AirData UAV now pulls Pilot Institute course certificates straight into pilot profiles, with no file to upload. The flight-log company announced the integration with Pilot Institute, the Prescott, Arizona, drone school, on November 4. It works on every AirData plan, free accounts included, and it imports certificates pilots earned before the link existed.
Pilots connect under My Account > Pilot Institute in AirData and sign in with their Pilot Institute login. Each certificate lands on the pilot’s profile as a badge, with the skills from that course attached.
AirData already read Pilot Institute certificates before the integration. Its supported-credentials page lists the school among the training providers whose uploaded certificates it detects and tracks automatically.
AirData Shows Fleet Managers Pilot Institute Courses Still In Progress
Fleet administrators can now see which Pilot Institute courses a pilot has finished and which are still underway, something an uploaded certificate never showed. AirData says the attached skills help administrators judge what a pilot can do when assigning missions. Pilots and managers also get reminders before certificates expire.
AirData CEO Eran Steiner said the company has synced flight logs for years and “we see the same need with pilot certifications.” AirData’s announcement puts its record at more than 68 million flights from more than 470,000 pilots, up from the 65 million it reported on August 25. The company’s supported credentials page says it recognizes 883 certificate types.
Greg Reverdiau, Pilot Institute’s co-founder and head of training, said “This integration gives our students a direct way to maintain their training records.” Pilot Institute is a DroneXL partner, and Reverdiau writes the site’s weekly UAS news update, most recently on November 6. The school says it has trained more than 150,000 Part 107 students.
FAA’s Part 108 Proposal Asks Operators To Keep Training Certificates On File
The FAA’s August 2025 Part 108 proposal for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight would make operators record the training of every person the rule requires to be trained. Section 108.40(e) lists six items, including the completion date, the provider’s name and address, and a certificate copy.
The final rule has sat in White House review since July 10, and federal law requires it by December 7. Wing cited the rule’s upcoming release last week as the trigger for its next expansion. The November 4 announcement never mentions Part 108. AirData’s own August 25 post did, saying the rule shifts the burden of proving that personnel are qualified from the individual pilot to the operating organization.
Pilot Institute has pushed back on Part 108’s paperwork before. In its October 2025 comment on the proposal, the school said the rule’s reporting and recordkeeping duties would burden fully autonomous operations and could favor large companies over smaller ones.
DroneXL’s Take
I like this one because it is boring. The school’s own warning was that Part 108’s paperwork favors big operators, so putting automatic training records on AirData’s free tier helps a three-pilot inspection shop more than a utility with a compliance department. I’d stop short of AirData’s mission-assignment pitch, though. A synced badge proves someone finished a course, and a fleet manager who picks crews off a course outline is letting it stand in for a check ride. I’d use the badges for the paperwork and keep the check ride for deciding who flies.
Sources: AirData UAV, EIN Presswire, Federal Register (FAA Part 108 proposed rule).
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
