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<p>Dear Fellow Mappers,</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I would like to share information about one of the first RPAS
(Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) schools in Europe, <a
href="http://www.rpas-school.com/">Fly & Film SA</a>. The
school is situated in the town of <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierre">Sierre</a> in the
canton of Valais. <br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I studied for one week at this school and received a RPAS pilot
certificate (1). The course was in French language, and the
certificate is in two languages French and English, since the
latter is the de facto language of civil aviation. <br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I fly RPAS for quite a while already, nevertheless this training
was interesting and useful. Among instructors were helicopter
& RPAS pilots, a director of an international airport, an
ornithologist. Five days of intensive training were followed by a
theoretical exam and a practical (piloting) exam, which I passed
both successfully. It is mentioned in the certificate that the
piloting exam was with and without GPS stabilization, and that is
why the certificate has got a "no restrictions" clause (fr.
Restrictions: aucune).</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>We studied legal and insurance issues, environment protection,
general aviation topics, meteorology, maintenance and safety. The
practical training was focused on precision flying, safety
procedures, etc.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I fly mostly to produce oblique low-altitude aerial photographs,
which I add to the OSM map via an <i>image</i> tag. You can see
how much additional information provides such an aerial image on
an example of the UEFA headquarters (2) on the map or a Colovray
Stadium in Nyon (3) (the clickable <i>image</i> link is in the
left part of a page). <br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Perhaps, there are other approaches of using RPAS for mapping and
data fusion. In this respect I think it would be a good idea to
create in future an OSM Aviation working group, similar to the HOT
Aviation working group, but for general mapping, not only for
mapping of disaster areas. In such a working group we could share
know-hows, technics, ideas, organize workshops, etc.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>(1) <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwIBJzM0u50qOEVkUWVyaGJENUk">https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwIBJzM0u50qOEVkUWVyaGJENUk</a></p>
<p>(2) <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/258913915">http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/258913915</a><br>
</p>
<p>(3) <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/245395546">http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/245395546</a></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>With best regards,</p>
<p>Oleksiy (Alex-7)<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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