Learning to Fly: Purdue Extension Launches Unique Course to Certify Drone Pilots

TIPTON – Adam Henderson on Monday looked down from over 100 feet at the muddy field below. But he did it all while standing comfortably on his own two feet, a quarter-mile away, at the Tipton County Fairgrounds.

The Windfall resident was flying a drone for the first time. Through its camera, he could take in a bird’s eye view of everything around him, and below him, by watching through an iPad.

And after flying the drone, along with 16 hours of intense coursework, Henderson will be more than prepared to become a certified drone pilot accredited by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Henderson is a student in a recently created class put on by Purdue Extension which gives people the tools and knowledge they need to pass the FAA test to become certified to fly a drone, which are also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

That certification is something more and more people want as UAV technology gets more high tech every year, allowing for crystal clear images from hundreds of feet in the air that can be vastly useful in agriculture, real estate or other industries.

Tipton Extension Educator Austin Pearson said that’s why he and a group of six other educators teamed up to create the one-of-a-kind course that not only teaches students all they need to know to pass the FAA test, but also how to handle a drone and troubleshoot all the technology associated with it.

“This is a very hands-on course,” Pearson said. “It’s very interactive. We want to give them as much chance as possible to learn about the technology, but also get legal to fly.”

And becoming legal to fly is way more intense than most people ever realize, he said.

To fly a drone, pilots need to know all about federal regulations governing air space around towns, cities, airports and government installations such as Grissom Air Reserve Base. They need to know how weather affects aircrafts. They need to be able to read aviation charts and a special language called METAR, which pilots use to report weather information.

“Most people who want to fly a drone professionally don’t understand that they have all these things they need to know,” Pearson said.

That knowledge will allow students to pass the FAA test, he said, but it doesn’t prepare them for actually flying a UAV. That’s why they built the course to give students hands-on experience.

On Monday, students got that experience when they took two drones out for a mid-morning flight around the Tipton fairgrounds beneath a cloudy, gray sky and drizzling rain.

Students manned the controls as they took the UAVs speeding up and away, all while watching the view from the iPad attached to the controller. The image was also displayed on a large TV sitting on a table so everyone could watch the footage.

Pearson also showed them how to tap into the drone’s GPS technology and set up pre-planned courses that didn’t require a pilot at all.

The course has been up and running for a year now, and in that time, Purdue Extension educators have taught the classes around a dozen times at different locations around the state. Pearson estimated around 200 people have signed up so far.

He said most students are farmers who want to get licensed to use UAVs to monitor their crops for spreading weeds, insect damage or diseases.

Other students have included real-estate agents who want to take aerial photos of properties, firefighters and EMA officials who use drones for search-and-rescue missions, or just people who want to take and sell aerial photos.

Windfall resident Henderson said he’s taking the class because he sells precision-ag technology and wanted a better understanding of how UAVs work in case he starts selling drone products.

“I’d rather know, than not know, if I ever try to sell this technology,” he said. “It could be something game changing later on.”

Howard County Extension Educator Mathias Ingle was also at the fairgrounds Monday as a student in the class. He said he’s getting his certification and is considering teaching the class himself at some point in Howard County.

Now, over the last year, the course has become so popular that Purdue University is offering it to on-campus students to take for credit hours. Pearson, who is one of the instructors at Purdue, said it’s the first class ever created by Purdue Extension that developed into a curriculum actually taught at the campus in West Lafayette.

He said the class is already maxing out on enrollment, and students seem to love it.

“We’re pretty happy with that,” Pearson said. “We exceeded our student capacity, and we literally don’t have any more chairs available.”

And as drones become more pervasive, with more uses and better technology, the class is on track to grow even more, he said.

“It’s really become an industry need, Pearson said. “A lot of industries are looking for someone who is certified, and this gives them that opportunity to pass the exam and get accredited.”

Carson Gerber can be reached at 765-854-6739, [email protected] or on Twitter @carsongerber1.

———

Visit the Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, Ind.) at www.kokomotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.