After six months of work and about a dozen presentations, BCC now has an official Drone/UAS Policy! Last night I presented my proposed policy to the Board of Trustees and last night and the board voted to approve the policy.  I’m super pleased as this policy provides a framework of safety based on FAA regulations for us to operate on or off campus.  It also gives the community a way to safely come to our Pittsfield campus and fly their own drones at the college if they so choose.

Here’s a link to the newly approved BCC Drone/UAS Policy.

Here is a link to my Policy Presentation.

To fly here on campus, or to fly with college-owned equipment, individuals will need to fill out a Flight Request Application.  The application will then be sent to a group of individuals, the UAS Review Committee, who will make sure that all the aspects of the policy have been accounted for within the flight plan.  If the flight plan meets all the requirements, it will be approved.  If not, then recommendations will be sent to the requestee on how to resubmit a new flight plan which meets the policy requirements.

This is incredibly exciting as now we can begin to incorporate drone imagery into our courses.  I’ve even had a few folks show interest in training students to fly drones, which would ultimately require them to get their FAA 107 Certification.  Another plan is to host a community info session on Drone safety.

Now back to work!