At this point in time the term “qualified” is rather subjective, a condition that won’t change until standardized flight test requirements are developed. Such development has already been done with larger corporate entities that employ drone operations. The skill level is pretty much established by the employing entity’s acceptable level of risk in association with federal risk mitigation requirements. As employing entities are averse to any risk their PIC standards are quite high. PIC candidates have to demonstrate their ability in various aspects of flight with consistent precision. VO’s and communication are also graded. Saying you can fly and proving you can fly are quite often not one and the same, especially when aircraft GPS is turned off in a breezy environment with the PIC having to perform “nose in” precision positioning at a distance. As GPS can and does fail the ability to continue controlled and directional flight without GPS is a mandatory skill. Having a PIC/VO team and using them as an effective team are entirely different things. Crew coordination is critical.
Coordinating multiple sUAS in a limited volume of airspace is something quite easy to do, and already in practice using technology, not VO’s. The VO’s need to be assisting their PIC’s with critical flight information relative to obstructions, people, and full scale aircraft, not watching for other drones as the PIC’s will be “head down” watching view screens in SAR or other operations where the PIC’s will need to be eyes on the subject instead of the aircraft. PIC’s cannot possibly fly safely without employing a VO in such an environment, making the use of a VO for every PIC a mandate, not an option.
The technology to assure safe drone separation requires nothing more than advanced, high precision GPS trackers broadcasting discrete identifiers with aircraft position that links to a moving map display that each PIC and VO can view in real time. In essence they are used like transponders, are extremely effective, and currently employed by some entities.