AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

COPA Drone Pilot Scholarship

COPA believes the sky is for everyone and is committed to supporting safer drone operations. Through the new COPA Drone Pilot Scholarship, three COPA members 18 and older will receive training to obtain their advanced RPAS pilot certificate. The scholarship includes access to RPAS ground school, flight reviews and exam expenses (conditions apply).

Recipients will be chosen based on their involvement and participation in General Aviation activities, events, or organizations.

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Apply for the scholarship

Applications for the 2026 COPA Scholarship Program are open from December 15, 2025 until 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, March 13, 2026

Note: the application portal requires a separate login from your COPA membership account. You can set up your application portal with the same credentials as your COPA membership, but the application is on an external portal.

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Make a donation

Interested in contributing to the future of General Aviation? COPA’S Flight Safety Foundation, which supports all its scholarship opportunities exclusively rely upon the generous donations of our flying community. To make a donation and to support a new generation of deserving flyers, please visit the following link:

Donate Today

Criteria & Conditions

Eligible Applicants

  • Applicants should be at least 18 years of age.
  • Applicants must be current COPA members in good standing for at least three months at the time of applying.
  • Applicants must be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada.

Ineligible Applicants

  • To ensure that as many aviators can benefit, recipients of COPA scholarships and bursaries from previous years are not eligible to re-apply.

Recipient Conditions

COPA will coordinate the designated training through Coastal Drone, our pre-approved RPAS ground school. This designated training facility will provide instructional materials. The successful applicant is to pay for the Transport Canada exam and COPA will reimburse this expense.  

The scholarship amount is the maximum that will be paid by COPA from the fund for any advanced licenses, ratings or endorsement(s) being pursued and may not be used for any purposes other than those approved in the eligible costs section of these guidelines. 

Unused amounts at the completion of training, if any, will remain in COPA’s funds for future awards. COPA may exercise judgment as to whether training can be deferred for a reasonable period (beyond one year) and which courses are eligible for payment under these guidelines.  

Winning candidates agree to participate in future COPA promotional activities.

Training shall be completed in a reasonable period of time, usually not longer than one year from commencement. In the event the recipient does not make satisfactory progress or does not conduct himself/herself in a manner consistent with the intention of the Fund, COPA shall have the right to revoke the award and to cease paying any further costs of training. Progress reports from the training facility will be provided to COPA as required.

Eligible Expenses

  • costs of ground school
  • Transport Canada exam expenses (recipient of the scholarship will be reimbursed after paying for the exam)

Costs Not Covered:

  • non-flight training tuition at secondary or post-secondary schools, including colleges and universities
  • personal meals or transportation to and from the training facility
  • clothing, aviation equipment or supplies which are not required for the program.
  • COPA will have the final authority to define and approve authorized expenditures.

Unused amounts at the completion of training, if any, will remain in COPA’s funds for future awards. COPA may exercise judgment as to whether training can be deferred for a reasonable period (beyond one year) and which courses are eligible for payment under these guidelines. Any funds remaining at the conclusion of training will be reinvested in COPA’s Flight Safety Foundation for future scholarship awards.

Funds will only be disbursed to the flight school, not directly to the recipient, and can only be used to cover training costs incurred after the awarding of the scholarship. Training completed prior to the scholarship award is not eligible for funding.

Past Recipients

Recipients from the most recent scholarship periods will be listed below.

2024

Ifeoluwa Olaitan, Quebec City, QC, COPA Drone Pilot Scholarship

2023

Isaac Esikhaty, Lakefield, ON, COPA Drone Pilot Scholarship
Robert Whitley, Alberta, AB, COPA Drone Pilot Scholarship
Abdoul Kader Kimba Dodo, Montreal, QC, COPA Drone Pilot Scholarship

2022

Serge Zinchenko, Etobicoke, ON, COPA Drone Pilot Scholarship
Christopher Mortimer, Vancouver, BC, COPA Drone Pilot Scholarship