Drone School: Hundreds of students are studying to fly UAV’s as nation’s top college’s anticipate huge boom in unmanned aircraft

• Four year course in North Dakota can set back students by up to $150,000
• An industry commissioned study last spring predicted more than 70,000 jobs would develop over the first three years

By JAMES NYE

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2522653/Hundreds-students-studying-fly-UAVs.html

Two student pilots are seated shoulder to shoulder before a bank of video monitors, maneuvering an unmanned aircraft by keyboard and mouse as the drone descends toward a virtual runway in a suburban landscape.

Aaron Gabrielson and Andrew Regenhard, aviation students at the University of North Dakota and self-proclaimed video-game junkies, could just as well be sitting on a couch playing Xbox.

But instead of tapping their fingers on a controller, they’re learning to fly the plane and use onboard equipment that includes a camera with a zoom lens as they continue their studies on their $150,000 course.

Learning: University of North Dakota aviation students Andrew Regenhard, left, and Aaron Gabrielson operate a Corsair simulator as part of their training to fly unmanned aircraft Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2013, in Grand Forks, North Dakota

‘Some people argue that nothing is going to be like flying an actual airplane. Granted, looking down and seeing you’re 5,000 feet above the ground is pretty exciting, but I’ve always been addicted to video games, and this is awesome,’ Regenhard said.

Mastering the Corsair simulator is the first practice course for the two trainees, who are among hundreds of student pilots nationwide preparing for jobs that don’t exist yet.

They and their classmates are eager to cash in on the booming market for drone operators that’s expected to develop after more unmanned aircraft become legal to fly in U.S. airspace, which could happen in the next few years.

The university’s unmanned aircraft degree program, the nation’s first, exploded from five students in 2009 to 120 students last year.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Kansas State have since added similar programs. Dozens of other schools offer some courses in what’s known as UAS — unmanned aircraft systems — which range from drones as big as small planes to 2-foot-wide mini-helicopters.

The first UAS master’s degree program, focused on engineering, was launched at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus this fall.

University of North Dakota aviation students Andrew Regenhard, left, and Aaron Gabrielson operate a Corsair simulator as part of their training

‘This pie is pretty big,’ said Al Palmer, director of UND’s unmanned aircraft program. ‘Everyone can get their little slice of the pie, because we can’t do all the training in North Dakota.’

The skills needed to fly larger unmanned planes are not unlike those required to fly modern aircraft with computer-based flight controls, professors say. The toughest part of unmanned flying comes with doing it from the ground: You can’t feel what’s going on.

‘You don’t have feedback,’ Regenhard said. ‘When you push the yoke forward in the aircraft, you feel yourself and everything going down. With this, you just see it.’

Drones are best known for their use by the U.S. military, but other markets beckon. Amazon made a splash earlier this month by unveiling an embryonic effort that might someday deliver packages by drone, though the company acknowledged practical use is years away.

Most of the potential civilian drone market is in precision agriculture. Unmanned aircraft are already used for seeding and spraying in Japan. Drones may be used someday to detect disease in crops, depending on the development of sensors.

The potential applications for other unmanned aircraft are endless, said Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

Non-military: University of North Dakota aviation student Logan Lass lifts a lightweight drone used in training at the Grand Forks, N.D. school’s unmanned aircraft program

The Boeing ScanEagle, which can fly for 20 hours on a couple of gallons of fuel, was originally developed to help commercial fishermen find and track schools of tuna.

The Navy has used the plane to watch pirates. In recent years, North Dakota law enforcement and the university have used the drone to monitor rivers during flood threats in the Red River Valley.

For students, it all adds up to strong job prospects after graduation.

‘Whether it’s designing a vehicle to go into forest fires or catch poachers in the Galapagos, they’re getting opportunities to be part of the next generation of aerospace like no one else is,’ said Melanie Hanns, Embry-Riddle spokeswoman.

Many students who grew up wanting to be commercial airline pilots are changing their major to unmanned systems. Among them are self-proclaimed computer geeks who don’t mind staying in one place.

‘Airplanes are cool and fun and all that stuff,’ said Logan Lass, a student at North Dakota. ‘But it’s my particular personality that I don’t really want to fly big jets. Growing up around computers and having a love for aviation, I figured the best option was to combine the two of them.’

Inspiration: Workers prepare an MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle for static display at Michael Army Airfield, Dugway Proving Ground in Utah in this September 15, 2011 US Army handout

Over the last decade, it’s gotten much tougher to get a job as an airline pilot. Many pilots started out at smaller regional airlines, but pay there is poor, and airlines are shifting away from smaller planes. Meanwhile, growth has been minimal at major U.S. airlines, cutting the number of new jobs for pilots, and bankruptcies have reduced pay.

Compare that to the outlook for drones. The Federal Aviation Administration projects some 7,500 commercial drones could be aloft within five years of getting widespread access to American airspace.

An industry commissioned study last spring predicted more than 70,000 jobs would develop in the first three years after Congress loosens restrictions on U.S. skies. The same study projects an average salary range for a drone pilot between $85,000 and $115,000.

A U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle assigned to the California Air National Guard’s 163rd Reconnaissance Wing flies near the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California

Palmer, the UND instructor, said one of the first graduates in the school’s UAS program took a job with a California aeronautics company for $50 an hour.

‘That’s probably not bad for a kid out of college,’ Palmer said.

The hopes for civilian drones might not be realized as quickly as many people in the business had hoped. Concerns about security, privacy and whether drones will be able to detect and avoid other aircraft could push the grand opening beyond a 2015 deadline set by Congress.

In the meantime, North Dakota’s unmanned aircraft students are looking to master the Corsair simulator. Then they advance in January to train for the larger MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper drones.

‘That is what a lot of employers are looking for,’ aviation student Spencer Wheeler said. ‘That’s why I came to school here. This is the Harvard of aviation.’

Invasion: 7,500 drones in U.S. airspace within 5 years, FAA warns

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said his agency would set up six sites across the country to test drone operators, but cautioned that there could be delays for those looking to obtain certificates to operate unmanned aircraft once the regulatory guidelines are in place. He said ensuring safety in increasingly congested skies was his agency’s top priority.

“We must fulfill those obligations in a thoughtful, careful manner that ensures safety and promotes economic growth,” Mr. Huerta said in a speech to aerospace industry executives.

The FAA’s announcement is the latest step in the march toward transitioning drones from the military use in the war on terrorism that made them famous to civilian applications that can range from collecting survey and weather data to assisting rescues and law enforcement operations.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems, the leading trade group for the nation’s private-sector drone operators, estimated this year that the commercial drone industry will create more than 100,000 jobs and generate more than $82 billion in economic impact over the next 10 years — if the government moves quickly to establish workable operating regulations and safeguards.

The impending boom has raised concerns among privacy advocates about how and where drones might be used to collect data. The FAA is requiring future test sites to develop privacy plans and make them available to the public. The policy also requires test site operators to disclose how data will be obtained and used.

“Make no mistake about it, privacy is an extremely important issue and it is something that the public has a significant interest and concern over and we need to recognize as an industry that if we are going to take full advantage of the benefits that we are talking about for these technologies we need to be responsive to the public’s concerns about privacy,” Mr. Huerta said.

Christopher Calabrese, American Civil Liberties Union legislative counsel, told The Washington Times that while the FAA’s requirement for public disclosure of data and retention policies are needed and welcome, the safeguards do not go far enough.

“It’s crucial that as we move forward with drone use, those procedural protections are followed by concrete restrictions on how data from drones can be used and how long it can be stored. Congress must also weigh in on areas outside of the FAA’s authority, such as use by law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, which have the ability to use drones for invasive surveillance that must be kept in check,” Mr. Calabrese said.

Legislation has been introduced by Sen. Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts Democrat, and Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Republican, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, California Democrat. If passed, this legislation would require law enforcement agencies to obtain warrants before using drones to collect surveillance data on U.S. soil. “People are really worried about drone use. You see it in a huge number of state bills and laws, and I think the FAA needs to understand that if they don’t address privacy issues then drones are not going to be a useful technology,” he said. “Privacy can’t be swept under the rug.”

Mr. Huerta told reporters after his address that there was not a fast-track application process for particular agencies — such as law enforcement — looking to apply for certification to operate unmanned aircraft.

“Our current policy provides for any public user that would like to apply for a certificate of operation to operate unmanned aircraft within national airspace, they are free to apply…,” he said. “But I wouldn’t say we have a particular priority one way or the other.”

Mr. Huerta did allude to possible exceptions for law enforcement agencies to use small unmanned aircraft systems but stressed that the FAA was looking into how to streamline the application process in a way that ensures safe integration into the system and said approximately 80 law enforcement agencies already operate unmanned aircraft under special certificates of authorization.

The FAA released an integration road map and comprehensive plan on its website Thursday.

Both documents lay out steps for unmanned aircraft integration by 2015. Setting up test sites for unmanned aircraft is the next step on the path to integration, and bidding from states to host the sites has been spirited.

“By the end of the year, we plan to choose six test sites for civil unmanned aircraft. Congress required us to do so, and we need to make sure we use these sites to obtain the best data that we can,” Mr. Huerta said.

The FAA has received 25 applications for test sights representing 26 states.

The drone industry, which has pushed the Obama administration to speed regulations to clear the way for more commercial uses, called the FAA’s moves “an important step.”

“From advancing scientific research and responding to natural disasters to locating missing persons and helping to fight wildfires, [drones] can save time, save money, and, most importantly, save lives,” said a statement by Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems.

Mr. Toscano noted that the FAA’s announcements were better late than never as the FAA has missed every deadline laid out for drone integration in the reauthorization act. However, they have had to cope with significant funding cuts from sequestration and government shutdowns. “Every day that we don’t fly in national airspace, we lose between $27 to $30 million of economic revenue,” he said

WEB ONLY// FEATURES » AUGUST 22, 2013

Tar Sands Drones Are On Their Way

The energy industry wants to use unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor pipelines.

http://inthesetimes.com/article/15501/tar_sands_drones_are_on_their_way/

BY COLE STANGLER

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/28/FAA-drone-zones-cities

Drone tests may soon be carried out over a city near you. In response to Breitbart News queries about the limitations on the location of so-called “drone zones” – zones specifically designated to test commercial and military drones under Federal Aviation Administration regulations – FAA Pacific Division Public Affairs Manager Ian Gregor told Breitbart News, “I don’t believe anything is ruled out.” This means that even heavily populated areas will be considered for possible drone zones.

Gregor added, The Congressional mandate states the FAA must consider geographic and climatic diversity and the location of ground infrastructure and research needs in selecting [unmanned aircraft system (UAS)] test sites … The FAA does not believe the planned test sites need to be identical. It is possible that the size of the sites as well as the research work performed will vary from site to site.
Several states have been competing for the billions of dollars in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development that will surely follow the FAAs establishment of drone zones. These locations include California, Nevada, Iowa, and Ohio. As of Thursday morning, California Governor Jerry Browns office had not responded to requests for comment. Overall, the FAA is expected to clear six drone zones.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book Bullies: How the Lefts Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).

• BY SPENCER ACKERMAN
• 03.28.13
• 3:27 PM

BY: Bill Gertz
March 26, 2013 4:59 am

http://freebeacon.com/game-of-drones/

China’s military is expanding its unmanned aerial vehicle forces with a new Predator-like armed drone and a new unmanned combat aircraft amid growing tensions with neighbors in Asia, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

New unarmed drone deployments include the recent stationing of reconnaissance and ocean surveillance drones in Northeast Asia near Japan and the Senkaku islands and along China’s southern coast. Drones also are planned for the South China Sea where China has been encroaching on international waters and bullying nations of that region in asserting control over international waters, said officials familiar with intelligence reports.

“Unmanned aerial vehicles are emerging as critical enablers for PLA long range precision strike operations,” said Mark Stokes, a former military intelligence official now with the Project 2049 Institute. “A general operational PLA requirement appears to be persistent surveillance of fixed and moving targets out to 3,000 kilometers of Chinese shores.”

Virginia Tech is a player in a potential federal drone test range. Meanwhile, the university is doing its own research — and drone is not the preferred term.

BLACKSBURG — With nearby airports notified that an unusual aircraft was about to take off, a drone rose from a Montgomery County field March 9.

The unmanned helicopter climbed to a training altitude of about 130 feet and roamed a few miles outside Blacksburg.

Drones aren’t only prowling the Middle East to try and incinerate terrorists. They fly over such American communities as the New River Valley.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/1781625-12/the-skys-the-limit-for-drone-research-at.html