COPA Scholarship for RPAS

COPA believes the sky is for everyone and is committed to supporting safer drone operations. Through the new COPA RPAS Pilot Scholarship, three COPA members 18 and older will receive training to obtain their advanced RPAS pilot certificate.

The COPA RPAS Pilot Scholarship includes access to RPAS ground school, flight reviews and exam expenses (conditions apply). Recipients will be chosen based on their involvement and participation in General Aviation activities, events, or organizations.

Scholarship Guidelines

  • Applicants should be at least 18 years of age.
  • Applicants must be current COPA members in good standing.
  • Applicants must be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada.

To ensure that as many aviators can benefit, successful applicants from previous years of this scholarship are not eligible to re-apply.

Dispersal of Funds

COPA will coordinate the designated training through MIR Aviation, our pre-approved RPAS ground school. This designated training facility will provide instructional materials. A flight review will be provided by Coastal Drone Co., in the event that a flight review cannot be provided through Coastal Drone Co., COPA will approve another RPAS ground school. The successful applicant is to pay for the Transport Canada exam and COPA will reimburse this expense.  

The scholarship amount is the maximum that will be paid by COPA from the fund for any advanced licenses, ratings or endorsement(s) being pursued and may not be used for any purposes other than those approved in Eligible Costs of these guidelines.  

Unused amounts at the completion of training, if any, will remain in COPA’s funds for future awards. COPA may exercise judgment as to whether training can be deferred for a reasonable period (beyond one year) and which courses are eligible for payment under these guidelines.  

Training shall be completed in a reasonable period of time, usually not longer than one year from commencement. In the event the recipient does not make satisfactory progress or does not conduct himself/herself in a manner consistent with the intention of the Fund, COPA shall have the right to revoke the award and to cease paying any further costs of training. Progress reports from the training facility will be provided to COPA as required.

Eligible costs of training include the following:

  • costs of ground school, including books and required materials for the courses;
  • one (1) flight review
  • Transport Canada exam expenses

Costs that are not covered include the following: non-flight training tuition at secondary or post-secondary schools, including colleges and universities, personal meals or transportation to and from the training facility, clothing, aviation equipment or supplies which are not required for the program. COPA will have the final authority to define and approve authorized expenditures.

Successful applicants agree to participate in future COPA promotional activities.

Any funds remaining at the conclusion of training will be reinvested in COPA’s Flight Safety Foundation for future scholarship awards.

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