By Isolde Raftery, NBC News Randal Franzen was 53, unemployed and nearly broke when his brother, a tool designer at Boeing, mentioned that pilots for remotely piloted aircraft – more commonly known as drones – were in high demand. Franzen, a former professional skier and trucking company owner who had flown planes as a hobby, started calling manufacturers and found three schools...
OZARK—Enterprise State Community College’s Alabama Aviation Center in Ozark will be the first to implement an unmanned aircraft systems maintenance program in the state, officials announced Tuesday. According to a joint statement from the Ozark Economic Development Corporation and ESCC, the school received a $360,000 grant from the state’s Workforce Development office to develop and launch the first phase...
Nine students of MH Saboo Siddik College of Engineering in Byculla are living with mixed emotions these days. An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) designed by them has been selected for an international competition organised by the Society of Automotive Engineers-Aero Design (East) to be held at Texas in March. However, instead of preparing for the event, the youngsters are...
Sara Reardon It turns out moths are far better at video games than we might have thought. When navigating through a virtual forest, hawkmoths determine their route ahead of time depending on how much of the forest they can see. Mimicking their strategy might help us improve the flying ability of the micro-drones now being built. Moths certainly see...
Natalie Blair SALINA, Kan. — Mark Blanks is the new program manager of Kansas State University’s unmanned aircraft systems program. Blanks is charged with coordinating the nonacademic aspects of the UAS integration program. He will help establish the strategic program direction, administer the program, and develop new business opportunities. “We’re happy to have Mark on board. His experience and...
MetaVR, Inc. announces that AAI Corp., an operating unit of Textron Systems, recently purchased 176 MetaVR Virtual Reality Scene Generator (VRSG) licenses to be delivered over 28 months. The VRSG licenses, of which 44 were delivered in December 2012, will be used for simulation training in three U.S. Army unmanned aerial system (UAS) programs: the Gray Eagle UAS, the Universal...
By Ellen Reinhardt ATLANTA — Students at Middle Georgia State College’s aviation campus in Eastman are testing drones, but not the military drones you’ve heard of. They are working with NASA, Boeing and other companies using an unmanned aerial vehicle. ( photo courtesy of rosendahl) Students at Middle Georgia State College’s aviation campus in Eastman are testing drones, but...
Want to try your hand at flying a Watchkeeper? First Class Sim have just released an add on for FSX. The Watchkeeper WK450 is Britain’s spy in the sky. Entering service with the British military in late 2010 and still on the secret list, the Watchkeeper is the state of the art in unmanned aerial vehicles. Designed for Intelligence,...
Northwestern Michigan College has received a Certificate of Authorization from the FAA to operate their UAV Factory Penguin B. The college, located in Traverse City Michigan, offers training on UAS systems to go along with their regular manned aviation training degree. Since 2010, the college has continued to grow their UAS program and graduates of the program are currently...
I’d like to take this opportunity to add my personally thanks to Mr. Rick Riccardi, Silicon Valley AUVSI Chapter Vice President for all of his hard work and dedication with this education outreach project. His efforts have furthered the chapter’s ethos giving back to the community by inspiring future generations of engineers. Rick has truly raised the bar with...
