Becoming certified to pilot or operate an unmanned aerial vehicle can now be obtained without have to take time away from a full time job through the Phoenix, Arizona-based Unmanned Vehicle University’s (UVU) two week Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificate Program.
The Unmanned Vehicle University is the first university to be licensed to grant Doctorate Degrees in Unmanned Systems and Master’s Degrees in Unmanned (Air, Ground, Sea or Space emphasis) Systems Engineering and a Certificate in UAS Project Management as a totally online curriculum.
UVU’s “role is to educate and train tomorrow’s workforce to enter the drone industry or start up new businesses,” the university said in an announcement. “The university’s expert UAV instructor pilots have a combined experience of over 60,000 hours in small UAVs (sUAS), Predator, Reaper, Global Hawk, Hermes, Heron, Aerostar and others. Most of the university’s faculty have PhD degrees in engineering and have a combined experience of over 500 years.
According to John Minor, Provost of the university, students can take the three-phase Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificate Program from home without jeopardizing their current full-time jobs.
Last month, Minor stated that, “The simple truth is that you are not going to be in a position to capitalize on this rapidly growing and expanding career opportunity unless you have the right education and the certification to flourish as a certified vehicle operator, unmanned systems engineer, technologist or unmanned systems project manager.”
“Now you can prepare for a lifetime career as a drone pilot without having to quit your current job to do so,” Minor said. Minor emphasized that “It’s been estimated that the rapid adoption of drones in a wide variety of commercial markets is going to create more than 100,000 jobs and have an $82-billion economic impact over the next ten years — but to have a career in this exciting new industry you have to be certified to operate a drone safely and effectively.”
No college degree orprior experience is required to participate in the university’s program, which consists of three phases.
Phases one and two of the Drone/UAV Pilot Training Program are conducted at home using a flight simulator and taking online academics. Phase three is conducted by one of the university’s expert flight instructors at one of the university’s flight schools located around the country. At the end of the program, successful students will receive the university’s UAV Pilot Certificate showing they have completed 10 hours of simulator training, 16 hours of ground school and 16 hours of flight training for a total of 42 hours of comprehensive operator training.
“Once students complete the enrollment process, they are assigned log-in instructions for the ground school and we ship a simulator to their residence,” Minor said, noting that, “The entire program can be completed in a little over two weeks, with two weeks of home study and two days of intensive flight training.”
Once students have earned their Pilot/Operators Certificate, the university said “they can get started on a life-long career that offers positions paying as much as $275,000 per-year in a wide variety of commercial markets that include delivery and fulfillment, logistics, security and law enforcement, first responders, wildfire management, search and rescue, news gathering, photography, film and television production, oil, gas and mineral exploration, disaster relief, live event production, agriculture and real state.
“And these just top the list of an ever growing number of commercial markets,” the university said.
“As FAA regulations become finalized, and they will, you are going to see drones incorporated into just about every industry known to man,” Minor said, pointing out that, “Drones reduce risk, save money and dramatically increase the productivity of every field they are used in.”
The cost of the Unmanned Vehicle University’s Drone/UAV Pilot Training Certificate Program is $3,500.
For more information contact Josh Roetzer at +1 (716) 866-2827 or [email protected].
