This article discusses what sometimes appear to be unique approaches to training and licensing civilian pilots of small remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS). By count of aircraft and flights, this is the largest segment of these aircraft within the broader scope of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

Definitions

The following definitions come from ICAO’s 2017 concept of operations for future international RPAS flights under instrument flight rules (IFR), as discussed later in this article, and ICAO Doc 9379, Manual of Procedures for Establishment and Management of a State’s Personnel Licensing System (Second Edition, 2012):