strong foundation to a sUAS program within the organization that is safe, efficient, and offers value. Professional practical training workshops offer a streamlined process to master challenging techniques without all the trials and errors of “figuring it out on your own”.

Consider:

Safety vests, hard hats (when required), and operational risk assessment.

Investment of Equipment being used
- Does each remote pilot know the equipment intimately?
- How do you ensure each remote pilot using the equipment safely?
Remote Pilot Experience and Logbooks
- How adept at flying an unmanned aircraft are your pilots?
- How are remote pilots logging their flight time? Aircraft time? Battery use?
Insurance companies encourage training and may offer a reduced premium

Overview of Sundance Media Group

Our Company Mission

To provide expert training and support to new (and experienced) ensuring a smooth transition as sUAS is implemented as a tool into commercial and agency workflow.

Our Philosophy

To ensure that all crew members working with understands the importance of safety and risk mitigation in all aerial operations.

The SMG Difference

Not only do we want your UAV/sUAS program to be successful, we want to help you grow your program as your needs and experience expand. We will work closely with you to create a self-sustaining program.

SMG AVOC

Check out the SMG Aerial Vehicle Operations Center (AVOC): Built to support public safety and field sUAS missions requiring on-site support for any sUAS mission.

The entire Sundance Media Group (SMG) provide a very logical, methodical, thorough and professional approach to sUAS training. I have been an educator for literally 45 years, an FAA certificated fixed-wing pilot for over thirty years (ATP and MCFI), and a Professor of Aviation Technology at the University of Alaska Anchorage for twenty years. SMG is truly a “cut above” and I recommend them without reservation for your training needs.

Mark E. Madden, Professor of Aviation Technology, University of Alaska -Anchorage

I highly recommend SMG’s workshops, as well as their classes. It was the most educational fun my friend and I have ever had learning to fly UAVs. Their staff is highly knowledgeable and was able to answer all our questions and teach us things that we probably would never have learned on our own. In addition, Douglas Spotted Eagle, Edward Pachell and Scott Marek were great instructors spending time outside of the workshops to impart more knowledge that they definitely didn’t have to do and was so accommodating. I can’t thank them enough. If you are looking to step your UAV game up whether for personal or business, SMG are definitely the ones to help you out. Can’t recommend them enough! I look forward to even more workshops and classes with them in the future!

Avery Narine, Photographer, Avery Phillips Photography

Overview of Training Available

Part 107 Preparation

Introduction to Practical UAV Flight: Proficiency training with any unmanned aircraft of choice.

Cinematography: Introduction to two, three, and four-axis controls for smooth cinema-grade content from a small platform.

Advanced UAV Flight Training: Attendees learn additional techniques (Cinematography session recommended prior) for cinema, production, real estate, and other beauty-shots with sUAS.

Journalism: This course dives into broadcast journalism, print media, and social media capture and best practices.

Night Flight: Attendees will not only learn to understand and mitigate risks of flying at night; filing a waiver with the FAA is a component of this course. Attendees receive a copy of our Drone Pilot’s Guide to Night Flight book, a best-seller in category on Amazon.

Real Estate: This full-day (residential) or two-day (Commercial) training session is taught as a blended theoretical and practical program. Attendees also receive a copy of our Drone Pilot’s Guide to Real Estate Imaging book.

Vertical Inspection: This course is a blend of theory and practical instruction. The first portion of the day is spent learning what inspection partners require and how to achieve those requirements, with the second portion of the day invested in field work and inspection of working equipment.

Mapping: Includes best capture practices and use of popular tools such as Pix4D, DroneDeploy, AgiSoft. For more, check out our Pix4D Mapping/Training page.

Risk Mitigation: Our risk mitigation course is a prep-work for organizations seeking an ISO audit. This full-day course is a theoretical course.

Policy/Procedure/Operations: Learn to write and standardize a PPO, useful for municipalities, public safety, or large organizations, particularly those seeking ISO compliance for ISO audits.