CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Texas A&M Universtiy-Corpus Christi is known for its Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Program and now that program hopes to spread its wings even more.
TAMU-CC is one of seven Federal Aviation Administration Unmanned Aircraft Services testing sites in the United States the Lone Star UAS program was established in 2013 as a research center.
Mike Sanders who is the executive director for the Lone Star UAS center believes that it’s about the integration.
"What we do as a FAA designated test site is really research and help in the integration of the technology but also working with the industry and government to help develop standards and provide data to them and feedback on aspect with the safe integration," Sanders said.
The school hopes to get an additional base for the program, the Corpus Christi International Airport grounds. This idea is still in its early stage, but one big selling point is the benefit for students.
"I think what it really would do as we team up with outreach at both really the junior high school and high school and saying, 'there are real life opportunities for you to have an impact and really successful in a career that's not even fully developed yet,'" he said.
Mike Sanders believed the program will also give students the skills to help with the current worldwide pilot shortage.
"During research in congested areas is very dangerous and so we often want to find rural areas where we can initial start the research prototype, then move into complex spaces as these concepts because further developed," Sanders said.
No date has been set yet for the airport to present the idea before city council. There are still a few details that need to be finalized.
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