What Teachers with Drone Experience are saying

A CTE drone program is a Career & Technical Education pathway that combines structured drone curriculum, FAA Part 107 certification, and manual piloting practice to prepare students for documented careers in commercial drone work. What makes a CTE drone program effective is not credential volume alone. It is whether students leave with employer-valued skill and a portfolio that shows they can do the work. At the Association for Career and Technical Education ACTE National Conference in San Antonio, Chris Tonn spoke with Robert of Georgetown Independent School District in Texas about what he has seen after three years running a CTE drone program. His perspective carries weight because it comes from a practitioner with verified outcomes, not theory.

Three years of CTE drone program receipts

Robert’s Georgetown ISD program shows what a mature CTE drone program can produce over three years. His students earn FAA Part 107 certification, then apply those credentials in real client work across nonprofits, small businesses, and larger corporations. Their projects include commercial real estate, residential real estate, and solar and wind energy work, along with Texas Department of Transportation drone fleet development for bridge inspection, power line inspection, and accident investigation support. That record marks the difference between a CTE drone program that produces certified pilots and one that produces career-ready professionals with verifiable portfolios. The credential matters. The documented work is what proves market value.

Why FAA Part 107 certification is necessary but not sufficient

FAA Part 107 certification is the federal credential commercial drone pilots need for paid work in the United States. In Robert’s view, that credential is foundational, but it is not the full story. As he puts it, “There’s more than the 107.” He makes the distinction clearly: “Switch off auto flight mode and take the sticks,” because manual recovery skill is what separates a resume line from field performance.

That point becomes concrete in the Texas energy sector. Pilots working near wind turbines, solar arrays, and transmission infrastructure can encounter signal degradation and GPS dropouts, and employers need people who can recover the aircraft safely and complete the mission. Robert’s phrasing is direct and employer-centered: “The better pilot wins in the end.” He also states the hiring implication without hedging: “More stick time, you’re going to be more sought after by employers.” In other words, FAA Part 107 certification opens the door, but manual piloting determines who can be trusted when conditions change.

Part 107 for students at the high school level

Part 107 for students works best when it is built into a structured CTE drone program rather than isolated as test preparation. The minimum age for FAA Part 107 certification is 16, which fits high school CTE timelines well. At Georgetown ISD, students do not stop at passing the exam. They earn FAA Part 107 certification, then build commercial portfolios with paying clients before graduation through work in real estate, nonprofit support, and infrastructure-related projects. That sequence is what makes Part 107 for students marketable to employers. The credential gets attention, but the credential plus portfolio gives employers a reason to hire.

Third-party validation of the Rocket Drones approach

Robert’s assessment of Rocket Drones matters because he spent three years home-rolling his own curriculum before seeing this model in person. He understands how much time drone education requires and why many districts stall before they build a stable CTE drone program. His conclusion was specific: “Productization of what teachers in the educational world need.” He also described the operational problem behind that statement: most educators do not have the bandwidth to guide other districts through a deep and technical field while building their own classroom implementation.

Robert’s language points to the practical value of a complete drone curriculum partner. He describes Rocket Drones as “Removing the barrier to entry” by organizing the information educators need and helping programs move from “Step A to step Z.” When a three-year CTE drone program veteran who built his own pathway says a productized system addresses the launch problem, that is meaningful third-party validation. It confirms that districts do not need to spend years piecing together curriculum, training progression, and support before students can start building employer-valued skill.

Watch the full conversation to see what a working CTE drone program looks like from a three-year practitioner at Georgetown ISD. Robert’s record connects FAA Part 107 certification, manual piloting, and documented student career placement in a way school leaders can verify. For districts trying to follow his lead, Rocket Drones stands as the productized pathway that solves the launch problem without losing sight of career readiness.