The Wind Energy Department at Cloud County Community College (CCCC), Concordia, KS, held a two-day, 12-hour Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Community Enrichment class in June 2015. The class gave any interested community member the opportunity to gain hands-on experience flying, configuring, and taking photos with UAVs. Those attending also had the opportunity to learn about the current FAA regulations for UAVs. Monte Poersch, CCCC wind energy instructor, taught the class.

CCCC Wind Energy instructor demonstrates how to fly a drone

The Wind Energy Department at CCCC has acquired, through a grant, four new UAVs. The program is integrating UAVs for blade inspections and for substation and transmission line inspections. UAVs can be used to inspect wind turbine blades much more efficiently and safely than the process currently used for those 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.

Those attending the two-day training said,

“This was exactly what I wanted to learn.”

“I plan to purchase a small drone and learn to fly it and begin a small business with a friend.”

Additional comments were, “It was only two days,” and “It was too short.”