A Zimbabwean drone services start-up is basking in glory this morning after it acquired official certification as a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) pilot training school from the national regulator.

Precision Drone Training school – a new training wing of Precision Aerial – becomes only the second drone pilot training organisation in Zimbabwe, following on the heels of Drone Solutions Academy, which acquired its own certification last year.

“I am thrilled,” said Precision Aerial Managing Director, Tawanda Chihambakwe.

“We have now been officially approved and certified by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe to establish Precision Drone Training, an aviation training school that trains commercial drone/RPAS Pilots in Zimbabwe. This is in line with the local RPAS regulations, Statutory Instrument 271 of 2018. Precision Drone Training is the training arm under Precision Aerial.”

Prior to the recognition of these two organisations as training schools, anybody wishing to get a drone piloting licence had to travel outside the country, with South Africa being a popular destination as it boasts of several of such training schools.

“The journey to get here has been a long, gruelling, and painful process with many personal sacrifices,” Tawanda said. “The sleepless nights, hard grind, strategizing, developing manuals and standards, internal training and fundraising efforts took a toll on my mental and physical health.

“But they say anything worth doing will be difficult. This was an incredible milestone personally and certainly not an easy thing to achieve. With all the achievements and success I have had in this industry internationally, I am glad that I can now serve my country in the most meaningful way, helping others.”

And as well he might too, because the announcement of the certification comes at a time when CAAZ seems to be intensifying its efforts to ensure that drones that fly in the Zimbabwean airspace are properly registered and their pilots are properly licenced.

The CAAZ director general, Dr Elijah Chingosho last Friday urged all drone users to be responsible citizens and fly their drones legally.

This should be easier now, with two drone training school at their doorsteps.

Precision Drone Training school will have both local and international certification, which will allow it to training drone pilots from outside Zimbabwe. The courses include basic Remote Pilot’s Licence (RPL) license and other industry-specific advanced pilot training and enterprise training courses.

“This marks the start of a new chapter for our training school, and we look forward to raising the standards of professional drone pilots in Zimbabwe and across Africa.”