I've been doing my own project-specific total station and RTK survey work for over thirty years and acquired the drone tools in more recent years. I'm not a surveyor but would be willing to become a RPLS if that were within reach. However, the requirements imposed by my State regulatory agency make that extremely difficult; especially at this point in life where I don't have too many years left in my profession. When I have a project that legally requires an engineer or surveyor stamp, I hire a PE or RPLS and I work under their supervision. That works great on larger projects that are lucrative enough for those guys to put time into. However, it's difficult to find a surveyor for the small, unregulated tasks that I frequently work on and that's becoming more of a problem as the RPLSs that I work with retire with not enough new guys coming in behind them to fill the demand. Even the professional surveyors I work with recognize this dilemma.
I see the potential problem down the road as the RPLS requirement being an all or nothing issue if other states follow NC. Either you're an RPLS or you're not. And, if you're not, the agencies would restrict you from doing any sort or mapping work no matter how trivial it is (perhaps what we now have in NC?). I have zero interest in performing land boundary surveys (which are complicated and carry a lot of risk) or river surveys for hydraulic model mapping (as required by FEMA). But, simple aerial imagery or RTK drone topo mapping tasks of small parcels for projects are low risk and typically don't need to meet any sort of National Mapping Accuracy standard for purposes of those projects. I'd like to see some sort of tiered surveying certification that let's the State regulators keep a finger on things without being heavy handed and allow simple projects to be completed where they don't need the expertise of an RPLS. Similar to us obtaining our Part 107 certifications for unmanned flight or as with a state issued drivers license vs. a CDL. It could even be set up to create a track for guys to work up to obtaining full fledged RPLS license. The water and wastewater treatment industries (for both public and private) have great State certification programs that allow people to start out at a Class D level and work up to a Class A level with experience and education. I've known several young guys that start out as Class D or C operators working independently for small rural towns or small, very basic industrial treatment plants to gain experience. Why couldn't the surveying profession have something similar if they are so concerned with non-RPLS drone pilots doing mapping or aerial imagery?