Drone Software Firm Offers College UAV Training

A drone management company is headed off to college to deliver UAV training.

Consortiq, a Maryland-based firm, will offer classes at local Anne Arundel Community College beginning in February. The company has already trained more than 800 pilots to pass FAA-mandated certification and flight safety assessments. The 90-day online course will focus on Part 107 prep.

“So whether students are interested in delivering supplies via drone, filming for the movie industry, working on aerial inspections of pipelines or cell phone towers, or using drones for emergency and search and rescue missions, the Part 107 is required,” Consortiq U.S. Operations Manager Miriam Hinthorn said in a press release.  “AACC’s online course provides a great platform to launch students into the profession or to further degree programs.”

The course will benefit Consortiq’s business since they will feature CQNet, the company’s drone fleet management software that will allow students – according to the company — to “plan, record and maintain their drone mission, to keep maintenance and checklists in one spot, and check weather, flight restrictions and current airspace details in their flights.”

The partnership is yet another example of a growing synergy between the commercial drone industry and the American community college system.

• Piedmont Virginia Community College is organizing the Second Annual Public Safety Unmanned Aerial Systems Conference in Crozet, Va., March 5-7 designed for law enforcement, public safety, search and rescue, emergency services and disaster relief professionals.
• North Carolinacolleges Edgecombe Community College and Lenoir Community College both unveiled drone programs in 2016.  LCC’s program awards students an associate’s degree in drone piloting – the first ever in the state.
• Montgomery Community College recently launched the NC Public Safety Drone Academy to prepare regional emergency service members and first responders with the needed tools to become effective and well-educated drone pilots.
• In Virginia, Germanna Community Collegehas created a partnership with Cedar Mountain Stone to train students to work with commercial drones.
• In 2016, Green River College in Auburn, Wash. announced the launch of a drone associates degree program.