As the somber 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York approaches, America’s first and only Black-owned drone company is honoring all courageous first responders with specialized drone pilot training to keep them safe in the line of duty. Specifically, Aquiline Drones, a progressive commercial drone manufacturing and cloud technology company in Connecticut, is offering tuition-free drone pilot training to the company’s Flight to the Future (F2F) program to all police officers and firefighters nationwide from now until the end of the year. Several police and firefighting squads in the state have already enrolled in the proprietary program, which costs $1,299 for other participants.
“We originally created Flight to the Future as a way to provide new high-tech skills in a burgeoning industry to unemployed workers during the pandemic to fulfill everyday services such as asset inspection, videography, smart farming and land surveying and mapping,” said Barry Alexander, Founder and CEO of Aquiline Drones. “But using drones to help better society and save human lives was the impetus in creating our company and we’re excited to do our part in arming those in the line of duty with crucial training to keep them safe and secure.”
The interactive online course teaches police and fire professionals how to safely and effectively utilize drone technology in their daily missions. The educational content is available on-demand at any time, so participants can take the course at their own convenience. Besides earning their FAA Part 107 commercial drone pilot certification, F2F program participants will also learn about cloud computing, AI, the Internet of Things (IoT) and other technologies transforming the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry.
Interested parties may apply for free enroll by sending an email with full contact information to: [email protected] For a detailed summary of the curriculum, please visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMpMdKKRPkY
Alexander notes that drones have long been thought of as eyes in the sky to assess emergency situations, including search and rescue, crime scene analysis, mapping, active shooter investigations, event monitoring, and accident reconstruction from their portrayal on TV and film. More detailed, real-world applications for police and firefighter officers include:
- Emergency Response – When seconds count, drones can be sent ahead of the first responders to assess the situation on the ground, give responders a critical heads-up and also be used to deliver lifesaving supplies and equipment to victims that are not readily reachable by a human in time.
- Law enforcement – When emergency calls are received that involve criminal activities, drones can be deployed ahead of police arrival to provide first-person viewing (FPV) and real time situational awareness, thus capturing crimes in action, providing first responders with live footage of the scene and even recording footage/images of criminals that may have left the scene prior to the arrival of the authorities. This has the powerful potential of reducing law enforcement costs from pursuing criminals through prolonged investigations, improving conviction rates, reducing wrongful arrests and convictions, and ultimately saving taxpayer dollars on processing arrestees and court cases. In this context, drones can be outfitted with audible devices i.e., sirens and flashing blue and red lights indicating the arrival of law enforcement on the scene, thereby serving as deterrents to crimes or escalations, while improving response rates for cities. Subsequently, police authorities will be safer on the job and more effective at solving or fighting crimes that truly necessitate their involvement.
“We envision a world in which humans and drones live and operate in harmony, using their real-time control, autonomy and analytics to enhance safety, increase efficiency and prevent unnecessary deaths,” adds Alexander. “It is our corporate responsibility to ensure that all first responders partake in this essential training to become the best drone operators in the world.”
