The Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus’ Applied Aviation Research Center has partnered with Simlat, an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) simulation company, to provide beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) simulator training.
As part of a partnership with the Kansas Department of Transportation, the simulators will initially be used to train partners involved in the UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) through the Federal Aviation Administration. With a large focus on BVLOS operations, participants in the course will receive training experience with both simulated and live flights.
“Simlat’s technology allows us to create a highly realistic representation of the operational environment in which we will be conducting our beyond line of sight operations,” notes Kurt J. Carraway, UAS executive director of the Applied Aviation Research Center. “The use of the simulator enables our flight instructors to control environmental conditions and inject anomalies into simulated unmanned aircraft systems to provide initial, abnormal and emergency scenarios to ensure our pilots are trained to respond correctly should these instances occur in live flight. Simlat did a great job in working with us to create a very realistic environment for our operations.”
In 2018, Kansas State Polytechnic received a waiver from the FAA to administer BVLOS drone training. The training program is a seven-day immersive course in which participants receive a series of ground instruction and hands-on flight instruction. The simulator training allows course participants to build flight plans and transition from simulation to actual flight. The flexibility of the Simlat simulators allows instructors to program diverse flights, including system failures and environmental and weather conditions.
The training curriculum will eventually expand to include Kansas State Polytechnic’s UAS degree program offerings.
“We are honored to participate in this important Integrated Pilot Program and look forward to a long-term relationship with Kansas State Polytechnic’s prestigious UAS program,” says Roy Peshin, Simlat’s chief technology officer.
