Sunday, October 18, 2009

Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Goes to School

As you would expect, soldiers in the military can receive training on how to fly and operate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).

Did you know that UAS training is now available on at least one US college campus?

I just read an article about Kansas State at Salina where an online certificate program class is offered for students. The program could be a degree program in the next few years according to Eric Shappee, an associate professor of aviation at K-State-Salina.

One of the more remarkable aspects at K-State-Salina is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued something called a certificate of authorization (COA) for the Aerosonde (a small unmanned aerial vehicle built by AII Corporation) to fly over Crisis City, an emergency response training area near Salina.

A COA is an authorization issued by the FAA to a public operator for a specific UAS activity. After a complete application is submitted, FAA conducts a comprehensive operational and technical review. If necessary, provisions or limitations may be imposed as part of the approval to ensure the UA can operate safely with other airspace users.

Crisis City is an emergency response training area that is part of Great Plains Joint Regional Training Center adjacent to the Air National Guard's Smoky Hill Weapons Range near Salina. The FAA's issuance of the COA gives the Aerosonde the ability to fly over Crisis City and allows extensive training in search-and-rescue operations through use of sites that include a mock disaster-struck city, crashed transportation vehicles and a collapsed building.

Here is the article:
Unmanned aircraft program among first of its kind
http://www.kstatecollegian.com/unmanned-aircraft-program-among-first-of-its-kind-1.1776161

For more information on UAS, please see:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/marknlewellen

http://www.expertclick.com/9424/Mark_Lewellen.aspx

http://www.aticourses.com/unmanned_aircraft_systems.html

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