The Wind Energy Department of Cloud County Community College (CCCC) recently held a two-day, 12-hour ‘Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Community Enrichment’ class in Concordia, Kan.
According to CCCC, the class – taught by Monte Poersch, a wind energy instructor – gave anyone in the community the opportunity to get hands-on experience flying, configuring and taking photos with the UAVs. The class also touched on Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
CCCC, which says it is the only college in Kansas approved to offer an associate of applied science degree in wind energy technology, acquired, through a grant, four new UAVs for the Wind Energy Department.
The program is integrating UAVs for blade inspections and for substation and transmission line inspections. Students are being trained to fly the UAVs and are learning more advanced techniques of video and photography, as well as programming completely autonomous flights.
The college says it may schedule additional UAV courses this summer.
