Becoming masterful at your drone requires time, patience, and maybe an online drone course or two.
You’re curious about Peltier Photo Courses’ drone classes, but you’re not quite sure if this is a good investment of your money.
Should you take a Peltier drone course?
Peltier offers drone courses for FAA Part 107 exam prep, including classes on airspace and weather. If you’re interested in learning the rules of drone flight inside and out, take a Peltier course.
This guide to Peltier will tell you everything you need to know about all the drone courses and materials offered.
Peltier has quite the experience, making him qualified to teach about photography and drones in separate courses. He was a part of the U.S. Air Force as an F-15E flight instructor for a decade.
We’ll go in-depth on each course, share information like pricing, discuss reviews, and help you decide if Peltier Photo Courses is the right online drone school for you!
What is Peltier Photo Courses? Who is the founder?
At first glance, Peltier Photo Courses might not seem like the right resource if you want to learn about drone flight, but in fact, it is!
Amongst the courses on Fujifilm cameras and Lightroom CC, are in-depth drone flight courses and materials for remote pilots.
The courses are mostly centered around the Part 107 drone exam as mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration or FAA.
For those who aren’t totally familiar, aspiring drone commercial pilots (i.e., those who want to make money piloting their drones) must have a current drone license to do so.
The FAA exam will test your knowledge on all things drone flight, from airspace rules to weather conditions and more.
Once you pass the exam, your certification is good for two years. Then you’d have to take the test again to renew.
Peltier, despite that the school is named in full Peltier Photo Courses, can get first-time test-takers up to speed or help second or third-time test-takers recall the depth of their knowledge while learning new things about airspace regulations along the way.
Who’s behind Peltier Photo Courses, you ask? That’s none other than John Peltier himself, the eponymous founder.
Peltier has quite the experience, making him qualified to teach about photography and drones in separate courses. He was a part of the U.S. Air Force as an F-15E flight instructor for a decade.
His knowledge in F-15E jets was so expansive that he was asked to write the training curriculum for flying these fighter jets.
After Peltier left active service, he continued instructing others by offering helicopter lessons. Shortly thereafter, Peltier transitioned into photography and how photos can tell a rich, beautiful, and sometimes heartbreaking story.
This allowed John to join Photographers Without Borders, which opened him up to documentary projects. Through his extensive travel, Peltier has offered photography instruction on three different continents.
His photography has been featured in:
- National Geographic Online
- Tahoe Quarterly
- The Los Angeles Times
- New York Magazine
Which drone courses can you take through Peltier?
As we discussed in the section prior as well as the intro, you can select from several drone courses through Peltier.
Rather than focusing on photography, these courses instead instruct you on the ins and outs of the FAA Part 107 exam so you can pass the first time.
Let’s take a closer look at the courses and materials now.
FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Test Prep
Beginning with the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Test Prep course, John Peltier decided to put this one together because, as he says on his website:
“The Internet has become saturated with outdated, irrelevant, and incorrect Remote Pilot Test Prep material throughout the years.”
With Peltier’s instruction, you can cut through all this white noise to get to the material that will appear on your FAA test.
Peltier says his course material was updated, so as of this writing, the material couldn’t be more current.
The pass rate for the FAA exam after students take the Peltier FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Test Prep course is 99.7 percent out of 554 students who have taken the class. That’s a very good rate of success!
The average score of test takers who passed John Peltier’s course is 93 percent, which is again not too shabby!
The FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Test Prep course is divided into eight sections with 36 videos that comprise the curriculum. Here’s an overview.
- Welcome to the Course!
- Chapter 1: FAA Part 107 Regulations
- 1.1 Intro to Regulations
- 1.2 Definitions
- 1.3 sUAS Registration
- 1.4. General Rules
- 1.5 sUAS Pilot Certification
- 1.6 Operations Part 1
- 1.7. Operations Part 2
- 1.8 Operations Over People & Waivers
- Chapter 2: Airspace & Topography
- 2.1 Controlled Airspace
- 2.2 Class G Airspace
- 2.3. Class E Airspace
- 2.4 Class D Airspace
- 2.5 Class C Airspace
- 2.6 Class B Airspace
- 2.7 Special Use Airspace
- 2.8 Basic Topography
- Chapter 3: Operations
- 3.1 Airport Operations
- 3.2 Notices to Airmen (NOTAMS)
- 3.3 Communications
- 3.4 Reading a Chart
- 3.5 Emergencies
- 3.6 ADM & CRM
- 3.7 Physiology & Night
- Chapter 4: Weather
- 4.1 Weather & Winds
- 4.2 Temperature & Pressure
- 4.3 Moisture, Fog, and Clouds
- 4.4 Stability
- 4.5 Air Masses & Fronts
- 4.6 Thunderstorms & Icing
- 4.7 Weather Reports
- Chapter 5: Aircraft Performance
- 5.1 Weight & Balance
- 5.2 Basic Aerodynamics
- 5.3 Load Factor
- 5.4 Determining Performance
- 5.5 Preflight Duties
- FAA Part 107 Practice Test
- Scheduling Your Test & Course Survey
John Peltier offers unlimited practice tests that use 270 questions that have appeared on real FAA Part 107 exams.
If you need further instruction, you can connect with John using LiveChat. Your money also gains you access to a pilot resources list. Plus, when you pass the course, you get a graduation certificate!
FAA Part 107 Practice Test – Limited
Next is the FAA Part 107 Practice Test – Limited, which isn’t a drone course as much as its practice test prep for the FAA Part 107 exam.
This free practice test includes 120 questions, some of which you might see on a real FAA exam.
FAA Part 107 Practice Test – Prime
The complement to the FAA Part 107 Practice Test – Limited is the FAA Part 107 Practice Test – Prime. For only $7, you can take a practice test put together by John Peltier himself.
The practice test has a whopping 270 questions to get you ready to take the FAA exam.
Of course, the material on the practice test uses real FAA exam questions. Other questions were written by John and are based on his extensive flight experience.
To help you study up, John also throws in a list of his top test-taking tips. Further, he offers a Part 107 Test Prep Course discount so you can be 100 percent ready to ace the FAA exam.
FAA Part 107 Airspace Lesson
Here’s another bonafide drone flight course, the FAA Part 107 Airspace Lesson.
This course is a good option if you feel confident on most of the topics on the Part 107 knowledge test, but just need to brush up on the different airspace uses.
John Peltier has nine videos in this course. The video material also includes photos and text.
Here is a breakdown of the course materials.
- Introduction to the Part 107 Airspace Lesson
- Airspace Lessons
- Controlled & Uncontrolled Airspace
- Class G Airspace
- Class E Airspace
- Class D Airspace
- Class C Airspace
- Class B Airspace
- Special Use Airspace
- Charts
- Basic Topography
- Reading a Chart
- FAA Part 107 Airspace Test
Included also when you purchase this course is a series of 10 practice quizzes. Nine of the quizzes are brief, correctable practice quizzes while the 10th is a final exam that tests the depth of your knowledge.
FAA Part 107 Weather Lesson
As we touched on before, weather is so important when flying your drone. You can expect a bevy of weather-related questions on the FAA Part 107 exam, so it helps to be prepared.
To that end, try the Peltier FAA Part 107 Weather Lesson. Just like with the previous course, this would be a good one if you just need a little bit of brushing up on the weather-related topics on the Part 107 knowledge test.
This online drone course includes seven videos broken up into three sections.
- Introduction to the Part 107 Weather Lesson
- Weather Lessons
- Weather & Winds
- Temperature & Pressure
- Moisture, Fog, and Clouds
- Stability
- Air Masses & Fronts
- Thunderstorms & Icing
- Weather Reports
- FAA Part 107 Weather Test
The FAA Part 107 weather test prep includes eight quizzes in all. Seven of them are short practice quizzes and the eight is the final exam.
sUAS Airspace & Weather Package
The last online drone course from Peltier Photo Courses is the sUAS Airspace & Weather Package.
These are the two topic areas that prove the most problematic to most people studying for the Part 107 knowledge test, so it makes sense to bundle them together.
This comprehensive course has 16 videos and 18 quizzes, including 16 short practice quizzes and two final exams.
All the information in the FAA Part 107 Airspace Lesson and the FAA Part 107 Weather Lesson are included.
How much do Peltier drone courses cost?
If one or more of the above drone courses and resources offered by Peltier Photo Courses caught your eye, then naturally, you’re going to be curious about the cost.
Let’s take a closer look at what you might spend to learn about drones from John Peltier.
- FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Test Prep: $129
- FAA Part 107 Practice Test – Limited: Free
- FAA Part 107 Practice Test – Prime: $7
- FAA Part 107 Airspace Lesson: $29
- FAA Part 107 Weather Lesson: $29
- sUAS Airspace & Weather Package: $39
How is Peltier rated?
What do real drone pilots like you have to say about Peltier’s drone courses?
On the homepage of the Peltier Photo Courses website, you’ll see some testimonials. Since they’re showcased right on the homepage, if you expected these testimonials to be utterly glowing, you’d be correct.
The problem with nothing but five-star reviews and testimonials is that you don’t get to see an online drone course from both sides.
You should be able to make an educated decision about where your hard-earned money will go, after all.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any further reviews on Peltier Photo Courses.
Are Peltier Drone Courses worth it?
Should you enroll in John Peltier’s drone courses?
Yes, but with the caveat that you should carefully consider which package you select.
From all the material across the various courses and resources, some of the information repeats.
For instance, the sUAS Airspace & Weather Package includes the same information as found in the FAA Part 107 Weather Lesson and the FAA Part 107 Airspace Lesson when bought separately.
Also, the information in both the FAA Part 107 Weather Lesson and the FAA Part 107 Airspace Lesson are both included in the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Test Prep.
Now sure, the FAA Part 107 Weather Lesson and the FAA Part 107 Airspace Lesson are $30 a pop, but if you bought both of them, that’s $60, which is about half the value of the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Test Prep course.
You could have saved that $60 and gotten a lot more value if you just went with the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Test Prep in the first place.
Or if you sign up for the Weather Lesson, but then decide you really need the Airspace Lesson as well, then you’ve spent $60 instead of $40 if you bought them as a bundle.
So yes, the way the materials are presented can be confusing and lead to overlaps if you don’t read through the course descriptions carefully before purchasing.
The included course materials are highly informative, especially for FAA Part 107 test-takers.
More so than just offering video materials, John Peltier offers practice tests with questions that he wrote himself as well as a multitude of questions featured on real FAA exams that are as current as possible.
You can also buy more test practice questions for $7 just to solidify your knowledge. That’s great value for the money.
Conclusion
Peltier Photo Courses, despite the name, offers a variety of online drone courses and resources for FAA Part 107 test-takers who want to pass this difficult exam the first time around.
Even once you obtain your commercial drone flight license, you can rely on Peltier’s materials to brush up on your knowledge in two years for the next time you have to take the test.
With affordable course pricing, a wealth of knowledge to tap into, study sheets and practice quizzes, and even a chance to talk one-on-one with John Peltier, Peltier’s drone courses could be just what you need!