Customer Highlight: Jim Copple

We are extremely proud to have received such positive feedback from recent Gold Wing recipient, Jim Copple, who undertook our May Zeta Central course and passed with flying colours.

Here’s what he had to say:

Pre-course Admin

‘It was very reassuring to receive information about what to expect on the course. There was enough detail but not too much. The ability to do some pre-course study through a professional online computer based training package was important to me as I wanted to be properly prepared. EEI agreeing to collect me and return me to my accommodation a few miles from the course location each day made a huge difference to my stress levels, solving a tricky problem for me, and showing a superior level of customer service. EEI’s assistance in getting the required licenses, course funding and various paperwork in order in plenty of time was invaluable.’

Ground School

‘The facilities at EEI are first class and I can’t think of any way to improve the learning environment. Having a decent coffee machine and tea facilities, some tasty biscuits, and a sparkling clean classroom and toilet facility create an impressive professional environment. I loved just being in the EEI Centre of Excellence. EEI use a good mix of white board, powerpoint and physical objects such as drones and RTK tripods as instructor aids which helped me understand and absorb the information more easily. It wasn’t ‘death by powerpoint’ because there was lots of great interaction. The effectiveness of the instruction was demonstrated by the success in the exam results. The content of the groundschool was appropriate to the course aims. The length of time in the classroom was just enough to get the required information across, but not so much that it became a chore.’

Flying

‘The emphasis on being outdoors for 3 whole days made the course fun as well as informative. EEI’s flying exercises are spot-on for learning the fundamentals of VLOS flying, focusing on looking at the av rather than at a screen. It’s so important for me to see a good demonstration of how something should be done before practicing myself and all the instructor demonstrations were excellent. Instructors ensured we had properly grasped each exercise before moving on, so I felt I was making genuine progress. Pairing us together as VO and Pilot was powerful in developing CRM, as well as creating teamwork and keeping everyone involved. The use of checklists brought professional airmanship and furthermore, instructors were efficient and pragmatic in the use of the checklists so that they didn’t become burdensome and take too much time from the flying exercises. For me the highlight of the flying phase was flying different drone types, learning how they handle differently and understanding how their characteristics require adjustments to technique. I flew a DJI Mavic 2EA, a SwellPro SplashDrone 4, a Parrot Anafi USA and a DJI M30T. Finally, flying one of the instructor’s personal DJI FPV drone using FPV goggles was a brilliant experience I will never forget. EEI fly safely and professionally, mitigating risks carefully and teaching students how to follow CAA regulations. I felt well prepared and confident to fly my own drone on various projects after the EEI course.’

We can’t wait to see how Jim puts his new skills to use within the drone industry.

Our customers and their experience with us is of the upmost importance, and all feedback is used to further improve our courses, content delivery and processes.