Two small helicopter-like Unmanned Aerial Systems could be seen earlier this week flying in and outside of Rocky Mountain College\u2019s aviation building. It was part of a demonstration by professor Scott Wilson and two of his students, who showed how to operate the machines and discussed the complex regulatory environment surrounding them.<\/p>\n
Unmanned Aerial Systems \u2014 more commonly known as \u201cdrones\u201d \u2014 have become a hot topic both locally and nationally, which is one of the reasons Wilson felt the time was right to bring the topic to Rocky students.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly there\u2019s lots of stuff about this in the press,\u201d he said. \u201cThe range goes from global articles right down to articles written here in Billings. That\u2019s when I thought we had to get something started here at Rocky.\u201d<\/p>\n
The course, which was taught for the first time during the spring semester, makes Rocky one of only 10 colleges across the country that teach this subject. This created challenges as Wilson developed a curriculum. The first was deciding how to grade the course. He eventually decided to use a combination of tests, presentations and extra-credit demonstrations of how to fly the machines.<\/p>\n
Another challenge was finding a textbook. Wilson settled on one written only 18 months ago that required students to focus primarily on regulations dealing with UAS technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is important,\u201d Wilson said, \u201cbecause if we endorse them and send them out into the world with these skills, we want them to have the regulatory environment in their hip pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson\u2019s background as an aviation attorney proved helpful as he taught his 15 students about that environment \u2014 which is enforced by the Federal Aviation Administration.
\nThough the FAA has set some regulations, the biggest problem is that the technology is developing far faster than the 30 UAS employees in the FAA can deal with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best analogy I can give you is people driving 80 miles an hour on the interstate,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThey\u2019re all doing it and they all know they\u2019re exceeding the speed limit, but the traffic cop only catches the most egregious of the violators\u2026 . The FAA just doesn\u2019t have enough manpower to chase every instance of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson estimated that there would be anywhere from 7,500 to 20,000 UAS operators by 2019. In dealing with this growing industry, Wilson said the FAA will have to take on a political dimension as it balances the rights of citizens to enjoy privacy and the rights of commercial operators to conduct business.<\/p>\n
Considering how much the industry is growing, Wilson said Rocky graduates with a UAS endorsement are guaranteed to earn at least $75,000 a year upon leaving college and could be making more than $100,000 within a few years.<\/p>\n
Two of Wilson\u2019s most promising students, sophomore Joseph Mutchler and recent graduate Ryan Rojeski, were on hand to demonstrate how to fly two of the six drones that were custom-made for the Rocky program.<\/p>\n
The Rocky drones can be split into two basic varieties: fixed wing drones, that look like miniature airplanes, and vertical lift drones, that are X-shaped and have four helicopter-like propellers on top. The latter drones were the ones demonstrated by Rojeski and Mutchler on Monday. Mutchler\u2019s vehicle was piloted through a standard remote control while Rojeski used an iPad to pilot his. Two cameras on the latter vehicle provided video directly to Rojeski\u2019s device.<\/p>\n
The drones also have GPS features that allow them to course correct if they\u2019re blown off course by wind and auto-return to their starting point if they get dangerously low on battery power.<\/p>\n
While much of the discussion these days is focused on the dangers of drone usage, Wilson emphasized that these \u201cairborne smart phones\u201d can do a lot of good as well.
\n\u201cLike any tool, if it\u2019s abused, it\u2019s going to cause social problems,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it\u2019s done properly and respectfully, it can do a lot of good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drones are already being used for such disparate purposes as crop dusting, wildlife management, surveillance in the military, and search and rescue.<\/p>\n
According to Mutchler, the Stillwater County sheriff\u2019s office has recently used drones for search and rescue. The department invested in a sophisticated UAS platform with an infrared camera. If somebody\u2019s lost in the wilderness, this platform can be launched more quickly than people could be sent out to conduct a search.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can have 10 times the surveillance for one-tenth of the cost,\u201d Wilson said.
\nWilson said he expects to see completely automated cargo planes within 20 years, but that passenger planes will still be at least partially human-operated.<\/p>\n
Mutchler agreed: \u201cI don\u2019t think there are many of us that would be comfortable with getting in a plane that does not have a pilot that\u2019s fully autonomous. I think the need is always going to be there for a pilot because you can\u2019t program a computer to respond to every possible situation that could arise.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter how the technology evolves, this Rocky class appears to be here to stay.
\nWilson called this semester\u2019s class \u201ca mutual learning experience\u201d for him and his students and he is looking forward to teaching another one next semester. That class is already filled with aviation students eager to learn about this developing technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two small helicopter-like Unmanned Aerial Systems could be seen earlier this week flying in and outside of Rocky Mountain College\u2019s aviation building. It was part of a demonstration by professor Scott Wilson and two of his students, who showed how to operate the machines and discussed the complex regulatory environment surrounding them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[652,650,333,649,651],"class_list":["post-2043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-billings","tag-drones","tag-federal-aviation-administration","tag-rocky-mountain-college","tag-scott-wilson","tag-unmanned-aerial-systems","prominence-category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}