Course Description
In collaboration with Landview Drones, Extended Learning is excited to bring this Ag Drone School to campus!
Ag Drone School deals with every aspect of productive, safe, and legal use of remotely piloted aerial systems by farmers & agronomists. From your first takeoff to completely autonomous mapping in two days, this ag drone school is suitable for all experience levels. From teenagers to retired agronomists, from government environmental agency staff to ag-tech entrepreneurs. You don't even need to have a drone -- only about ¼ of attendees already have a remote piloted aircraft system (RPAS). Many are just taking the course because they want to learn about it before purchasing anything.
Course Outline
Fly Safely
• Flight training suitable for complete beginners
• From first takeoff to autonomous mapping
• Learn to fly using our fleet of drones
Fly Legally
• Basic RPAS ground school: air law, drone systems, theory of flight, human factors, meteorology, navigation, and maintenance
• Take the Transport Canada online test and leave with your Basic Pilot’s Certificate
Save Time & Make Money
• Two full days of hands-on learning, flight practice & real-world farm and ranch uses
• Beyond pretty pictures & video, you’ll learn how to create accurate hi-res maps of fields
• New: intro to spraying or cover-crop spreading
• Demystifying the remote-sensing jargon: NDVI, multispectral, thermal, LiDAR
What You Will Learn
Topics covered include:
- Introduction to Remote Sensing of Vegetation
- NDVI and other vegetative indexes
- Data accuracy: sensor types and calibration
- Future of crop imaging ... hyperspec, thermal, machine learning
- From fly to apply: software workflows
- Use cases: the many uses of drones on farms
- Knowledge Requirements for Small Basic Operations:
- Air law, air traffic rules and procedures
- RPAS airframes, power plants, propulsion and systems
- Human factors
- Meteorology
- Navigation
- Flight operations
- Theory of flight
- Radiotelephony
- Intro to spraying by drones
Notes
Instructors
Markus Weber grew up at Weyga Farming, a large grain and cattle farm managed by his father near Camrose, Alberta. He earned agriculture, law and MBA degrees from the University of Alberta. After working as legal counsel and in senior government management positions in Nunavut, he started his renewed career as an agricultural consultant in 2011 with Serecon, an independent agricultural consulting firm in Edmonton. He is a Professional Agrologist and has been leading LandView Drones since 2015 and customizing curriculum for agricultural drone users since creating the Ag Drone School in 2016.
Bianca Weber is a seasoned and certified drone pilot, in her ninth season working with LandView. She provides instruction for practical aspects of the course and looks after all of the course logistics to ensure the equipment can be operated safely by the participants.
Charlie Turcotte is the owner/operator of Valley Precision Ag, a licensed drone pilot, and flight reviewer with a rich background in agriculture. Formerly a cereal and oilseed farmer in western Canada, Charlie transitioned to Nova Scotia eight years ago, immersing himself in the local agriculture industry. His extensive experience and dedication have positioned him as a valuable contributor, and he's been collaborating with Landview to deliver drone courses in Nova Scotia, sharing his expertise with those looking to harness the potential of agricultural drones for precision agriculture.