Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus is working with law enforcement partners to offer a training course specifically targeted at how first responders can use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in daily operations and safety procedures.
The first course offering runs April 9-12 at the university’s campus in Salina.
Kurt Carraway, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and the executive director of the Applied Aviation Research Center at Kansas State Polytechnic, says the UAS Law Enforcement Training course was developed based on feedback the campus received from attendees of its Small UAS Commercial Pilot Training course, most of whom – 43% – were first responders. According to the university, the attendees indicated a strong need for a practical flight training program directed at specific use cases.
In the new course, pilots will receive hands-on flight training in areas such as flight maneuvers, crew resource management, accident scene reconstruction, search-and-rescue operations, and night operations. In addition to flight training, attendees will also learn best practices for drone operations, Federal Aviation Administration regulatory guidance for law enforcement agencies, and software tools for extracting actionable information.
“The search-and-rescue scenario will include training using full-motion video sensors and forward-looking infrared sensors,” Carraway says. “It will introduce officers to techniques in using multiple aircraft and crews to execute a replace on station exercise in order to enable a persistent, continuous search capability.”
Replace on station involves sending up a second drone to replace one already in the air collecting data but nearing battery depletion, notes Kansas State.
More information is available here.
