Do Drone Pilots Make Good Money?
There is no point looking at the other details without learning how much you could make as a drone pilot. If the price is too low, then you might not want to take the plunge. But I have a feeling that for most of us, the wage of a drone pilot is better than expected.
I should start off by saying that drone pilots' jobs are relatively new, so there isn’t a consistent standard pricing yet. This means that depending on where you are, you could earn more or less than expected.
If you hope to get a drone pilot job with the government or military, then your average pay will be around $33k to $40k. The average government employee salary is $63K so the title of “UAV Operator” you will be given isn’t worth a lot.
If you hope to be both a drone pilot and a manned pilot, then you can earn around $79k. This figure is only an average, so that you could earn more or less than $79k depending on your skill level and location.
The most likely pay range for a drone pilot or “UAS Pilot” is $62k to $70k, and that is accurate as of 2021.
Drone Pilots are still in their novelty stage, and there isn’t any accurate tracking of wages being carried out yet. In the future, these figures could rise or fall as the technology needs more skilled people or as the technology becomes easier to handle.
The average American salary is $31k, so you can safely say that being a drone operator will give you a good wage no matter where you fit on the data above.