How to become a drone pilot in South Africa: the 2026 guide
Flight used to be the most expensive career in the world to break into. A commercial pilot spent years and the price of a house before earning a living in the air. Drones changed that. Today you can go from no experience to a commercial remote pilot certificate in a matter of weeks, at a fraction of the cost — and step into an industry that is still being built. This is the full path to becoming a drone pilot in South Africa in 2026: who can start, what you train, how long it takes, and the work waiting on the other side.
Who can become a drone pilot?
Almost anyone. To start a commercial drone course in South Africa you need to be 18 years old, hold a certified identity document, and read and speak functional English — that is the entire entry bar. No matric exemption, no prior flying, no maths or physics prerequisite. Curiosity and commitment do more here than any qualification on paper.
You do not need an aviation medical to enrol, either. The medical comes later, arranged during your course before your licence application goes to the regulator — more on that below.
What you actually train
The qualification you are working toward is the Remote Pilot Certificate — the RPC (formerly called the RPL). It is issued by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) and it is what lets you fly a drone commercially under Part 101 of the Civil Aviation Regulations. A complete RPC course is built from five parts:
- Ground school. Around 40 hours of theory across eight subjects — Air Law, Human Performance, Principles of Flight, UAS Technical, Battery Safety, Meteorology, Navigation & Flight Planning, and Operational Procedures.
- The radio licence. The Restricted Radiotelephony certificate, so you can operate aviation radio legally and confidently.
- English Language Proficiency. The aviation English assessment every licence requires.
- The aviation medical. A Class 3 medical, examined by a designated aviation medical examiner. ALTUS arranges it during the course so it is in hand before your application — you never chase it yourself.
- Flight training and the skills test. Practical training in four stages, each closed by a progress check, ending in a skills test with a SACAA-designated examiner.
At ALTUS the radio licence, the English assessment and the medical are all bundled into the RPC course — you do not buy them separately or organise them yourself.
How long it takes
An initial RPC runs about three to four weeks from first lesson to skills test. Here is the shape of it:
| Stage | What happens | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Ground school | Eight theory subjects, each closing with an assessment; radio and English included | Week 1–2 |
| Internal exams | You pass an internal assessment at 75% before any official exam | End of theory |
| Flight training | Four practical stages on ALTUS aircraft, a progress check after each | Week 2–4 |
| Skills test | Final test with a SACAA-designated examiner | Week 4 |
You advance when each exercise meets standard, not when the calendar says so — and you only test once you are genuinely ready.
What it costs
The honest answer is that it depends: on your intake, the category you train in, and whether you bundle equipment with the course. That is why we quote rather than publish a single number that would be wrong for half the people who read it. Request a quote and your quote lands in your inbox in minutes, with a price that matches your plan — and it is a licence you hold for a career, so it is worth costing properly.
The career on the other side
A licence is the start, not the finish. To fly commercially you work under an authorised operator — joining an existing one or building your own authorisation over time. The work is real and it is growing: mapping and land surveying, agriculture, security and surveillance, infrastructure inspection, and film and television are the biggest employers of remote pilots in South Africa right now.
From there you specialise. A BVLOS rating opens beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations and the long-range contracts that come with them; an instructor rating adds teaching income. Already hold a manned pilot licence? The RPC for Licensed Pilots course credits the theory you have already passed and gets you there faster.
RPC or RPL? You will see both names online. They refer to the same qualification — the certificate was renamed from Remote Pilot Licence (RPL) to Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC). If you search “RPL”, you are looking for exactly what you train toward here. We cover the change in full in RPL vs RPC.
Where to start
The most direct route into the industry is the RPC Multirotor course — the multirotor category covers the aircraft most commercial work is flown on. Add the aeroplane category later if fixed-wing survey work is where you want to be. Whichever you choose, the path is the same: enrol, train in stages, test when ready, and start flying for a living.
Ready to begin? Request your quote and we will send the next intake dates.