Learn About Drones on July 30
Thomas Parrish will lead Edgecombe Community College’s Drones 101 class on Saturday, July 30. Call 823-5166, ext. 293, to sign up.
In the next four years, the Federal Aviation Administration predicts that there will be 7 million unmanned aircraft in the United States.
“This is not a fad,” assures J. Lynn Cale, associate vice president of instruction at Edgecombe Community College. “The applications for drones are endless.”
To help educate the public on this soaring industry, ECC is offering its first drones class – Drones 101 – on Saturday, July 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Tarboro campus.
The class will be divided into two parts – a lecture session in the morning that will cover such topics as safety and legal issues, followed by an afternoon demonstration of drones.
“We didn’t want our first class to be too technical,” Cale says. “Our focus is to have a family day.
“We are gearing this class toward hobbyists who want to find out more about the applications of drones and about the laws pertaining to drones.”
Under present law, drones can fly 400 feet above the ground and must remain 5 miles outside of an airport. These and other restrictions will be covered in the class.
“The class will go over the ‘dos and don’ts’ and the legal ramifications of not properly maneuvering drones,” says Cale.
According to an FAA report, the number of drone incidents rose dramatically over the past half of 2015. Most of the incidents involved witnesses reporting that drones were flying in restricted airspace.
Thomas Parrish, instructor for the class, has been flying drones for the past decade. He says he’s seen firsthand the technological advancements in unmanned aerial systems, the cost of drones decrease, and the ever-increasing rise in popularity.
“In the past three or four years, we’ve seen the explosion of drone sales and the concerns with them,” Parrish says. “Their popularity is going to continue to grow.”
Cale says drone use has skyrocketed in recent years by photographers, farmers, and fishermen, in particular. They’ve also taken off in the public safety field, as fire and rescue, emergency management, and law enforcement add drones to their tools to help the public.
“We’ve already had a fire and rescue instructor approach us wanting to add a drones element to the college’s curriculum,” Cale says. “We anticipate that drones will become a regular part of our public safety programs.”
He adds that in the future, drones may be integrated into other programs at Edgecombe Community College, such as computer studies, engineering, and logistics.
The Drones 101 class on July 30 costs $25 a person with an optional $5 fee for lunch. The cost for attendees between 8 and 17 years old is $15 if they are accompanied by a paying adult.
To register, please contact harrelsonb@edgecombe.edu or 823-5166, ext. 293.