14 – 15 May 2012 Training With Newcastle University (Part 1)

Rachel, Pauline, Martin and Gareth arrived with us for our very first official QuestUAV training session at our training centre in Northumberland.  Though we had completed training at client’s locations in earlier months, this was our first using local facilities. We chose a large conference room in the Amble Development Trust building for the first day of ground school, followed by training in our workshop and local flying site for day two.  Winds were high so there wasn’t going to be any flying on day one, but there were lots to learn anyway. We all packed into our favorite lunch spot at Jaspers where the flying discussions continued over lattes, hot chocolate and penne pasta. The whole day was centred on legal requirements, an introduction to equipment and a work through of the all–important flying checklists.

Day two was held at the unit, but winds were still too high to start live flying (est 35 mph plus at operating height).  The Newcastle crew had been practicing flying onscreen in the previous months with a QuestUAV simulator (Phoenix based) and one of their Spektrum DX8 transmitters but were otherwise completely new to flying apart from one member who had a little experience.  The day was still completely packed though with the equipment preparation work streams and Pilot/Commander routines.  There was still lots to learn about the UAV software and discussions around image processing, particularly with infrared and NDVI.  The Newcastle team actually left wondering whether there would have been any time for flying anyway because so much was packed into two days.  The live flying training was planned for a few weeks later when everyone else was available again.

As our first full-on in-house training session we learnt as a company just how much there is to put across to a fledgling flying team, with little RC flying experience, in terms of learning.  The major focus for us has always been on flight safety.  Capturing and understanding the safety elements from each process takes time and care though and confirmation that safety messages have sunk in is important. Our earlier training with RAL in Harwell on the Mars Rover Project had taught us about the clear need for Commander and Pilot roles, the importance of accurate checklists and the impact of human factors in maintaining the primary goal of flight safety above everything else.  The lesson is how long this can take to implement and to ensure that that the concept of the clients “in-house training schedule” continues long after they have left us.

Rachel Gaulton– “Thanks for 2 days of excellent training!”

Martin Robertson– “Thanks for the training over the last couple of days and for making it fun and interesting. The training was one of the most thorough I have attended with instructions to cover, in detail, the planning of the mission, checks on equipment and hands on experience."

The guys from Newcastle went on to receive flying training at a time when the weather was better, in late June. However the onlookers were more than just interested, it only for a while. Message to self... cows generally don't seem to understand the Rules of the Air.