Drone-pilot courses cleared for takeoff
Students to learn about flight, upkeep
Six high schools in Arkansas will be teaching students to pilot drones this fall as part of an initiative by the state Department of Career Education.
In Fort Smith, both Northside and Southside high schools will prepare students for the Federal Aviation Administration exam required of remote pilots, said Martin Mahan, director of secondary education for Fort Smith public schools.
“But the exam is just one component of what they will do in this three-year program,” Mahan said.
Courses will teach principles of flight and materials science, Mahan said, as well as practical skills related to the building and maintenance of unmanned aerial systems.
Beginning with the 2018-19 academic year, the three-year program will be available to any Arkansas high school, along with a one-year, standalone course in unmanned aerial systems that’s still under development, according to a statement from the state Department of Career Education to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Test sites this year “will evaluate the curriculum and verify it meets the industry needs of the geographic area,” the statement said.
Mahan said Fort Smith schools are trying out two
different curriculum programs in the high schools, aided by a $100,000 state grant that covers equipment and instructor training costs.
He said the Fort Smith School District will pay the salary for two teachers with backgrounds in either career technical education or science.
Tim Johnston, program coordinator for the state Department of Career Education, said in an email that other participating test sites will receive $40,000 grants. The grants utilize federal Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical funds.
Johnston listed other expected participants, which include the Don Tyson School of Innovation in Springdale and Beebe High School, where drone instruction has been offered since the 2014-15 school year.
The initiative began with Beebe school officials asking the state Department of Career Education how to develop a full career and technical education program based on drones, according to the department’s statement.
Barton-Lexa High School in eastern Arkansas and Horatio High School in the southwest corner of the state are also expected to take part.
“In southwest Arkansas, our economy is suffering, and I feel that schools need to be a part of economic development as well as academic development,” said Lee Smith, superintendent of Horatio Public Schools.
Smith said he sees the program “as an opportunity to create jobs possibly, and entrepreneurial ventures just within a few years.”
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a trade group, estimated in a 2013 report that about 100,000 jobs will be created by 2025 in the unmanned aviation systems industry.
Last August, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy hosted a workshop to discuss unmanned aircraft systems. In an announcement for the event, the White House described
applications for the technology that include environmental monitoring, agriculture and search and rescue operations.
Drones have also become widely used in video production.
But regulations for small drones have only recently been adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration under what’s known as the Part 107 small unmanned aircraft rule, which took effect Aug. 29.
The regulation established operational rules for the routine commercial use of small drones weighing less than 55 pounds.
Part of the rules state that pilots need a remote pilot airman certificate with a drone rating or must “be under the direct supervision” of someone with the certification.
Caden Carreno, 13, attends eighth grade at the Don Tyson School of Innovation. The Federal Aviation Administration requires that licensed pilots be 16, but Carreno is already looking forward to receiving his certification.
“After 16, during the summer you can work as a kid and do some drone photography and videography and get paid for it,” Carreno said.
Wade Ward oversees an environmental and spatial technology study program at the Springdale school, where the plan is to expand enrollment to eighth- through 12th-grade students. Ward said students have already been using the technology.
“In our school right now, we do mapping with drones. We do 3-D imaging with drones,” Ward said.
But the new program will allow for a more comprehensive learning experience that will be “heavy on science” while also teaching skills in electronics and design, said Ward, who added that he’ll be getting his own Federal Aviation Administration certification in advance of the course.
Mahan said the Fort Smith School District is making at least a five-year commitment to teaching drones.
“I anticipate that we will continue this program. It’s too big an investment,” Mahan said.