Compiling and filling in a pre-flight checklist is a crucial exercise allowing you to ensure that you haven’t forgotten anything before you head out on location and that your drone surveying project is compliant with your local safety laws and regulations. Your checklist will include: 

• project-specific details, such as the purpose of the survey, the target area, image acquisition plan, your suggested take-off and landing locations, the date and time of the survey; 
• information on the drone you will be operating, such as its model and working condition, results of visual inspection, battery charge, firmware status;
• safety and security compliance, like the drone operators’ their accreditation, drone registration and piloting licence, confirmation of adhering to national and local safety regulations;
• notes on meteorological conditions, like the aerodrome forecast interpretations and weather conditions assessment.

Have a look at these sample pre-flight checklists to get a better idea of what might need to be included.

Pre-flight checklist example 1

Pre-flight checklist example 2

Pre-flight checklist check-point

Now, based on these examples and the prep work you have completed last week, have a go at creating your own pre-flight checklist for the Murramarang South Coast Walk surveying project. 

For each checklist section (e.g., project-specific details, information on the drone, safety and security compliance, and meteorological conditions) add 4 to 7 fields you would need to fill in. Format your checklist as a table (in Word, Excel or another program of your choice), save your final document, and upload it using the form below. Remember, at this point we are just creating a checklist template, so you don’t have to actually complete your document, though you can definitely give that a try, if you are certain about what you would like to say in certain fields. You can come back and update/reupload the checklist at any time.