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Go To Uni, Earn a Degree In Drones

Posted by Soulskill on from the with-a-minor-in-launching-hellfire-missiles-remotely dept.

New submitter KernelMuncher writes "Curricula and research projects related to drones are cropping up at both large universities and community colleges across the country. In a list of 81 publicly-funded entities that have applied for a certificate of authorization to fly drones from the Federal Aviation Administration, more than a third are colleges... Schools — and their students — are jockeying for a position on the ground floor of a nascent industry that looks poised to generate jobs and research funding in the coming years. 'We get a lot of inquiries from students saying, "I want to be a drone pilot,"' says Ken Polovitz, the assistant dean in the University of North Dakota's John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences."

11 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Anyone... by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ..who "wants" to be a drone pilot, should not be a drone pilot.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    1. Re:Anyone... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      some of the best pilots in RC are able to turn something they enjoy into something that can earn a very healthy living.

      for many operations it's simply not worth it to trust the aircraft to the computer, especially if the payload had done silly things with the flight characteristics. skilled RC guys can account for such things if they have the skills. get paid healthy $$$ to be shipped somewhere to take drones off, hand them over to the computer... then wait for them to come back and land them.

      so... maybe not the average-dude-in-the-street, but if you have the skills, not a bad way to get to play with some serious RC toys.

      being a sponsored giant scale RC aerobatics pilot, I was asked a few weeks back if I wanted to help go train drone pilots... thinking about it...

    2. Re:Anyone... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Alternatively, cue A. C. Clarke's The Songs of Distant Earth for that.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  2. Well that's funny by HeckRuler · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Because when I went to school it was to automate those guys out of a job.

    I mean, that was my "big plan" at least. I got a nice well rounded education and went off into entirely different fields of programming and software engineering, but senior design project was to automate a gas-powered helicopter. We had a big clunky accelerometer that fell off a fighter jet from a friend in the industry. Ludicrously advanced for students at the time and horribly outmatched by a wiimote a few years later. All in all it was a good project. Would have been nice to work professionally on autonomous UAVs, but that's a little hard to do in Iowa.

    But talk about a degree with a shelf life.

    1. Re:Well that's funny by Bowling+Moses · · Score: 2

      Rockwell Collins is headquartered in Cedar Rapids Iowa and has several products in development for or deployed in UAVs. A postage stamp-sized secure GPS sounds pretty nifty, and they're also working on some things related to autonomous UAVs.

  3. Needing a degree? by chrism238 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Surely it doesn't require a degree to become a drone pilot - just an enthusiasm for video games and a morality bypass?

    1. Re:Needing a degree? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2
      Morality bypass? Where did that nonsense come from? Please provide a citation. Drones (at least US drones) are provided with quite strict ROE (rules of engagement) and Youtube is stuffed with videos in which drone operators curse but are unable to engage targets due to ROE restrictions.

      Are you sure you aren't just regurgitating groupthink that you got of some website? Why don't you try thinking for yourself for a change?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  4. Re:Hubsan x4 quadcopter by beherith · · Score: 2

    Just get one. Its an amazing piece of chinese engineering. It is in fact so good, that a US toy company, Traxxas is rebranding and selling it at 2x the price.

    This is a perfect introduction into what modern drones can do, for around 40$

    Rcgroups: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=23707658&postcount=210

  5. Drones, you say? by Inf0phreak · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can get a diploma in Zerg showing I can drone hard? Awesome...

    *Reads submission again*... oooh. That kind of drones. That's a lot less awesome.

    --
    ________
    Entranced by anime since late summer 2001 and loving it ^_^
  6. Agree, they should get R/C guys instead. by Spy+Handler · · Score: 2

    These guys already have mad joystick skillz, and they are mostly nice people who don't to around asking people how to become a drone pilot cuz they think it's cool to blow shit up.

    I play golf at a course right next to a major R/C airfield. On most Sunday mornings you can see two big R/C jets, most likely scratch-built. These suckers are loud and FAST. The way they maneuver these things around and come in for a precise landing is awesome to watch.

    Whatever they do, they should NOT hire people who play video games! These are absolutely the worst people to get; they will blow stuff up for fun, grief other players, call them noob, use wallhacks and aimbots and so on.

  7. Best Drone Pilot in Iraq was a High School Dropout by CodeBuster · · Score: 2

    Seriously, one of the best drone pilots to come out of the Iraq war was actually a high school dropout who was an avid gamer: High School Dropout turns Drone Pilot, thanks to Computer Games.