Canadian RPAS statistics: certificates, registrations and flight reviewers
As of 10 June 2026, Transport Canada reported 138,305 Basic pilot certificates, 22,290 Advanced, 600 Level 1 Complex, 120,815 registered drones, 550 active RPAS Operator Certificates, 1,357 flight reviewers and 284 self-declared flight schools, of which 78 are Level 1 Complex training providers.
Transport Canada publishes these figures monthly in its Drone Zone newsletter. They are not consolidated anywhere else, they are not available as a dataset, and the newsletter’s own index page has been lagging its published issues. This page mirrors them so the series is readable in one place.
Pilot certificates and registrations
| Metric | 31 Mar 2026 | 30 Apr 2026 | 10 Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered drones | 118,232 | 119,393 | 120,815 |
| Basic pilot certificates | 133,505 | 135,465 | 138,305 |
| Advanced pilot certificates | 20,982 | 21,472 | 22,290 |
| Level 1 Complex certificates | 433 | 507 | 600 |
| Active RPAS Operator Certificates (RPOC) | 460 | 487 | 550 |
| Flight reviewers | 1,338 | 1,344 | 1,357 |
| Self-declared flight schools | 278 | 280 | 284 |
| — of which Level 1 Complex training providers | 74 | 77 | 78 |
Source: Transport Canada Drone Zone, Issues 6, 7 and 8. Issue 9 (July 2026) contains no statistics table. Last checked 8 August 2026.
What the numbers actually tell you
Level 1 Complex is the fastest-growing certificate in Canada
433 to 600 in roughly ten weeks — about 90 new certificates a month, and a 2.4× increase over six months. It is growing faster in percentage terms than anything else Transport Canada reports, from a very small base. The Level 1 Complex exam only went live on 1 April 2025 and the BVLOS operating privileges only came into force on 4 November 2025, so this is a market being created in real time.
The supply-side constraint is the interesting part: only 78 of 284 flight schools are Level 1 Complex training providers, and the certificate requires a minimum of 20 hours of ground school through a flight school. That 20-hour gate is a regulatory moat sitting in front of a cohort growing at 90 a month. The full Level 1 Complex pathway is here.
Advanced is growing at roughly 5,000 a year
20,982 to 22,290 between the end of March and 10 June — about 1,300 in ten weeks. Extrapolated, that is on the order of 5,000 new Advanced certificate holders a year, against a base of 22,290.
But the annual figure hides a large seasonal swing. Certification runs at roughly 8 per day in December through March and 20 per day in April through June — a 2.5× difference. If you are planning training capacity, marketing, or a product launch around this market, the spring is where the volume is.
Basic outnumbers Advanced by more than six to one
138,305 against 22,290. Only about 14% of certified Canadian drone pilots hold Advanced. That ratio is worth keeping in mind whenever someone quotes a large number of “certified drone pilots” — the overwhelming majority hold the Basic certificate, which requires no flight review and permits no controlled-airspace or close-to-bystander operation.
There are 1,357 flight reviewers, and the number barely moves
1,338 to 1,357 over ten weeks — 19 new reviewers. Against roughly 5,000 new Advanced pilots a year, that works out to about 3.7 flight reviews per reviewer per year nationally. The flight review market is structurally oversupplied in aggregate, even though individual regions — particularly the territories — are badly underserved. Both things are true at once, because reviewers cluster where the population is.
Registered drones roughly equal certificate holders
120,815 registered aircraft against 160,595 Basic and Advanced certificates combined. Registration is per aircraft and does not expire, so the two series are not directly comparable — but the rough parity suggests most certificate holders register one aircraft, and a meaningful number hold a certificate without a currently registered drone.
Certificates issued by province and territory
Transport Canada publishes a separate dataset — drone pilot certificates issued by province and territory, 2019 to 2025 — on its aviation personnel licensing statistics page, updated 11 June 2026. It is almost entirely unused by third parties.
Issuance peaked at roughly 27,000 in 2019, the year the certification regime came into force and the existing pilot population converted, then fell to roughly 10,600 in 2025. The 2025 leaders were Ontario 2,529, Alberta 1,502 and Quebec 1,313.
Note the 2019 spike is an artefact of the regime starting, not a decline in interest since. A steady ~10,000 new certificates a year is the actual run rate.
A note on Transport Canada’s own index. The Drone Zone index page has been listing Issue 8 as the most recent while Issue 9 was live and indexed. If you are looking for current figures, check the issue URLs directly rather than trusting the index — and be aware that not every issue carries a statistics table.
Figures that are commonly misquoted
- “50,000+ pilots trained” and similar claims from training providers. Against a national total of 22,290 Advanced certificate holders, any single provider’s claim in that range needs scrutiny about what is being counted.
- Service fees. Transport Canada applied a Service Fees Act inflation adjustment on 1 April 2026, but several public pages still display the 2025 amounts. Confirm current fees in the Drone Management Portal before quoting them.
- Flight reviewer availability. The national ratio suggests oversupply; regional reality varies enormously. Neither figure alone describes the market.
How this page is maintained
Updated monthly from the Drone Zone newsletter when a new statistics table is published. Every figure above is quoted as-of the date Transport Canada published it, not as-of the date you are reading. If a number here is stale, it is because Transport Canada has not published a newer one — and I will say so rather than interpolating.
Related reading
- The Advanced RPAS certificate — exam, flight review and real costs
- Level 1 Complex — the fastest-growing certificate and the 20-hour ground school gate
- Drone laws by province and territory — the non-federal layer, all 13 compared
- Remote ID: NPA 2026-005 — the consultation closing 9 September 2026
Questions
How many drone pilots are there in Canada?
As of 10 June 2026, Transport Canada reported 138,305 Basic pilot certificates and 22,290 Advanced pilot certificates, plus 600 Level 1 Complex certificates — roughly 160,600 certificate holders in total. About 14% hold Advanced. There were also 120,815 registered drones and 550 active RPAS Operator Certificates.
How many Level 1 Complex certificates have been issued in Canada?
600 as of 10 June 2026, up from 507 on 30 April and 433 on 31 March — roughly 90 new certificates a month, and a 2.4 times increase over six months. It is the fastest-growing certificate in Canada in percentage terms. Only 78 of Canada's 284 self-declared flight schools are Level 1 Complex training providers.
How many RPAS flight reviewers are there in Canada?
1,357 as of 10 June 2026, up from 1,338 at the end of March. Against roughly 5,000 new Advanced certificate holders a year, that is about 3.7 flight reviews per reviewer per year nationally. The market is oversupplied in aggregate but badly underserved in some regions, particularly the territories, because reviewers cluster where the population is.
Which province issues the most drone pilot certificates?
Ontario. Transport Canada's aviation personnel licensing statistics, updated 11 June 2026, show 2025 issuance led by Ontario at 2,529, Alberta at 1,502 and Quebec at 1,313. National issuance peaked at roughly 27,000 in 2019 — an artefact of the certification regime coming into force — and has settled at roughly 10,600 a year.
Is drone certification in Canada seasonal?
Strongly. Advanced certifications run at roughly 8 per day from December through March and roughly 20 per day from April through June — a 2.5 times swing. Anyone planning training capacity, marketing or a product launch around this market should expect the volume to arrive in spring.
Written by Chris Jones, Transport Canada-certified RPAS pilot and flight reviewer. Last reviewed 8 August 2026. Spot an error? Tell me and I'll fix it.