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South Hills Community News Release
STATE COLLEGE — Students of the PA Cyber Charter School recently completed their final two classes (classes #7 and #8) of their South Hills School of Business & Technology’s Discover Drones course.
Working with the instructor, Brandon McGee, and technical assistants, Jack Erickson and Liam Jones, the students were able to take off, fly, and land the RubiQ drone that they had spent the previous six weeks building. The RubiQ is a racing drone designed by PCS Edventures that requires active control at all stages of flight operations.
To better facilitate safe flying of the quadcopter, the students fly in "buddy-box" mode, which means that an instructor retains backup control of the aircraft via a cable link between the two controllers. The instructor can give control of the drone to the student pilot while retaining the option of instantly taking back control when necessary. In this way, all eight students piloted the aircraft successfully without a single mishap.
In preparation for flying the RubiQ quadcopter, the students were able to develop and hone their flying skills by using computer simulation software and by piloting indoor mini-drones.The mini-drones, called Tiny Whoops, use the same controllers and first-person-view goggles that are used to fly the RubiQ racers.
In addition to assembling and flying the RubiQ quadcopters, the students also completed the Dronology series of instructional videos, each followed by a short quiz. Dronology teaches the students about rules, requirements, and safety in remote aircraft operation. At graduation, each student received a Certified Dronologist certificate and a t-shirt.
Parents were also invited to attend the graduation festivities on the final evening of the class. One of the parents commented, "I know he really enjoyed the class. We'll be looking for other upcoming opportunities at South Hills."
Several photos in this article appear courtesy of the PA Cyber Charter School. View the entire photo album on Flickr.com.
