Penguins to fly at ERAU

The university noted in a news release that the high-endurance, long-range unmanned aircraft will help propel the program into “an unmatched powerhouse provider,” preparing students for complex commercial or military unmanned aircraft operations.

The Penguins, with a 10.8-foot wingspan, 20-hour battery life, and 60-mile range, are larger and more efficient than quadcopters or smaller, widely available fixed-wing survey drones flown exclusively within the pilot’s line of sight. They are able to carry sophisticated sensor packages such as stabilized zoom and infrared cameras. UAV Factory USA, a division of the Latvia-based company established in 2009, supplied the Penguins now being tested by faculty and staff about 25 miles north of the school’s Daytona Beach Campus.

For the time being, these Penguins will be flown on a much shorter leash than they are in the hands of customers around the world who use them for firefighting, pipeline patrol, and surveillance. Their endurance and capability to be controlled from multiple and distant base stations could open the door to “remote-split operations,” in which a pilot who maintains visual line of sight can hand control over to another operator located almost anywhere in the world.

University Aeronautical Science Department Associate Professor Alexander J. Mirot, who has operated U.S. Air Force Predators, explained that the remote-split architecture has the potential to allow the school to give many more students a chance to gain experience flying the Penguin. Mirot cautioned that the program is adhering to current requirements and is “awaiting FAA regulation and guidance” before allowing students to fly Penguins from distant locations. He noted that the Penguin C is also equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out capability.

The university’s unmanned aircraft systems program has 1,500 students enrolled at campuses in Arizona, Florida, and online around the world, including 225 flight students at the Daytona Beach campus. The school hopes to begin training 30 students per semester on the Penguin C in 2020.